Kurt Spellmeyer

Expanding the scope of religious rhetoric/B> Over the past twenty-five years, the intersection of rhetoric and religion has become one of the most dynamic areas of inquiry in rhetoric and writing studies. One of few volumes to include multiple traditions in one conversation, Rhetoric and Religion in the Twenty-First Century engages with religious discourses and issues that continue to shape public life in the United States. This collection of essays centralizes the study of religious persuasion and pluralism, considers religion’s place in U. S. society, and expands the study of rhetoric and religion in generative ways. The volume showcases a wide range of religious traditions and challenges the very concepts of rhetoric and religion. The book’s eight essays explore African American, Buddhist, Christian, Indigenous, Islamic, and Jewish rhetoric and discuss the intersection of religion with feminism, race, and queer rhetoric—along with offering reflections on how to approach religious traditions through research and teaching. In addition, the volume includes seven short interludes in which some of the field’s most accomplished scholars recount their experiences engaging with religious rhetorics and invite readers to engage these exigent lines of inquiry. By featuring these diverse religious perspectives, Rhetoric and Religion in the Twenty-First Century complicates the field’s emphasis on Western, Hellenistic, and Christian ideologies. The collection also offers teachers of writing and rhetoric a range of valuable approaches for preparing today’s students for public citizenship in our religiously diverse global context.

THE NEW HUMANITIES READER, International Edition presents 25 challenging and important essays from diverse fields that address current global issues. This cross-disciplinary anthology helps readers attain the analytical skills necessary to become informed citizens. Ideas and research from wide-ranging sources provide opportunities for students to synthesize materials and formulate their own ideas and solutions. The thought-provoking selections engage students and encourage students to make connections for themselves as they think, read, and write about the events that are likely to shape their lives. The Fourth Edition includes nearly 25% new reading selections, which continue to make this text current, globally oriented, interdisciplinary, and probing.

Argues that higher education needs to abandon the "culture wars" if it hopes to address the major crises of the century. Arts of Living presents a social history of the humanities and a proposal for the future that places creativity at the heart of higher education. Engaging with the debate launched by Allan Bloom, Harold Bloom, Bill Readings, John Guillory, and others, Kurt Spellmeyer argues that higher education needs to abandon the "culture wars" if it hopes to address the major crises of the century: globalization, the degradation of the environment, the widening chasm between rich and poor, and the clash of cultures.