Stephen J. Dunning

Dunning, Stephen. “The Power of the Spoken Word.” America in Britain, New Series 6 (Winter 2021): 30–33. Published by American Museum & Gardens, Bath, UK.

Article published in the 60th Anniversary issue of ‘America in Britain’, the journal of the American Museum & Gardens. The article discussed the relationship between the rhetorical and doctrinal aspects of historical religious preaching and America’s cultural history, highlighting relevant artefacts in the American Museum’s collections.

The article explores the profound influence of spoken language on personal relationships, political movements, and cultural history. Beginning with the intimate power of everyday speech, its capacity to wound or heal, it expands to consider how oratory has shaped pivotal moments in world history. From Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to Hitler’s incendiary rhetoric, the spoken word is shown to be a catalyst for both unity and destruction.

The article highlights the central role of religious preachers in political change, tracing examples from Pope Urban II’s call for the First Crusade to Savonarola’s denunciations in Renaissance Florence, and the fiery sermons of John Rogers and Charles Spurgeon. It then turns to America’s own religious landscape, examining the rise of sermon-centred Protestant worship during the Great Awakening and the vivid ‘fire and brimstone’ tradition exemplified by Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

The article also foregrounds women preachers such as Sojourner Truth and Amanda Berry Smith, whose voices advanced abolitionism, civil rights, and religious reform. Finally, it connects these historical currents to the American Museum’s collections, from objects such as the 17th-century keeping room Bible, pewter Communion set, and Shaker furniture, to the published sermons of Rev. W. A. Whittle, demonstrating how material culture preserves the legacy of spoken words that once shaped communities, politics, and belief.