Changes

==Preaching style==

==Preaching style==

[[Image:Billysundaypose.jpg|right]]

[[Image:Billysundaypose.jpg|right]]

Sunday was unabashedly uneducated and spoke in the plain speech of ordinary people, a marked contrast to the dignified style of other ministers. This was unusual, even shocking at the time. Schools trained students in elocution and rhetoric. Ministers and public speakers were expected to use formal, educated English. A 1920 book for English teachers bracketed Sunday with a humorist famous for introducing slang into written English:

Sunday was unabashedly uneducated and spoke in the plain speech of ordinary people, a marked contrast to the dignified style of other ministers. This was unusual, even shocking at the time. Schools trained students in elocution and rhetoric. Ministers and public speakers were expected to use formal, educated English. A 1920 book for English teachers bracketed Sunday with a humorist famous for introducing slang into written English:

:...it would be interesting to study idioms and even slang. The latter may not be deemed wise by purists in English courses but all of us enjoy baseball slang, and [[George Ade]] and his rival in slang, Billy Sunday, are popular because they use these picturesque shortcuts that in many instances are destined to become the main paths of verbal expression.<ref>Hall-Quest, Albert Law (1920) ''The Textbook: How to Use and Judge it'', Macmillan, [http://books.google.com/books?id=a3bfVRnNovwC&pg=PA159&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+%22george+ade%22 p. 22]</ref>

:...it would be interesting to study idioms and even slang. The latter may not be deemed wise by purists in English courses but all of us enjoy baseball slang, and [[George Ade]] and his rival in slang, Billy Sunday, are popular because they use these picturesque shortcuts that in many instances are destined to become the main paths of verbal expression.<ref>Hall-Quest, Albert Law (1920) ''The Textbook: How to Use and Judge it'', Macmillan, [http://books.google.com/books?id=a3bfVRnNovwC&pg=PA159&dq=%22billy+sunday%22+%22george+ade%22 p. 22]</ref>

:"The man has trampled all over me and my theology. He has kicked my teachings up and down that platform like a football. He has outraged every ideal I have had regarding my sacred profession. But what does that count, as against the results he has accomplished? My congregation will be increased by hundreds. I didn't do it. Sunday did it. It is for me to humble myself and thank God for his help. He is doing God's work. That I know."<ref>Denison, Lindsay (1907), "The Rev. Billy Sunday and his War on the Devil." ''The American Magazine'' '''64'''(5), September 1907, [http://books.google.com/books?id=8eYvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA451-IA2&dq=%22billy+sunday%22#PPA454,M1 p. 454]</ref>

:"The man has trampled all over me and my theology. He has kicked my teachings up and down that platform like a football. He has outraged every ideal I have had regarding my sacred profession. But what does that count, as against the results he has accomplished? My congregation will be increased by hundreds. I didn't do it. Sunday did it. It is for me to humble myself and thank God for his help. He is doing God's work. That I know."<ref>Denison, Lindsay (1907), "The Rev. Billy Sunday and his War on the Devil." ''The American Magazine'' '''64'''(5), September 1907, [http://books.google.com/books?id=8eYvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA451-IA2&dq=%22billy+sunday%22#PPA454,M1 p. 454]</ref>

Billy Sunday gave his speech vigorous physical accompaniment. A 1917 biographer referred to his "acrobatic preaching," saying "Sunday is a physical sermon. In a unique sense he glorifies God with his body."<ref name=ellis>Ellis, WIlliam T. (1917), [http://www.archive.org/details/billysundaymanan00ellirich Billy Sunday: The Man and His Message]; online text at archive.org</ref> A description of him in action says

Billy Sunday gave his speech vigorous physical accompaniment. Sunday's "tabernacles" held audiences of about fifteen thousand people, to whom he spoke without any sound equipment. To one observer, his platform manners recalled those of the Broadway performer George M. Cohan, and with good reason:

A 1917 biographer referred to his "acrobatic preaching," saying "Sunday is a physical sermon. In a unique sense he glorifies God with his body."<ref name=ellis>Ellis, WIlliam T. (1917), [http://www.archive.org/details/billysundaymanan00ellirich Billy Sunday: The Man and His Message]; online text at archive.org</ref> A description of him in action says

:He begins to dance like a shadow-boxer. He slaps his hands together with a report like a broken electricl lamp. He poses on one foot like a fast ball pitcher winding up. He jumps upon a chair. In the stress of his routine he may stand with one foot in the chair and another on the lectern. All the while he is flaying the "whisky kings," the German war lords, slackers, suffragettes, or the local ministry. And, if his story of the sinner come home to salvation fits the gesture, he may emphasize the moral by throwing himself on the floor with an outstretched arm groping for the home plate like a baserunner sliding safely in with a stolen run.<ref name=nytobit/>

:He begins to dance like a shadow-boxer. He slaps his hands together with a report like a broken electricl lamp. He poses on one foot like a fast ball pitcher winding up. He jumps upon a chair. In the stress of his routine he may stand with one foot in the chair and another on the lectern. All the while he is flaying the "whisky kings," the German war lords, slackers, suffragettes, or the local ministry. And, if his story of the sinner come home to salvation fits the gesture, he may emphasize the moral by throwing himself on the floor with an outstretched arm groping for the home plate like a baserunner sliding safely in with a stolen run.<ref name=nytobit/>

Sometimes he smashed chairs in his "rage against Satan." He perspired heavily from this vigorous performance;<ref name=cc/> reporters sitting near the stage had to endure a "fine rain of perspiration from the evangelist's flailing arms and contorted brow."<ref name=time/>

Sometimes he smashed chairs in his "rage against Satan." He perspired heavily from this vigorous performance;<ref name=cc/> reporters sitting near the stage had to endure a "fine rain of perspiration from the evangelist's flailing arms and contorted brow."<ref name=time/>