RHETORICAL ANALYSIS Podcasts

A second analytic approach we took examined in greater depth nuances in the rhetoric and specific language used across accounts. This involved investigating distinctive themes in not just what was being said - but how things were being said.

  In many of our Reconversion Narratives there is a fascinating correlation between the narrator’s use of language and their perception about the Church, their faith, and themselves. This language and their accompanying way of viewing their relationship to faith...

  The anxiety that surfaced repeatedly in the narratives was surprising, but we can learn a great deal from it, especially as we consider how much people who are returning to Church dearly want to feel accepted and loved . . . The feelings of confusion and even...

The language we use, including our use of comparisons, reveals the truth of our experience and can become a guide to knowing how to better understand and help those who walk similar paths. In these narratives, the dominant comparisons highlight a pervasive sense of...