SUNY series in Rhetoric and Theology – serie

Here is a rhetorical treatment of Karl Barth's early theology. Although scholars have long noted the rhetorical power of Barth's work, calling it volcanic and explosive, this book uses rhetoric to illuminate the peculiar nature of his prose. It displays a Barth whose prose is radically unstable and inseparable from his theological arguments.The author connects Barth's early theology to the Expressionism of the Weimar Republic. He develops an original theory of figures of speech, relying on the philosophies of Paul Ricoeur and Hayden White, to delve more deeply into the particular configurations of Barth's writings. Nietzsche's hyperbole and Kierkegaard's irony are examined as rhetorical precedents of Barth's style. The closing chapter surveys Barth's later, realistic theology and then suggests ways in which his earlier tropes, especially the figures of excess and self-negation, can serve to enable theology to speak today.

This is the first book-length study of William James' style, arguing that the manner in which James writes The Principles of Psychology and The Varieties of Religious Experience serves to construct a chaotic world for his readers. The book examines the uses of chaos in western literature and philosophy and reaches two conclusions: that chaos may be "utter confusion and disorder," but, paradoxically, that disorder is communicated through some particular order - in Joyce's term, all chaos is "chaosmos." Secondly, what is essential about chaos is what it does: nothing is inherently chaotic, rather chaos is used to contrast with or challenge something that is more structured or formed. Finally, the author presents an examination of the religious function of James' chaotic worldview as a disorientation which orients.

A bold exploration of how hyperbole—language that exceeds limits—reveals religion as an intensified experience of love, sacrifice, and divine meaning.What if the deepest truths of religion are not found in moderation—but in excess?In Blessed Excess, Stephen H. Webb offers a bold and original vision of religion as an intensification of ordinary experience, arguing that hyperbole—language that goes "too far"—is not merely decorative, but essential to theological thinking. Moving beyond traditional studies of metaphor and analogy, Webb reveals how exaggeration, overflow, and surplus shape the way we speak about God, love, sacrifice, and grace.Engaging a rich and diverse range of voices—from the First Epistle of John to Kierkegaard, from Georges Bataille to Flannery O’Connor and G. K. Chesterton—Webb demonstrates how hyperbolic imagination stretches the limits of reason, inviting readers into a more expansive understanding of faith.With intellectual rigor and creative insight, Blessed Excess opens new pathways for exploring both Christian theology and comparative religion. It challenges readers to reconsider the boundaries between logic and paradox, devotion and excess, the finite and the infinite.Provocative, illuminating, and deeply original, Blessed Excess is essential reading for anyone interested in theology, philosophy, and the power of language to transform belief.