James A. Herrick

James A. Herrick (October 6, 1954 – May 24, 2024) was an American academic. He was the Guy Vanderjagt Professor of Communication and former communication chair at Hope College.

Herrick's research interests included rhetoric and argumentation, new religious movements, technology and spirituality, and the discourse of futurism.^[1] His early books are guides to the discipline of scholarly argumentation that discuss both traditional rhetorical techniques and contemporary applications for students and academics. He has written extensively on the history of rhetoric, from the theories of the ancient Greeks to modern Western thought, and more specifically on the revolutionary rhetorical practices of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English Deists.

Herrick's research also deals with the birth of “synthesized” religions that differ from traditional Christian doctrine.^[2] He has worked on the intersection of science and religion, and particularly on the new forms of spirituality that have risen in an increasingly technological age. Most recently, he collaborated with Michael Hyde to co-edit After the Genome: A Language for our Biotechnological Future (2013), an award-winning volume of essays that examines the ways in which language and rhetoric inform people's understanding of biotechnology.