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Description
Culture is a powerful force that has been responsible for the affecting of life throughout the ages. The realm of rhetoric is intrinsic to the manifestation of such influence, whether theoretical or practical. In short, there is an interesting, a revealing relationship between culture and rhetoric. Rather than merely accepting as granted this truth, perhaps examining the notion that culture produces rhetoric and that rhetoric produces culture could result in heightened awareness, even diagnostic insight into some of the norms, customs, and beliefs that constitute society. Although numerous aspects of daily life contribute to and culminate in culture, certain aspects are more broadly consequential yet acutely responsible for affecting life than others. Likewise, certain affordances of rhetoric might be better suited for gleaning insight and understanding into such influence. By examining the rhetoric—and, in particular, narrative rhetoric—associated with one, if not the most powerful of cultural forces, religion, it is the intention of this endeavor to note, illuminate, and understand—at least partially—how digression, evolution, even revolution related to something as historically and traditionally constant and intransigent and overwhelming as Christianity has happened at all, let alone taken root and even flourished. In other words, this present research intends to examine the narrative rhetoric essential to the substantiation of progressive Christianity for the sake of better understanding its relative argumentative and persuasive success with respect to an effort that has so often, historically speaking, fallen short. While examination of numerous artifacts associated with progressive Christian rhetoric might accomplish some of the stated intention here, focusing on texts from progressive rhetors— John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg, and Roger Wolsey—and analyzing how they craft their narratives will aid in revealing how argumentation and persuasion have contributed to shifting the cultural paradigm begat by traditional Christianity in America.
