This thesis is an investigation into the understudied genre of modern papal rhetoric. Specificall... more This thesis is an investigation into the understudied genre of modern papal rhetoric. Specifically, the project examines the 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope) written by Pope Benedict XVI, and notes the ways in which its author applies the encyclical’s message of Christian hope to a specific rhetorical situation and audience through a series of speeches given during his April, 2008 visit to the United States. Over the course of his five-day pilgrimage, the pope delivered nearly two dozen public addresses, most of which were specifically addressed to U.S. Catholics. These addresses centered on the theme “Christ Our Hope,” and applied many of the central arguments, themes and motifs of the encyclical to issues facing American Catholics at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The thesis draws primarily upon Lloyd Bitzer’s notion of “the rhetorical situation” to examine the exigence, audience and constraints that comprise the rhetorical situation and invite a fitting response from Benedict. Under the category of “constraints,” I use Neo-Aristotelian criticism to examine the credibility of the rhetor (Benedict XVI), and Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s prior research on papal rhetoric to analyze the constraints of the genre. I also use Edwin Black, Michael Calvin McGee, and Maurice Charland’s respective theorizing on the nature of the audience to understand how Benedict attempts to call forth and constitute an ideal “people” by appealing to a shared ideology, myth, and narrative history. I evaluate the clergy sexual abuse scandal as the most pressing exigence that Benedict attempts to modify through rhetorical discourse. After outlining the key themes, motifs and arguments of Spe Salvi, I analyze seven speeches Benedict delivered to U.S. Catholics, and interpret the ways in which they function as an addendum to Spe Salvi and an application of the encyclical to the rhetorical situation of the Catholic Church in the United States at the time of Benedict’s visit.
This thesis is an investigation into the understudied genre of modern papal rhetoric. Specificall... more This thesis is an investigation into the understudied genre of modern papal rhetoric. Specifically, the project examines the 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope) written by Pope Benedict XVI, and notes the ways in which its author applies the encyclical’s message of Christian hope to a specific rhetorical situation and audience through a series of speeches given during his April, 2008 visit to the United States. Over the course of his five-day pilgrimage, the pope delivered nearly two dozen public addresses, most of which were specifically addressed to U.S. Catholics. These addresses centered on the theme “Christ Our Hope,” and applied many of the central arguments, themes and motifs of the encyclical to issues facing American Catholics at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
The thesis draws primarily upon Lloyd Bitzer’s notion of “the rhetorical situation” to examine the exigence, audience and constraints that comprise the rhetorical situation and invite a fitting response from Benedict. Under the category of “constraints,” I use Neo-Aristotelian criticism to examine the credibility of the rhetor (Benedict XVI), and Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s prior research on papal rhetoric to analyze the constraints of the genre. I also use Edwin Black, Michael Calvin McGee, and Maurice Charland’s respective theorizing on the nature of the audience to understand how Benedict attempts to call forth and constitute an ideal “people” by appealing to a shared ideology, myth, and narrative history. I evaluate the clergy sexual abuse scandal as the most pressing exigence that Benedict attempts to modify through rhetorical discourse. After outlining the key themes, motifs and arguments of Spe Salvi, I analyze seven speeches Benedict delivered to U.S. Catholics, and interpret the ways in which they function as an addendum to Spe Salvi and an application of the encyclical to the rhetorical situation of the Catholic Church in the United States at the time of Benedict’s visit.
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Papers by Rachel de Almeida Oliveira
The thesis draws primarily upon Lloyd Bitzer’s notion of “the rhetorical situation” to examine the exigence, audience and constraints that comprise the rhetorical situation and invite a fitting response from Benedict. Under the category of “constraints,” I use Neo-Aristotelian criticism to examine the credibility of the rhetor (Benedict XVI), and Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s prior research on papal rhetoric to analyze the constraints of the genre. I also use Edwin Black, Michael Calvin McGee, and Maurice Charland’s respective theorizing on the nature of the audience to understand how Benedict attempts to call forth and constitute an ideal “people” by appealing to a shared ideology, myth, and narrative history. I evaluate the clergy sexual abuse scandal as the most pressing exigence that Benedict attempts to modify through rhetorical discourse. After outlining the key themes, motifs and arguments of Spe Salvi, I analyze seven speeches Benedict delivered to U.S. Catholics, and interpret the ways in which they function as an addendum to Spe Salvi and an application of the encyclical to the rhetorical situation of the Catholic Church in the United States at the time of Benedict’s visit.
The thesis draws primarily upon Lloyd Bitzer’s notion of “the rhetorical situation” to examine the exigence, audience and constraints that comprise the rhetorical situation and invite a fitting response from Benedict. Under the category of “constraints,” I use Neo-Aristotelian criticism to examine the credibility of the rhetor (Benedict XVI), and Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s prior research on papal rhetoric to analyze the constraints of the genre. I also use Edwin Black, Michael Calvin McGee, and Maurice Charland’s respective theorizing on the nature of the audience to understand how Benedict attempts to call forth and constitute an ideal “people” by appealing to a shared ideology, myth, and narrative history. I evaluate the clergy sexual abuse scandal as the most pressing exigence that Benedict attempts to modify through rhetorical discourse. After outlining the key themes, motifs and arguments of Spe Salvi, I analyze seven speeches Benedict delivered to U.S. Catholics, and interpret the ways in which they function as an addendum to Spe Salvi and an application of the encyclical to the rhetorical situation of the Catholic Church in the United States at the time of Benedict’s visit.