Rhetoric and polemic

These arts and skills are increasingly relevant these days. As we go deeper into the challenge of sorting out and resolving issues, differences and conflicts, we need to learn well the proper ways of discussing, arguing, debating, convincing and persuading.

As I look at the kids in the school, I often wonder how they would fare as they grow up and face many controversies not only in matters of opinion but also in matters involving one's core beliefs.

These days, issues involving faith and morals are proliferating. At the moment, we have the RH issue. But on its heels are the issues of divorce, same sex marriage, abortion, etc. Everyone has to be prepared for these. And the kids, especially so!

Sad to say, these arts and skills nowadays are corrupted. They are developed and used not so much as to seek truth and justice as to serve the self-interest of an individual or a party.

They are now increasingly alienated from the requirements of charity.

They frolic and  luxuriate in irony and sarcasm, rash judgments, sensationalism, empty zingers and bombast. They are driven mainly by the desire to score points, to win and dominate.

It would seem that the more self-righteousness and bitterness are injected into one's arguments, the better for them. The world today applauds at all sorts of fallacies, the non-sequiturs, ad hominems, argumentum ad verecundiam, etc. Detached from God, it now goes more for “what comes naturally.”

These are the realities, the facts of our times. Before them, we should not run away but rather face them, arming ourselves well so as not to be affected, much less, infected by their antics and dirty tricks, even as we use the legitimate tools of persuasion to participate actively in the public discussion and dialogue.

In short, we need to use rhetoric and polemic to proclaim, explain and defend our beliefs, but purifying them of their dirt that unfortunately has now become normal in our current confused culture.

Yes, rhetoric and polemic certainly require constant study and practice, research and continuing polishing and refinement. Let's just hope that we can develop a truly Christian brand of rhetoric and polemic where we can discuss things even with conflicting positions but inspired always by an honest search for truth, by charity, magnanimity, respect for others, etc.

They should be of the kind that knows how to distinguish between the person and the points raised and that lives out the principle, “Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo,” which roughly can be translated as being resolute and rigorous in the argumentation while always gentle and courteous in the manner and in dealing with the other parties.

For this to take place, I feel that aside from trying to master the technicalities of rhetoric and polemic that in themselves are truly exciting, one needs to be deeply grounded in his spiritual life to be able to live charity every step of the way and to infuse his arguments with a palpable quality of authority and competence.

The perfect model for this is Christ himself who proclaimed, explained, corrected misconceptions about what truly matters in life. He knew when to speak and when to keep quiet, when to be tolerant and when to be intolerant. His arguments blended truths and mysteries of faith with reason and passion.

He had the gift of tongue, skillful in using figures of speech and other literary devices to drive home a point. He knew how to adapt himself to his listeners. Thus, he was extremely attractive to those who were simple and without malice. He only provoked strong resistance from those with complicated minds.

Aside from taking care of our spiritual life, we should also try to be masters of the doctrine of our faith, always studying and deepening our understanding of it, while being observant of the developments around.

This is to see to it that the eternal word of God directly impacts with the issues and concerns people may have at a given point. We should not just come up with talking points.

In the end, the success and failure of rhetoric and polemic would depend on where one's heart tilts, on whether one has faith or not. They simply cannot be measured by human standards alone, and that's why we should not give undue importance to human judgments of the arguments.

Still, we should try our best that we satisfy all the requirements and expectations of the human standards, without making them the ultimate measure. The standard of faith and grace never rejects the human standard.

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