One of the best means to better define a reality and make its characteristics stand out is to compare it with another reality, even at the cost of making the features appear harsher and forcing the contrast a little. The peculiarity of biblical rhetoric stands out better in comparison with classical rhetoric, which has been taught in schools for more than 2,000 years in Europe, more recently in America, and more widely throughout a world now dominated by globalization.
The rhetoric of Greek and Latin origin has long been regarded as “the rhetoric,” so much so that the largest cultural institution concerned with rhetoric, the International Society of the History of Rhetoric, puts the last word of its name in the singular, as does its journal Rhetorica, a practice which is clearly of Classical origin.
It has gradually emerged that there is not a single rhetoric in the world. The Koreans, and then the Chinese, have begun to participate in the Congresses of the above-mentioned Society. National institutions have been established to develop rhetoric studies specific to cultures and languages far removed from the Greco-Roman Western world.
One may cite, among others, the Korean Society of Rhetorical Studies. After the VIth Congress of the International Society of the History of Rhetoric, held in Tours in 1987, the Society has embraced biblical rhetoric, and more broadly Semitic rhetoric, giving both greater recognition. This article is reserved for paid subscribers. Please subscribe to continue reading this article
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