The Church Fathers and the Ethics of Propaganda: A Christian Approach to Public Rhetoric

Abstract

Although religious ethicists commonly assess the content of public communication to determine its merits, this article argues that the style and techniques of communication deserve similar analysis. Propaganda often employs rhetorical techniques that impress the recipient through persuasive sleight-of-hand or emotional appeal. Drawing on the church fathers’ suspicion of classical rhetoric, as well as Augustine's guarded defense of a specific type of rhetoric, the author formulates two principles of ethical propaganda that may assist public communicators in persuading ethically. These two principles are the procedural movement of beauty from truth, and the use of caritas as a primary motivator in persuasion.