The Rhetorical Leadership of Fulton J. Sheen, Norman Vincent Peale, and Billy Graham in the Age of Extremes

Timothy Sherwood has put before us here a fascinating contextualization and interpretation of three religious media giants of 20th century America. Demonstrating a thorough rhetorical awareness, Sherwood gets beneath the surface of the popularity of Sheen, Peale, and Graham and shows how their messages, and the way that they presented their messages by means of their persons, was deftly tied to both the pressures of the social and cultural challenges their hearers faced, but also to the way that they understood the nature of the gospel in face of these challenges. Not to be lost, too, is the way that they showed a rhetorical genius in using the media available to them for connecting their messages to the masses. This is a textbook, three-part case study in rhetoric, leadership, and religious media from three of the most influential religious communicators in American history.

Timothy Sherwood’s book is a must read for students of American history, rhetoric, cultural studies, homiletics and theology. The book is a scholarly, well-documented examination of the mystique behind the trinity of charismatic preachers, popular in the 1950s: Sheen, Peale, and Graham. Readers learn how they spoke to an audience yearning for stability in the midst of anxiety due to the Cold War era. Sherwood does a compelling job of situating each preacher within the cultural times represented by popular cultural artifacts of that era including comic book heroes, Disney theme parks, television programs such as Leave it to Beaver as well as movies and American new-found use of narcotics. This makes for a fascinating cultural read. The author skillfully weaves commentaries by cultural analysts while at the same time applying rhetorical methodologies to each preacher. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes about each communicator and the book is not without commentaries from critics of each individual, especially critics from the newly emerging field of psychology. Sherwood examines how the biography of each preacher shaped him for the future convergence of speaker, audience need with a message that was rooted in the American psyche. Graham earned the title of ‘America’s pastor.’ Peale was God’s salesperson’; while Sheen served the role as ‘Renaissance man.’ The three blended patriotism and religion. We see examples of how the unique messages of each came together and became the key to leadership and ultimately influence that earned all three acclaim as the great twentieth century preachers. Each preacher not only shaped a message, but became a message himself, embodying values that many in a changing America wanted to hear.

To the questions “What am I to think? What am I to feel?” and “What am I to do?” Timothy Sherwood’s important study concludes that, for mid-20th century Americans, preachers Fulton Sheen, Norman Vincent Peale, and Billy Graham were masterful in the way they provided answers for this “age of extremes.” As Sherwood demonstrates, the effectiveness of these preachers, each in turn, may well be found in how they identified one of these questions as central in their homiletic intention. Through careful rhetorical analysis Sherwood identifies how they became master persuaders whose appeal resonated with listeners whether in providing Americans with a theologically meaningful interpretation of the times, or meeting people at their point of psychological need, or calling forth action from listeners as a response to a claim to make a personal relationship with God possible. Sherwood’s study takes up the question of whether great sermons are called forth by their times or whether they provide leadership as a way of negotiating those times. He finds both to be true.

Sherwood’s argument is an interesting one, and he well substantiates his premises.