Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
In this episode, Brian Auten and Chad Gross interview Jim Beitler, Associate Professor of English at Wheaton College, and author of Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church as well as Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with co-author Richard Hughes Gibson). They discuss rhetoric and communication in relation to Christian Apologetics.
0:27 - Introduction to rhetoric and Jim Beitler
4:36 - Jim’s background and books
5:37 - What is rhetoric?
6:32 - How Jim got interested in rhetoric
7:18 - How has rhetoric been taught, and how has that changed?
10:20 - Can rhetoric be taught?
11:48 - Why should anyone care about rhetoric in the church?
14:20 - Are you an effective communicator or not?
15:44 - Doesn’t the Bible argue against using rhetoric?
19:11 - How the book is laid out and the ground it covers
22:52 - C.S. Lewis as a rhetorician
25:25 - How we need rhetoric now more than ever
27:19 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer on preaching and rhetoric
30:37 - Rhetoric in sermons and preaching
33:37 - How to apply the tools of rhetoric with discernment
38:20 - Modern thinkers and communicators we can learn from
41:49 - Being culture makers
42:40 - Some pitfalls to avoid
45:13 - A teaser for Charitable Writing
• James Beitler at Wheaton
• Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church
• Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words
If you have a question for the podcast, record it and send it our way using speakpipe.com/Apologetics315 or you can email us at podcast@apologetics315.com
In this episode, Brian Auten and Chad Gross interview Jim Beitler, Associate Professor of English at Wheaton College, and author of Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church as well as Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words (with co-author Richard Hughes Gibson). They discuss rhetoric and communication in relation to Christian Apologetics.
0:27 - Introduction to rhetoric and Jim Beitler
4:36 - Jim’s background and books
5:37 - What is rhetoric?
6:32 - How Jim got interested in rhetoric
7:18 - How has rhetoric been taught, and how has that changed?
10:20 - Can rhetoric be taught?
11:48 - Why should anyone care about rhetoric in the church?
14:20 - Are you an effective communicator or not?
15:44 - Doesn’t the Bible argue against using rhetoric?
19:11 - How the book is laid out and the ground it covers
22:52 - C.S. Lewis as a rhetorician
25:25 - How we need rhetoric now more than ever
27:19 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer on preaching and rhetoric
30:37 - Rhetoric in sermons and preaching
33:37 - How to apply the tools of rhetoric with discernment
38:20 - Modern thinkers and communicators we can learn from
41:49 - Being culture makers
42:40 - Some pitfalls to avoid
45:13 - A teaser for Charitable Writing
• James Beitler at Wheaton
• Seasoned Speech: Rhetoric in the Life of the Church
• Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words
If you have a question for the podcast, record it and send it our way using speakpipe.com/Apologetics315 or you can email us at podcast@apologetics315.com
