In Rhetoric and Scripture in Augustine's Homiletic Strategy, Michael Glowasky offers an account of how Augustine's pastoral concerns shape the rhetorical strategy in his Sermones ad populum.

In Rhetoric and Scripture in Augustine’s Homiletic Strategy, Michael Glowasky offers an account of how Augustine's pastoral concerns shape the rhetorical strategy in his Sermones ad populum.

The goal of this book is to demonstrate that sermons are "rhetorical" speeches by nature. The simplest argument is that it would be difficult to imagine a sermon without intent, and all international speeches are rhetorical by definition. This work focuses on the fact that rhetoric, as the intrinsic cohesive power of speech, is not a question of form, style or representation but a practical skill based on "common sense" that produces effective speech in the most optimal way possible.

This second volume delves into the intricate dynamics that surrounded the use of Scripture by North African Christians from the late-fourth to the mid-seventh century CE. It focuses on the multivalent ways in which Scripture was incorporated into the fabric of ecclesial existence and theological reflection, as well as on Scripture’s role in informing and supporting these Christians’ decision-making processes. This volume also highlights the intricate theological and philosophical deliberations that were carried out between and among influential North African Christian leaders and scholars—in diverse cultural and geopolitical settings—while paying attention to the complex manner in which these Scripture-laden discourses intersected the wide variety of religious opinions and ecclesiastical and/or theological movements that so clearly marked this region in this era.

This volumes examines the place of classical rhetoric in Augustine's theology. Rather than seeing rhetoric as a matter only of style, the authors examine the argumentative techniques that Augustine would have learned and taught as a professional rhetorician. Essays pay particular attention to the rhetorical practice of invention in order to uncover the ways in which Augustine's thought is not only expressed rhetorically but constructed rhetorically as well. If you want to know what kind of rhetoric Augustine used in the actual practice as a Christian writer and preacher, this volume will answer your question.

For Augustine, that the Word became flesh transformed a merely human understanding of the virtues and grounds all virtue in humility. The Way of Humility: Augustine's Theology of Preaching explores how this truth became a new paradigm for understanding the scriptures and thus, how Augustine embodied the virtue in the preaching of the scriptures. One of Augustine's most devoted students, Possidius, said that anyone can learn from reading Augustine, but "those were able to profit still more who could hear him speak in church and see him with their own eyes. Truly, he was indeed one of those of whom it is written, 'speak this way and act the same way.'" The Way of Humility searches for evidence of the virtue of humility in action through the preaching of the humble Word in the sermons of Augustine. Many know of Augustine through his more famous treatises but few have encountered the Doctor of Grace where he had his most immediate impact, preaching. The Way of Humility follows the sermons through several traditional theological loci, ecclesiology, Christology, soteriology to uncover what can be learned about Augustine's theology through the way he preached to a mixed audience of urbanites and rustics, many of whom did not have the benefit of a formal education. Throughout the book, we see the interplay between Augustine's action in speech and Augustine's more direct statements on his theology of Preaching. Through handing over Christ in his sermons, he became himself an example of humility for the congregation on their journey toward the final end for all people, the Beatific Vision.

Presents a new history of the rise and development of catechesis in Latin Patristic Christianity that foregrounds core questions of knowledge, faith, and teaching. This book focuses on the critical relationship between teaching and epistemology

The poetry of the late Roman world has a fascinating history. Sometimes an object of derision, sometimes an object of admiration, it has found numerous detractors and defenders among classicists and Latin literary critics. This volume explores the scholarly approaches to late Latin poetry that have developed over the last 40 years, and it seeks especially to develop, complement and challenge the seminal concept of the 'Jeweled Style' proposed by Michael Roberts in 1989. While Roberts's monograph has long been a vade mecum within the world of late antique literary studies, a critical reassessment of its validity as a concept is overdue. This volume invites established and emerging scholars from different research traditions to return to the influential conclusions put forward by Roberts. It asks them to examine the continued relevance of The Jeweled Style and to suggest new ways to engage it. In a joint effort, the nineteen chapters of this volume define and map the jeweled style, extending it to new genres, geographic regions, time periods and methodologies. Each contribution seeks to provide insightful analysis that integrates the last 30 years of scholarship while pursuing ambitious applications of the jeweled style within and beyond the world of late antiquity.

The past two decades have seen increased attention to Augustine of Hippo's (AD 354-430) use of rhetorical concepts. In Rhetorical Economy in Augustine's Theology, Brian Gronewoller explores Augustine's use of the rhetorical concept of economy in his theologies of creation, history, and evil. He shows that rhetorical economy was the logic by which Augustine explained tensions within, and answered challenges to, these three fundamental areas of his thought and others with which they intersect, such as providence, divine activity, and divine order.