Arguing over Texts

Martin Camper has produced an excellent contribution to scholarship in rhetoric and textual interpretation. Moreover, his accessible writing and argumentation should serve as models for expanding the audience of scholarship in rhetorical studies. * Jordan Loveridge, Argumentation and Advocacy *
this is a read recommended not only to the specialists in rhetoric or argumentation, but also to all those who work with texts, not just in the academic world ... [it] will give the reader a better overview of the ideas presented in texts, their multidimensional nature, and how to argue about particular interpretations. * David E. Susa, Kult Online *
Camper's new interpretative stases allow for sensitive and astute readings of these sacred texts, fulfilling his promise to provide a model of interpretative stases that effectively joins hermeneutics with rhetoric. * Advances in the History of Rhetoric *
Camper's book rejuvenates the interpretive stases, a classical technique for analyzing arguments, and applies them to an intriguing range of historical cruxes, from questions about the authenticity of the Donation of Constantine to the sexual orientation of Abraham Lincoln and on into modern times. Camper explains the rhetorical theory with great sophistication, and yet so clearly that I plan to adapt some of his case studies for teaching argument at the college undergraduate level. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of a neglected aspect of classical rhetoric. * Patricia Bizzell, Professor of English, Distinguished Professor of Humanities, College of the Holy Cross *
The time is ripe for this book. Arguably, the interpretive stases underpin the whole humanistic enterprise of hermeneutics, including literary theory and reception theory. Camper draws from political, literary, and religious texts, some quite timely, some dealing with quite contentious issues (such as race and gender), and all insightfully analyzed. Students and scholars alike will find it a lively and useful book. * Davida Charney, Professor of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Texas at Austin *