The Elements of Rhetoric offers a concise, comprehensive course in the rules for making your point stick. With copious examples from such masters of language as Cicero, Augustine, Shakespeare, Erasmus, Lincoln, Dickens, Newman, Chesterton, and Lewis, you will discover the 26 rules of persuasion and learn to apply them. Among the Elements you'll find:

--The three modes of persuasion --How to structure an academic essay --How to spot and avoid logical fallacies --How to compose with literary figures --Practical tips for improving speed in composition --A Study Guide with exercises

This is the essential guide to persuasive writing and speaking, in the tradition of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.

Ryan Topping has produced a guide accessible and useful to those of all ages and experience levels, in the classroom, the political setting, and the pulpit.--Joseph R. Wood, Institute of World Politics

This is a splendid introduction to what you need to know to communicate wisely and well.--Quentin Schultze, Calvin College, author of An Essential Guide to Public Speaking

The Elements of Rhetoric is that rarest of rhetorical treats: a playfully serious and seriously playful summa of the art of communication--classical education at its very best --Raymond F. Hain, Providence College

Leading by example, Topping delivers a handy guide for all of us who rely on the art of persuasion. The Elements of Rhetoric is a gem.--Daniel B. Coupland, Hillsdale College, co-author of Well-Ordered Language: The Curious Child's Guide to Grammar

This is the book I have sought for 35 years. For those like me, for whom public speaking and writing is their stock-in-trade, this book is a must-have daily companion.--Michael C. Gilleran, Business & IP Trial Lawyer & Partner, Burns & Levinson, LLP, Boston, MA

This versatile guide can supplement course material from any discipline in order to help students polish presentations and essays.--ANN MARIE KLEIN, Department of Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas, MN

Ryan N.S. Topping earned a doctorate in Theology from The University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts. He has published several books on education and Christian culture.

The Elements of Rhetoric offers a concise, comprehensive course in the rules for making your point stick. With copious examples from such masters of language as Cicero, Augustine, Shakespeare, Erasmus, Lincoln, Dickens, Newman, Chesterton, and Lewis, you will discover the 26 rules of persuasion and learn to apply them. Among the Elements you'll find:

--The three modes of persuasion --How to structure an academic essay --How to spot and avoid logical fallacies --How to compose with literary figures --Practical tips for improving speed in composition --A Study Guide with exercises

This is the essential guide to persuasive writing and speaking, in the tradition of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.

Ryan Topping has produced a guide accessible and useful to those of all ages and experience levels, in the classroom, the political setting, and the pulpit.--Joseph R. Wood, Institute of World Politics

This is a splendid introduction to what you need to know to communicate wisely and well.--Quentin Schultze, Calvin College, author of An Essential Guide to Public Speaking

The Elements of Rhetoric is that rarest of rhetorical treats: a playfully serious and seriously playful summa of the art of communication--classical education at its very best --Raymond F. Hain, Providence College

Leading by example, Topping delivers a handy guide for all of us who rely on the art of persuasion. The Elements of Rhetoric is a gem.--Daniel B. Coupland, Hillsdale College, co-author of Well-Ordered Language: The Curious Child's Guide to Grammar

This is the book I have sought for 35 years. For those like me, for whom public speaking and writing is their stock-in-trade, this book is a must-have daily companion.--Michael C. Gilleran, Business & IP Trial Lawyer & Partner, Burns & Levinson, LLP, Boston, MA

This versatile guide can supplement course material from any discipline in order to help students polish presentations and essays.--ANN MARIE KLEIN, Department of Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas, MN

Ryan N.S. Topping earned a doctorate in Theology from The University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts. He has published several books on education and Christian culture.

Christmas is a time for celebrating the birth of Jesus with family and friends; to gather together in sacred and jovial celebration of the Incarnation. Yet in our fast-paced, hyper digitized lives, we are losing the sense of a good story, among good friends, around a good fire.

In Christmas Around the Fire, Ryan Topping invites the reader to turn off the television set, put down the device, quiet ourselves, and gather our loved ones to share some of the best writing, in a variety of forms, about Christmas. Whether or not, your family has an actual fireplace around which to gather is not so important, but it helps!

Included within are entries from legendary novelists and poets such as Leo Tolstoy, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Willa Cather, and more. As well as the profound thoughts of great religious figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Saint John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI.

For those who love the true spirit of the most wonderful time of the year, and who love reading in almost equal measure, Christmas Around the Fire will quickly become a family tradition--the first piece excitedly pulled out of storage every year. This is one of those rarest of books: one around which family memories are made.

In post-modern society the nones have become our new poor. The West still commands vast markets and militaries but our culture has long been living off of borrowed moral capital with no foreseeable schedule of repayment. In Thinking as Though God Exists, Catholic philosopher Ryan Topping draws upon St. John Henry Newman's voluminous insights to present a far-ranging cultural strategy for the New Evangelization.

The conversion of secular culture requires many things - the rebuilding of the family, the recovery of our artistic traditions, the reimagining of the liberal arts, the reestablishment of local priestly vocations, and more. In this book readers discover how Newman's concept of an integrative habit of mind can help believers reconstitute and re-propose a coherent and emotionally satisfying account of faith and culture for our time.

In post-modern society the nones have become our new poor. The West still commands vast markets and militaries but our culture has long been living off of borrowed moral capital with no foreseeable schedule of repayment. In Thinking as Though God Exists, Catholic philosopher Ryan Topping draws upon St. John Henry Newman's voluminous insights to present a far-ranging cultural strategy for the New Evangelization.

The conversion of secular culture requires many things - the rebuilding of the family, the recovery of our artistic traditions, the reimagining of the liberal arts, reestablishment of local priestly vocations, and more. In this book readers discover how Newman's concept of an integrative habit of mind can help believers reconstitute and re-propose a coherent and emotionally satisfying account of faith and culture for our time.

After setting Augustine's thought firmly within the context of his life and times, Ryan Topping examines in turn the causes of education (the purposes, pedagogy, curriculum, and limits of learning) as Augustine understood them. Augustine's towering influence over Medieval and Renaissance theorists - from Hugh of St Victor, to Aquinas, to Erasmus - is traced. The book concludes by drawing Augustine into dialogue with contemporary philosophers, exploring the influence of his meditations on higher education and suggesting how his ideas can reinvigorate for our generation the project of liberal learning.

Catholic schools have long contributed to the mission of the Church and to the flourishing of society. During the past few decades, however, Catholic schools have suffered severe losses, both in their religious identity and in their capacity to attract students.

With penetrating insights, pointed anecdotes, and drawing upon recent empirical studies and Church documents, Ryan Topping describes the near collapse of Catholic education in North America and uncovers the enduring principles of authentic renewal. In The Case for Catholic Education you'll discover:

- the three purposes of Catholic education - why virtue is more important than self-esteem - the elements of a true common core curriculum - essential differences between progressive and Catholic models of learning - helpful study questions and a research guide

This is an accessible and eminently readable book on a topic which no Catholic can afford to ignore.--Joseph Pearce, Aquinas College, Nashville, TN

The Case for Catholic Education speaks to the heart of the debate over whether Catholic education is 'worth it.'--Sister John Mary Fleming, O.P., Executive Director for Catholic Education, USCCB

The Case for Catholic Education will surely play a vital role in reinvigorating the handing-on of essential Catholic truths.--Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, O.P., Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, Ann Arbor, MI

This short book contains an astonishing wealth of insights and practical suggestions.--Dr. Keith Cassidy, President of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, Barry's Bay, ON, Canada

Ryan Topping has written an engaging and coherent analysis of the state of Catholic education in North America, which will be useful for teachers in Britain, too.--Dr. Paul Shrimpton, Magdalen College School, Oxford, UK

An insightful view of our threatened patrimony and a framed vision for what educating and forming our children may still yet become.--Dr. Jason Fugikawa, Dean of Academics and Faculty, Holy Family Academy, Manchester, NH

The Case for Catholic Education includes sound advice in regards to the teaching of Good Books and then Great Books in the high school years, and for including Christ throughout an education.--Patrick S.J. Carmack, Founder of the Angelicum Academy and the Great Books Academy homeschool programs

It is impossible to read this book without feeling stirred to the joy--and the work--of better educating our young people.--Patrick Conley, Director of Faith Formation, Cathedral of St. Paul, MN

In his latest offering, Ryan Topping presents a lucid and lively exploration of the foundations of a true Catholic education.--Veronica Burchard, Vice President for Education Programs, Sophia Institute for Teachers, Bedford, NH

Every Catholic educator and school administer should read and re-read this fine book.--Dr. Jason West, President and Academic Dean, Newman Theological College, Edmonton, AB, Canada

This engaging book combines incisive appraisal and exposition with inspiring encouragement and exhortation.--Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., Dominican Province of St. Joseph, New York, NY

Ryan N. S. Topping earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Merrimack, NH. He is the author of Happiness and Wisdom (CUA Press, 2012), Rebuilding Catholic Culture (Sophia Institute Press, 2013), and Renewing the Mind: A Reader in the Philosophy of Catholic Education (CUA Press, 2015).

Catholic schools have long contributed to the mission of the Church and to the flourishing of society. During the past few decades, however, Catholic schools have suffered severe losses, both in their religious identity and in their capacity to attract students.

With penetrating insights, pointed anecdotes, and drawing upon recent empirical studies and Church documents, Ryan Topping describes the near collapse of Catholic education in North America and uncovers the enduring principles of authentic renewal. In The Case for Catholic Education you'll discover:

- the three purposes of Catholic education - why virtue is more important than self-esteem - the elements of a true common core curriculum - essential differences between progressive and Catholic models of learning - helpful study questions and a research guide

This is an accessible and eminently readable book on a topic which no Catholic can afford to ignore.--Joseph Pearce, Aquinas College, Nashville, TN

The Case for Catholic Education speaks to the heart of the debate over whether Catholic education is 'worth it.'--Sister John Mary Fleming, O.P., Executive Director for Catholic Education, USCCB

The Case for Catholic Education will surely play a vital role in reinvigorating the handing-on of essential Catholic truths.--Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, O.P., Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, Ann Arbor, MI

This short book contains an astonishing wealth of insights and practical suggestions.--Dr. Keith Cassidy, President of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, Barry's Bay, ON, Canada

Ryan Topping has written an engaging and coherent analysis of the state of Catholic education in North America, which will be useful for teachers in Britain, too.--Dr. Paul Shrimpton, Magdalen College School, Oxford, UK

An insightful view of our threatened patrimony and a framed vision for what educating and forming our children may still yet become.--Dr. Jason Fugikawa, Dean of Academics and Faculty, Holy Family Academy, Manchester, NH

The Case for Catholic Education includes sound advice in regards to the teaching of Good Books and then Great Books in the high school years, and for including Christ throughout an education.--Patrick S.J. Carmack, Founder of the Angelicum Academy and the Great Books Academy homeschool programs

It is impossible to read this book without feeling stirred to the joy--and the work--of better educating our young people.--Patrick Conley, Director of Faith Formation, Cathedral of St. Paul, MN

In his latest offering, Ryan Topping presents a lucid and lively exploration of the foundations of a true Catholic education.--Veronica Burchard, Vice President for Education Programs, Sophia Institute for Teachers, Bedford, NH

Every Catholic educator and school administer should read and re-read this fine book.--Dr. Jason West, President and Academic Dean, Newman Theological College, Edmonton, AB, Canada

This engaging book combines incisive appraisal and exposition with inspiring encouragement and exhortation.--Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., Dominican Province of St. Joseph, New York, NY

Ryan N. S. Topping earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Merrimack, NH. He is the author of Happiness and Wisdom (CUA Press, 2012), Rebuilding Catholic Culture (Sophia Institute Press, 2013), and Renewing the Mind: A Reader in the Philosophy of Catholic Education (CUA Press, 2015).

St Augustine is indisputably a major thinker in education. Ryan Topping's volume offers the most coherent account of St Augustine's educational thought. This work is divided into:

Series Editor's Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Part 1: Intellectual Biography
1 Approaching Augustine
Part 2: Critical Explosion
2 The Aims of Education
3 The Art of the Teacher
4 The Matter of Liberal Education
5 The Limits of Education
Part 3: Philosophical Reception and Relevance
6 Augustine and Some Philosophers of Education
7 St. Augustine and the Defense of Liberal Education

Select Bibliography
Index

Immediately after his baptism Augustine set out to produce a Christianized version of the ancient liberal arts curriculum. By an ordered sequence of contemplation, moving from linguistic to mathematically based disciplines, Augustine suggested that study in the liberal arts could render the mind and heart docile before God. Though Augustine later would shift his focus more directly toward biblical study, his early reflections on secular learning remain an attractive and powerful model for Christian thinking about the arts.

Happiness and Wisdom contributes to ongoing debates about the nature of Augustine's early development, and argues that Augustine's vision of the soul's ascent through the liberal arts is an attractive and basically coherent view of learning, which, while not wholly novel, surpasses both classical and earlier patristic renderings of the aims of education.

Ryan N. S. Topping begins by embedding Augustine's educational works within the historical and philosophical context of Christian and pagan late antiquity. He then shows how Augustine's writings on education, far from being irrelevant to the trajectory of his mature thought, provide a key to interpreting many of his other explorations in ethics and epistemology. Augustine's Christianized liberal arts curriculum is vindicated as an outgrowth of his moral theology, an expression of his abiding conviction that happiness is the end of human aspiration, and that--against both Ciceronian skepticism and Manichean dualism--the created order speaks to men of the mind of God.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ryan N. S. Topping earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford, is Pope John XXIII Chair of Studies in Catholic Theology at St. Thomas University in Canada, and is author of St. Augustine in the Continuum Library of Educational Thought series.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

This is one of the finest studies of the early Augustine to emerge in recent years, admirable for its balance, the quality of research, and its sage judgment. Though it has implications for how we see the relationship between Augustine's work pre-391and his later work, this study asks us to pause, and to take seriously, the ideals of a period in Augustine's life when his outlook as a layman aspiring to contribute to the educational mission of the Church was his main concern. The study asks us to judge this period on its own merits, not simply by how it compares to what came later. In the process, though, we do encounter as well a very precisely balanced assessment of continuities and discontinuities, as well as intimations of Augustine's possible relevance to our own educational dilemmas. A wonderful study.--John Cavadini, University of Notre Dame

Topping's book occupies a secure niche of its own . . . His detailed analysis has allowed him to contribute to debates over the interpretation of Augustine's early thought.--Raymond Canning, professor of theology, Australian Catholic University and translator of Augustine's Instructing Beginners in Faith

Happiness and Wisdom is a very accessible work on Augustine's early theology of education. It is beneficial to a wide range of readership, from philosophers and theologians to educators of every type. He emphasizes the moral aspect of education, offers a textually rich argument for the necessary role of Christ's illuminating activity in order for education to be possible, and attests to the continued value of a liberal arts education. --Bibliographia