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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