Presence and Voice: Understanding the Tensions over the American Church\u27s Relationship to Its Culture through the Writings of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine

Abstract

In light of the perceived and demonstrable decline of the church\u27s presence and voice in American culture, this dissertation proposes to examine and to discuss the dynamic viewpoints and tensions within the church over her presence and voice in the American culture by examining the various interpretations over the rhetoric of Christianization in the Roman Empire and how those viewpoints surface in the positions of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine. The objective of this approach is to continue the discussion first articulated by H. Richard Niebuhr\u27s 1951 work, Christ and Culture, by showing that the way one understands the rhetoric of Christianization in the first five centuries as crystallized in the writings of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine will reveal not only one\u27s position concerning the church\u27s place and presence in the American culture, but also the inner tensions that exists within many American churches today over the role she plays in a pluralistic society. In light of this perceived and demonstrable decline, some church leaders are suggesting a fresh examination of the Christianization within the Roman Empire (the first five centuries) in order to learn pertinent principles in rhetorical presence and voice that can find application today. Chapter one discusses the varying viewpoints (Niebuhr\u27s understanding of motifs ) that surface over this fresh examination. Chapters two, three and four discuss and align these viewpoints as they appear in the writings of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine, arguably the three greatest church fathers/rhetors in the first five centuries of the church. Chapter five summarizes the discussion, offers current critiques and conclusions over Niebuhr\u27s Christ and Culture and presents preliminary considerations for a new hermeneutical axis that is needed for understanding the rhetorical presence and voice of the church in America today--the understanding and praxis application of the principles surrounding the knowledge and presence of the Kingdom of God