Odious Praise

Odious Praise: Rhetoric, Religion, and Social Thought, Volume 1, examines a neglected intellectual tradition where acclaim serves as a tool for censure. This work of ancient rhetoric and social thought explores how odious praise differs from standard panegyrics by using praise to critique normative values and undermine social consensus. Eric Macphail analyzes this specific form of epideictic rhetoric to show how it challenges established cultural beliefs.

The text surveys literature from ancient Greece through Renaissance Europe, focusing on the influence of the sophists and political thinkers like Machiavelli and Erasmus. By analyzing these figures, the book demonstrates how assigning positive value to blameworthy objects reveals the roots of modern social science. This study of rhetoric and religious aspects provides a rigorous reassessment of the praise-and-blame genre and its impact on the history of political thought.