Paul Lynch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Georgia K. Johnston Professor of English
Department of English

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Education

Ph.D. in English, Purdue University, 2008

Research Interests

Lynch’s primary interests are in the rhetoric of religion, rhetorical theory, and writing pedagogy. He has written on a variety of topics and figures, ranging from Pope Francis to Christopher Hitchens. He is currently working on a book-length study of rhetoric, religion, and the sacred.

Professional Experience

From 2019-2021, Lynch directed SLU’s Prison Education Program. Prior to that, he coordinated the writing program from 2015-2019. He currently serves as the College of Arts and Sciences at-large representative on the University Undergraduate Core Committee.

Publications and Media Placements

"Almost Empty Places: Jesuit Mission and Identity as Rhetorical Topoi.” Power and Protest at an American University: No Confidence, No Fear. Edited by Ellen Carnaghan and Kathryn Kuhn. Routledge, 2020. 108-25.

“A Friendly Injustice: Kenneth Burke, René Girard, and the Rhetoric of Religion.” Re-inventing Rhetoric Scholarship: 50 Years of the Rhetoric Society of America. Eds. Roxanne Mountford and David Tell, Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, 2020. 88-97. 

“Recovering Rhetoric: René Girard as Theorhetor.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, 27 (2020): 101-122. 

“Shadow Living: Toward Spiritual Exercises for Teaching.” College English. 80.6 (2018): 499-516.

 “On Care for Our Common Discourse: Pope Francis’s Nonmodern Epideictic.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 47.5 (2017): 463-482.

 “Rescuing Rhetoric: Kenneth Burke, René Girard, and the Forms of Conversion.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 24 (2017): 138-159.

“The Attractions of Imperfection: Pope Francis’s Undisciplined Rhetoric.” Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society 5.1 Web. 2015. 

Thinking with Bruno Latour in Rhetoric and Composition. Co-edited with Nathaniel Rivers. Carbondale: SIUP, 2015.

After Pedagogy: The Experience of Teaching. Studies of Writing and Rhetoric Series. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2013. 

“Composition’s New Thing: Bruno Latour and the Apocalyptic Turn.” College English 74.5 (2012): 458-76.

 “The Rhetoric of Apostasy: Christopher Hitchens at War with the Left.” Concord and Controversy: Proceedings of the 2010 Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Eds. Antonio de Velasco and Melody Lehn. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum, 2011. 235-45.

St. Louis Public Radio’s “St. Louis On the Air.” 15 Nov. 2019
“College Behind Bars” Looks At The Transformative Potential Of Prison Education Programs.

St. Louis Public Radio’s “St. Louis On the Air” 11 Feb. 2019
“Beyond The ‘Rhetoric’: Reclaiming What's Become Almost A Pejorative Term”

Honors and Awards

2018 Article of the Year Award from the Religious Communication Association for “On Care for Our Common Discourse: Pope Francis’s Nonmodern Epideictic.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 47.5 (2017): 463-482.

James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence, 2010