A Rhetorical Analysis of “Evangelicalism Rebounds in Academia” by Michael Lindsay.

881 Words4 Pages
Michael Lindsay‘s article “Evangelicalism Rebounds in Academia” explores the growing importance of evangelicalism in post secondary institutions. Lindsay suggests that diversifying college campuses by increasing the evangelical population leads to a more profound understanding in campuses. By providing hard evidence and alluding to renowned literature Lindsey successfully educates the reader in the evangelical movement and its benefits to society. Michael Lindsay is a well educated evangelical who is the assistant professor of sociology and assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University in Houston. He has published three books and written many articles for well-known magazines and newspapers. Furthermore, Lindsay’s writing style is professional and targeted at a very educated and cultured audience. Throughout the article his diction is very complex, containing philosophical jargon as well as literature of philosophers - to which everyday people are not familiar with. Since Lindsay is a practicing evangelical, it comes as no surprise that his writings tend to be supportive towards evangelicalism. The author relies heavily on ethos to add credibility to the claims he makes in the article. After the introduction of the article, Lindsay attempts to explain the increase in post secondary enrollment of evangelicals by “interviewing 360 evangelicals who are members of the nations political, business and cultural elites“ (866). The pervious statement gives confidence to the reader as he or she is assured that Lindsay’s opinions have merit. He clearly identifies himself as an authority figure in this matter. Lindsay further builds ethos by comparing his opinions to those of influential evangelicals such as George Bennett, the treasurer for the Harvard Corporation from 1965 to 1973; and Makoto Fujimura, a recognized artist.
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