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Shirley
Carmen Shirley

Professor Kate Kimball

ENC 2135

October 26, 2022

In today’s society, the divide between Christians and Feminists has been more evident

than ever. While Christians believe that women are already equal to men, Feminists make it

clear that there is still work to be done when it comes to gender equality. Most people who

denote themselves as a Christian hold the opinion that if you’re a Christian, you can’t also be a

Feminist since Feminism contradicts beliefs of the Christian community and because

Christianity recognizes the value of women. However, there is a select group of “Christian

Feminists” who suggest that similar to the way certain Christian groups position women,

contemporary society should revisit and reevaluate the way women are viewed and treated,

and work collectively toward gender equality. I will present a rhetorical analysis of two artifacts

which relate to being a Christian and Feminist at the same time. Their contrasting messages and

the tools the authors use to speak their message to the audience will help us better understand

how these principles developed.

The first artifact, “Christianity: The Only True Feminism,” is and editorial and opinion

piece written by Dr. Luther Smith. The author of this piece hopes to persuade the audience,

anyone who can come into reach with this artifact but mainly the Christian community, that

Christianity is the only true form of Feminism. This piece utilizes an ardent and formal tone

through the use of definitions and verses from the Bible that all circle back together to present

his opinion/argument in the topic. This tone affects how the reader perceives the writer’s
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intentions in a high manner and is engaging which captures the attention of the audience. This

tone also allows for the author to prove why his argument is right, without being disrespectful

to the other side.

To start this editorial, the author first shares quotes from a woman named Dina

Leygerman. In these quotes, Leygerman uses a hefty amount of pathos to grab the attention of

women. She uses the words “…you are not equal… And neither are your daughters,” to bring

the gender inequality issue to a personal level, hoping that it would urge her target audience to

start standing up for what she thinks is right (Smith). Now, the reason for the inclusion of these

quotes is not only to present the other side of the argument, but it also allows for Smith begin

his argument and to communicate why he believes the argument that Leygerman makes is

wrong. To do this, Smith uses logos by first providing the definition of secularism, liberal

feminism and radical feminism and states that these are the “philosophies of those who

observe feminism from a secular worldview,” or someone who views feminism without the

consideration of God (Smith). The use of these definitions allows Smith to strengthen his

argument as he points out to the audience that what a secular worldview believes is necessary

to reach true equality, is unrealistic, which opens the eyes of the readers to consider another

solution. The author then continues by using multiple examples from the Bible to explain his

main argument that if you are a believer of Christ, you should hold that Christianity “is the only

true Feminism.” He compares Christianity to Feminism because he believes that the Bible and

Jesus respect and honor women as much as Feminists do. Smith uses ethos as he cites verses

from the Bible, building trust with his audience and convincing them that he is knowledgeable

enough to speak on the topic. Also, throughout the examples from the Bible, pathos is used by
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depicting the true value of women in Christian society. Smith uses words such as “held in high

regard” and “made in the image of God” to connect with women on a spiritual level and show

the respect that Christians hold for women. The use of ethos, pathos and logos in this artifact

verily aided the author as he provided his opinion to the readers and continued to support his

claim with creditable information.

The second artifact that I will be analyzing is a Ted Talk done by a woman named Tara

Teng. Again, Teng’s target audience for this speech is anyone who can come into access of it but

she pushes her message more towards believers in the Christian community. A speech can

usually appeal to its audience because it is easier to witness the emotion from the speaker first

hand, instead of trying to determine and interpret the tone of a text-based piece on your own.

Throughout the whole speech, Teng keeps a consistent, passionate and encouraging tone. It is

more likely people will care about what the speaker has to say if it appears that the speaker

cares. In this specific artifact, Teng’s consistent passion throughout her speech gradually

increases the importance of this topic to the audience.

The main argument that Teng is attempting to get across is that Jesus is the one who

made her a Feminist. To begin her speech, Teng uses pathos in multiple ways. One of her first

statements is that she chooses to declare herself a Feminist the same way people choose to say

“black lives matter,” indicating and manipulating the audience to believe that this issue is on

the same level of importance of the BLM movement. This statement instantly draws the

attention of many people as it is a controversial/political statement that has stirred the pot in

todays’ society and relates to certain people on personal level, which was the goal of the

speaker. Teng then goes on to tell personal stories of her own of how she has been hurt by
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Church leaders in hopes that someone in the audience will be able to relate to that same

feeling and agree that they should not have been put in a position where a leader at a church

hurt them purely based on the fact that they are a women. She uses these stories to lead into

her use of logos, providing another example from a historical document that states that it is

women who first identify Jesus as Messiah and after Jesus was crucified, is it to women he

reveals himself first and asks them to spread the good news (Teng). Although important, a lot of

the power Teng gained from the use of this document lied in how she connected the issue to

the facts. Not only does the use of this document bring credibility to the speech, but it also

appeals to both women and men in the audience and is used to persuade the importance of

women. If God, a man that millions of people worship, holds women in such high regard, we as

a society should too. For the end of her speech, Teng focuses on empowering the audience. She

tells them that “we have the power to change the system” and that “we need change” then

challenges them by saying, “let us shine a light into the sexist, oppressive shadows of our

society, let us confront what’s wrong in the world and multiply what is right” (Teng). The

repetition of the words “we” and “us” in this section emphasizes the fact that change will only

happen if we all work together as one. Teng specifically utilized these words to make it known

to the audience that everyone’s help is needed, even if it the tiniest bit of help. Ending her

speech with a challenge leaves the audience members feeling include and important as they

were all given a roll to help women in society and provides a resolution for the problem that

was brought to light.

These artifacts are quite different when looking at the rhetoric appeals and execution.

Smith focused on providing one side of the argument and then proving why that side was
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wrong. His piece consisted of mostly facts from the evidence he chose to use, therefore, making

his editorial straight forward and making it clear that he believed you cannot be a Christian and

Feminist at the same time. On the other hand, Teng focused on creating a personal

environment for her speech. She included personal experiences, a historical document that

appealed to women, and an inspiring challenge at the end of her speech. The main point she

wanted to highlight was that Jesus was the one who made her a Feminist. The utilization of

these components made her speech far more relatable and touching for the audience. Despite

these differences, both artifacts did have a couple similarities. For both pieces, the target

audience was the same and although having different viewpoints, both Smith and Teng used

Jesus as their number one argument to why they believe what they do.

From these two artifacts, I have learned that there is no right or wrong opinion on the

topic of being a Christian and Feminist at the same time and there will never be a moment

where all of the Christian and Feminist community will all agree on one thing. What you believe

in is simply determined by how you interpret what’s put in front of you and the people you

surround yourself with. Whether you agree with Smith or Teng, both opinions want the best for

women and hold women in high regard.

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Works Cited

“Christianity: The Only True Feminism.” Calvary University, 12 Apr.

2021, www.calvary.edu/christianity-true-feminism.

TEDx Talks. “Jesus Made Me a Feminist | Tara Teng | TEDxSFU.” YouTube, 9 Mar.

2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzVZvro2nGg.