In reading the posts by each member of the class it was
apparent that, for the most part, each of us are in agreement in the style,
form, and rhetorical devices used by St. Augustine. I too, feel that St.
Augustine uses all three levels of style with one ultimate goal as stated by
James in his post, “teaching alone (in the sermon would not be enough, action
would be required.” The end goal was move the audience to action.
I desire to point out a two methods that may have added more
power to his sermon. One being the more apparent use of the topic, documents. While
St. Augustine quotes the scriptures if he were to deliberately use the
scripture reference and then quote it may bring an added emphasis to the
importance of that source.
Other posts clearly and correctly point out the power of St.
Augustine’s Sermon throughout but I desire to focus on the last paragraph (7).
I believe this to be the most important and powerful paragraph of his speech.
As mentioned by Macey Richardson and Macey Bleazard, this last paragraph has a
deeper meaning. Both of these posts come to a different interpretation of the
significance of what St. Augustine meant.
If we, having the text before us, are unsure as to St.
Augustine’s meaning than surely, those who only had an opportunity to hear the
words once would have struggled to grasp the final moving piece of the sermon.
How could St. Augustine have made this more effective? I believe if he would
have continued to use his established pattern (anthypophora) to explain what he
meant by the last sentences it would have allowed the audience to make the
powerful connection as explained by Macey Richardson. I fear that because St. Augustine ended so quickly his most powerful motivation or the punch line (in connecting us to the Savior) was missed by the majority of the audience.
I think we often forget how powerful the scriptures are when we use them as authorities. Because we are used to hearing people cite scripture in church and sometimes even in class, I think we become numb to it, but you are absolutely right to point out how much the author is leaning on the power of the scriptures.
ReplyDeleteWell said Mark! Its important as we speak to remember our overall goal is not just to give a speech, but rather to accomplish a specific purpose. I think that you're right that Augustine could have been a bit clearer in the end. I don't believe he was actually saying that we should pray for the lord to kill our enemies, but that our enemies might become our friends. Having a changed heart. I think he could also have brought up that by showing love and forgiveness, as Jesus taught, "to them that hate you", they can experience a change of heart.
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same thoughts actually when I was thinking about the concluding paragraph. Maybe the way that he delivered the speech made a difference. When you deliver things orally you can emphasize what you want verbally, tonally, or with body movement. Maybe he was able to communicate more than just the words when he concluded to provide a more easily understood phrase. Also, since a lot of his audience probably weren't well versed an literate, I think the only way they received information from others was verbally, so maybe they were better than us at picking up on spoken rhetoric as we are most likely better at comprehending written rhetoric, since literacy is such a huge part of our civilization today.
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