The High School

In the beginning God spoke the world into existence through words. Jesus Christ Himself is called the Word who was in the beginning with the Father. God also has chosen to reveal Himself to man through words: He spoke to Abraham, He gave Moses the Ten Words, and His prophets have always proclaimed “The word of the Lord.” This means that language is one of God’s attributes; He used language to create the glory of this universe and to guide His people.

The answer lies in the older, classical definition of the term rhetoric. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines rhetoric as “the art of speaking with propriety, elegance and force.” As one wise author put it, the subject of rhetoric is the “art of a good man speaking well.”

As students study great works of rhetoric, from the classical period to modern history, they gain confidence in their ability to defend truth, advance understanding, assist the weak, and exert a Christian influence on culture. The study of rhetoric is crucial to developing students who can faithfully represent Christ to our unbelieving world in a powerful way.