ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on religious oratory, as exemplified by the sermon delivered by the preacher from the pulpit, but also by technologically mediated formats involving new types of social actors. The background section of the chapter begins by locating sermons within the general tradition of oratory, and within religious discourse. Before identifying a number of pertinent research questions and reviewing previous scholarship, it addresses the way the digital medium is renewing oratory practice, and extends the discussion to the spiritual, quasi-religious function attributed to the discourses of certain social media influencers (cf. “Instavangelists”). The “decentralised” position occupied by the latter brings into the spotlight the issue of speaker authority. The case study presents several examples of contemporary religious oratory delivered in different contexts and attempts to model some of the linguistic features that may constitute a “religious” register—or registers—, which would allow us to distinguish them from other types of (secular) oratory. A discursive approach links linguistic choices to contextual variables which inform specific types of participant frameworks and discursive setups. The “inspired” ethos of the speaker of pulpit oratory is contrasted with the “vehement” ethos that appears in technologically mediated formats, including social media oratory.
