Rhetorical Use of Text (TEL - Cohort)
Learning Objectives
- Analyze and Interpret Texts Across Contexts
- Develop Critical Reading and Thinking Skills
- Apply Theoretical Concepts to Real-World Issues
Course Components
Syllabus
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Syllabus
10 MinutesAssignmentLesson Locked
Rhetorical Use of Text
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Introduction to the Rhetorical Use of Texts: Faith, Persuasion, and Interpretation
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Interpreting Enigma, Inclusion, and Marginalization in the Gospels
10 MinutesAssignmentLesson Locked -
Postcolonial Perspectives, Identity, and Power in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book
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Hermeneutics and Social Location: Reclaiming Inclusive Biblical Interpretation
10 MinutesAssignmentLesson Locked
Rhetorical Use of Text (TEL - Cohort)
Taught by EunHye Grace So
This introductory course in the Theological Education for Leadership (TEL) Learning Path equips learners to critically analyze sacred and secular texts by identifying key themes, rhetorical strategies, and historical influences. Students develop strong critical reading and interpretive skills, learning to recognize assumptions and biases while understanding how texts shape meaning within cultural, social, and political contexts. The course also invites learners to connect textual interpretation to contemporary issues of inclusion, social justice, and public discourse.
This course is part of the PSR - Congregational Renewal Cohort Program.
Meet Your Instructor,
EunHye Grace So
EunHye Grace So, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Rhetorical Studies at Pacific School of Religion, blends her passion for scriptural exegesis with a deep commitment to pastoral ministry. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Biblical Studies (New Testament). EunHye’s dissertation’s working title is: “‘Become as I am, for I also have become as you are (Gal 4:12)’: Paul’s Rhetorical Use of Ethos in Galatians,” where she explores how Paul strategically and efficiently uses the Aristotelian rhetorical device, ethos, which is among the three different means of persuasion, pisteis (logos, ethos, pathos), to present himself as credible to the Galatians in order to persuade his audience to accept his main thesis that justification comes by faith/faithfulness and not by works of the law. Before her Ph.D. work, EunHye completed her M.Div. at Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary and B.A. in Christian Education at the same institution. Her research interests include Galatians, Classical Rhetoric, Aristotelian ethos, and 4QMMT.
EunHye has served as an adjunct faculty at the Church Divinity School of The Pacific, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, and San Francisco Theological Seminary / Graduate School of Theology of the University of Redlands and taught as a Newhall Teaching Fellow at the Graduate Theological Union. She also acknowledges the importance of balancing academy and faith and desires to be a faith-oriented and spiritually rooted instructor because she considers “teaching” as “ministry.” EunHye is a lifelong Presbyterian and is in the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA) ordination process as a candidate. She has had experience serving as a Children’s Ministry Minister in Seoul, Republic of Korea.