The shining city on a hill: Pragmatism, ideas of history and Christian eschatology in North America

Theologians committed to the task of theological inculturation in the United States have recently turned, in new ways, to American pragmatism for their work. Pragmatism does not, however, represent a unified or monolithic philosophical movement; it emerges from several distinct approaches to a variety of philosophical and cultural issues. Some of the more prominent reconstructions of pragmatism draw from the work of either William James or John Dewey and rely, to varying degrees, on historicist, nominalistic, and individualistic philosophies or strategies. Richard Rorty's "New Pragmatism" and Cornel West's "prophetic pragmatism" constitute two examples of this approach.;As a sympathetic critique of, and complement to, the proposals made by Rorty and West, I propose in this dissertation to construct a "communal pragmatism" from the mature insights of three American philosophers: Orestes Augustus Brownson, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Josiah Royce. I wish to show how the retrieval of these American resources presents a metaphysical, realist, and communal philosophical strategy which theologians can employ in American cultures.;Christian eschatology provides a particularly apt locus for testing the theological potential of a communal pragmatism. A set of frequently unexamined ideas about history operates in American society which can hinder genuinely constructive theological claims. The image of a "shining city on a hill" functions as a rhetorical touchstone for this cultural posture insofar as Americans understand themselves as a "redeemer nation" with a divine, providential history. As an "American eschatology," this set of ideas generates a form of millennialism, both religious and secular, to which theologians must pay due attention in their constructive work.;A communal pragmatism dismantles several ideologies which fuel American assumptions about history and offers constructive alternatives. Brownson's work suggests an idea of history as "communion"; Peirce's triadic metaphysics points to an idea of history as "evolutionary love"; and Royce's philosophy engenders an idea of history as "hope of the Beloved Community." Taken together, these ideas prompt a communal, loving, and atoning engagement with history which can enhance a constructive Christian eschatology in American society.;After explicating the insights of Brownson, Peirce, and Royce which contribute to a communal pragmatism, I suggest in the concluding chapter how this strategy invigorates theological reflection and practice. It can, in part, enable North American Christians to leave their "shining city" behind, embrace a multicultural "global village" and, thereby, rekindle the hope for history on which Christian eschatology depends.