Earth-a-lujah!: The Prophetic Environmental Discourse of Reverend Billy

Although rhetorical scholars often examine forms of prophetic discourse, such efforts have primarily focused on the jeremiad or similar rhetorical forms that place emphasis on exhorting the people to return to following the covenant or face negative consequences. However, such messages do not represent the breadth of rhetorical techniques utilized by the biblical prophets. Thus, this study will suggest a new genre of prophetic discourse that activist and performance artist Reverend Billy embodies in his environmental critique of JP Morgan Chase. Implications from this analysis concern both the importance of identifying and understanding this rhetorical form of the “imaginative prophet” and how Reverend Billy uses this approach to advance his view of environmental agenda.