Summary

The rhetorician James Winans once wrote, "A speech is not merely an essay standing on its hind legs." Yet many speakers—including preachers—write their messages in a style better suited for reading rather than hearing. To be an effective oral communicator, one must learn to write for the ear, not the eye.

Listen Online

Details

The rhetorician James Winans once wrote, "A speech is not merely an essay standing on its hind legs." Yet many speakers—including preachers—write their messages in a style better suited for reading rather than hearing. To be an effective oral communicator, one must learn to write for the ear, not the eye.

Presented at the 2006 Calvin Symposium on 91ÁÔÆæ.

Recent Media Resources

Public 91ÁÔÆæ, Wealth, and Poverty in Early Christianity 

Explore how Christians in the earliest centuries of Christianity engaged topics related to wealth and poverty in their preaching, public prayers, offerings, celebrations of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the shaping of buildings and spaces for Christian worship. 

August 27, 2025 | 63 min video
A Snapshot of Illness, Pain, and Healing in Early Christianity

How did early Christians understand their illness and pain in their Greco-Roman context?

August 27, 2025 | 65 min video