Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Wronged, Yet Seeking to Forgive

*I could not figure out how to fix my words being split between lines, so sorry in advance.

Reading through St. Augustine's sermon, I noticed that he was mostly addressing (or at least referring to) forgiveness among masters and servants, but also between brother to brother.  In addition, he called out to those in the audience that have not trespassed against another, but have been trespassed against.  These are the people St. Augustine exhorts to not seek forgiveness for a wrong not done, but to ask God to forgive your brother, to be ready to forgive when the time comes, and to prompt your brother to seek forgiveness.  With this last statement in particular, St. Augustine is most definitely using the high/grand style, as I even used the word "exhort," in order to produce a movement in the audience. 

In so doing, however, does this point of discussion not also encompass the low—and even middle—style?  Advice is given to the audience in a manner of teaching, but is not the middle style also present in that St. Augustine seeks in his sermon to find ways to address and connect to everyone he possibly can?  Such effort to make his words touching and applicable to all, while not inherently pleasing, does to some degree please readers.  

I, for one, read St. Augustine's words and saw the merit in them, but it was not until the very end of the sermon when he said, "Say to the Lord in your prayer: 'Lord, You know that I have not sinned against my brother and that he has sinned against me. You know, too, that his having sinned against me is harmful for him if he does not seek pardon from me. With a good intention, then, I beg You to pardon him.'"  Recently having been wronged through no deserving of my own, these words pleased me in that I was personally spoken to, taught me as to how to react in this situation, and moved me to action.

2 comments:

  1. I really liked your breakdown of some of the audiences that Augustine addresses. It would be interesting to know about when/if this speech was given orally to think about some of the points that he made, and how he would deliver those, with these overlapping audiences in the room. I also felt like you that many parts of his speech could be argued as any of the 3 types of style. I think that is the power of Augustine's writing, and what brings clarity to it, kind of a paradox there (as it is unclear what style he may be using at certain parts). It is clear in the sense though what he is trying to teach, which is the end goal of all three.

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  2. You're right, Spencer. Augustine used all three levels of style not only because he wanted to teach, please, and move, but also because all sorts of people were listening!

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