A Pentadic Analysis of Two Pleas for Christian Unity

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A Pentadic Analysis of Two Pleas for Christian Unity

Introduction

The prayer for Christian unity began with Christ, himself (John 1:21), and

continues today. This essay proposes to examine two pleas for Christian

unity using the rhetorical theory of Kenneth Burke. According to Em

Griffin, "Kenneth Burke was the foremost rhetorician of the twentieth

century. Burke wrote about rhetoric; other rhetoricians write about Burke"

(319).

Burke's theory seems especially relevant to the study of pleas for unity

because of his focus on identification. For Burke, rhetoric is

identification. "You persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his

language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea,

identifying your ways with his" (Rhetoric 55). Additionally, Burke

equates identification with consubstantiality. "To identify A with B is to

make A 'consubstantial' with B" (Rhetoric 21).

The two calls for Christian unity to be analyzed are Thomas Campbell's

"Declaration and Address" and E. Glenn Wagner's The Awesome Power of

Shared Beliefs. Campbell's address is important because of its historical

significance. "This document, which calls for Christian unity through a

return to the clear and unambiguous teachings of the New Testament, in

many ways chartered the course for the movement the Campbells led" (Hughes

11). Wagner's book is chosen because of the contemporary prominence of the

Promise Keepers movement.

This essay will proceed by explaining relevant aspects of Kenneth Burke's

works, including the methodology to be used, applying the methodology to

the two pleas, and discussing the results.

Dramatism and the Pentad

Burke saw life as a drama played out in our language. By examining the

words of a person, you can determine his or her motives. Motives are

grammatical creations which explain "what people are doing and why they

are doing it" (Grammar x). Foss provides the following explanation:

We use rhetoric to constitute and present a particular view of

our situation, just as the presentation of a play creates a

certain world or situation inhabited by characters who engage

in actions in a setting. Through rhetoric, we size up situations

and name their structures and outstanding ingredients. How we

describe a situation indicates how we are perceiving it, the

choices we see available to us, and the action we are likely to

take in our situation. (456)

The pentad is a the tool used to investigate motives. Burke writes, ". . .

any complete statement about motives will offer some kind of answer to

these five questions: what was done (act), when or where it was done

(scene), who did it (agent), how he did it (agency), and why (purpose)"

(Grammar x).

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