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Carl P. Miller Chair of Communication Michael Casey Authors New Book  

Pepperdine University Seaver College professor and Carl P. Miller Chair of Communication Michael W. Casey has authored a new book titled, The Rhetoric of Sir Garfield Todd: Christian Imagination and the Dream of an African Democracy. Published by Baylor University Press, Casey's book is a logical commentary demonstrating Sir Garfield Todd's political contributions to African democracy. The book illustrates Casey's certainty that upon examination, Todd's rhetoric reveals that his politics do not flow from his often assumed political tradition of liberal views, but actually from his religious heritage.

"This volume is luminously imaginative with the natural depth Garfield Todd's life deserves," Caleb Oladipo, Duke K. McCall Professor of Mission and World Christianity at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, said. "The Rhetoric of Garfield Todd' is a must for the people of Africa. It revives the controversial subject of the balance between Church and State and challenges contemporary leaders to embrace public service as an opportunity to exercise Christian convictions with courage and confidence."

Todd's lifelong support of African rights earned him early political success, which led to imprisonment, and later, a rightful recognition. Todd (1908 to 2002) was the first missionary to become a head of state, serving as the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958. Opposing racist policies instituted by later Prime Minister Ian Smith, Todd was in and out of detention in the 1960s and 1970s for supporting Africans in the revolution. Originally paternalistic, Todd fought for a full democracy and political freedom for all people in Zimbabwe. This work displays the best of Todd's speeches while providing an analysis of their rhetorical and political significance.

"Casey places in historical, political and rhetorical context the high eloquence of this admirable man," said Walter Jost, an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia. "He helps us see that Todd was an exemplary democrat; a true Christian who, in our own political climate of division and secrecy, can serve as a model of justice and dialogue for us all. Casey is to be commended for his careful research and scholarship, and for his lucid and well-written interpretation of this important figure in the modern political history of Africa."

Casey received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.