The Dogma of Inquiry: Composition and the Primacy of Faith

Abstract

Composition studies has accepted a reductive view of dogma as an acritical commitment to received knowledge that precludes inquiry. As a result, composition gives short shrift to the role that basic beliefs play in any act of inquiry. But certain forms of humble dogma can and do serve as essential starting places for asking questions—even for skepticism and doubt. The writings of St. Augustine and Lesslie Newbigin exemplify such approaches to dogma and offer rhetorical educators a new terministic screen through which to value the role that beliefs play in inquiry.

Acknowledgments

Editor's note: Please see the Burkean Parlor in this issue for a response to this article and an invitation for readers to join in a continuing conversation.

Notes

¹Thanks to Jessica Enoch and Michael-John DePalma for reading early versions of this essay. Thanks also to RR reviewers David Timmerman and Brian Jackson for offering insightful feedback that helped me clarify my argument.

²For the sake of consistency, I have changed Newbigin's spelling of certain words to follow American rather than British conventions.