Faith seeking understanding: the relationship between noetic and pneumatic differentiation in Eric Voegelin's political philosophy.

This thesis is a study of the philosophy of Eric Voegelin with particular focus on the relationship between noetic differentiation (particularly Greek philosophy) and pneumatic differentiation (particularly Christianity). The thesis begins with an examination of the recovery of transcendence in politics through his noetic theory of consciousness and noetic theory of history. It then turns to consider Voegelin's reading of Christianity, which makes a nuanced distinction between the superior Christian differentiation and its subsequent derailed expression. The thesis proposes that, for a variety of reasons, Voegelin gave primacy to Greek philosophy over Christianity in order to restore political order through a "noetically-controlled Christianity."