Feminizing the Pulpit: "Feminine Style" and the Religious Rhetoric of Joyce Meyer

February 7, 2005 Time magazine reported Joyce Meyer as one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals in America. It is significant to find a female in this group considering that the public podium and pulpit has been filled almost exclusively by men, setting the standard for good public discourse, preaching, and the voice for religious doctrine. When women speak, social and rhetorical expectations are different than they are for men. Despite new social opportunities women face, it is Meyer's feminine rhetorical style and her feminine worldview, I argue, that is the key to understanding a successful female Evangelical minister in the Evangelical community. In this dissertation I explore Joyce Meyer's recent popularity in the Evangelical community as a "feminine" speaker. I argue that Joyce Meyer creates an alternative feminine perspective for the Evangelical audiences through her use of a feminine style. I use Karlyn Kohrs Campbell's theory of a feminine style to determine if Joyce Meyer uses a feminine style consistently in her public sermons. Joyce Meyer's successful rhetorical style in the Evangelical community points to something more than just a religious community accepting a new preacher. It also indicates the acceptance of a feminine perspective in a traditionally male dominated context. I focus on Meyer's rhetoric style within the context of social and religious norms that restrict women's place in public assemblies. Moreover, this study explores the potential power of the feminine style as a means to create a feminine perspective for audiences toward understanding Joyce Meyer's popularity as an Evangelical pulpit preacher and perhaps an even better understanding of the audiences to whom she speaks.