Murder and Chiasmus

I can just picture Augustine at the pulpit, breathing down repentance and pronouncing blessings upon the faithful.  Can you imagine him in General Conference?  First off, I’d like to identify his audience as I see it.  The people he is addressing are just like you and me.  Overall, we know the scriptures.  We know we should be good.  We know we should not be bad.  How many talks have you heard on forgiving others?  I think that these people know they should forgive each other’s trespasses, and I think Augustine thinks the same way. 

This leads me to his style of approach.  While much is very instructive, I don’t necessarily feel that this sermon is a low style of preaching.  It has a somewhat grander flair to it.  I feel that he is trying to present the topic in a way that is new to the audience, or at least more appealing, or memorable.  For instance, his use of chiasmus in his introductory and second paragraphs is an incredible tool often found in the scriptures, which is pleasing to the mind and directs the flow of thoughts to specific ideas.  (Read it again, it starts and ends with “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.”)  Augustine breaks down the door when he throws out the words of St. John.  If you were sitting in the audience and had a particular person in mind who you wanted to get even with, how would you respond if you were suddenly called a murderer by one of the early apostles?  I tend to think of this sermon as somewhere between the middle and grand styles, due to his intensity and fervor.

A good orator is his audience... sort of.

"Confessions" by Augustine contains
a lot of his story, this is mostly what
we read from in my Freshman class.

In a class that I had at the University of Utah my freshman year we studied Augustine briefly, but instead of focusing on rhetoric, we focused on philosophy and the intellectual tradition of western civilization, so we read his memoirs and treatises, but none of his sermons. I remember the memoirs most clearly, because in them it seemed like Augustine was putting more trust in his audience by writing about details of his life; I gained a lot of respect for the man because he went through a lot of repentance and had to experience a lot of forgiveness on his path to becoming a Christian, and it seemed like his conversion was as complete as any other I've heard of, he was a changed man. Augustine's sermon for lent would have been more powerful if he would have shared some of those personal experiences that he had. I'm not saying that he needed to confess any of his specific past transgressions, but sharing that he had personally experienced in a real, tangible way what the scriptures had taught him would have added so much power.

The act of personally relating to an audience through personal testimony of his or her experience seems like it could be a part of all three categories of style (high, low, middle). All of you have done a great job describing how all three categories were present in the sermon, I agree, and it was cool to see the arrangement of the sermon and how it effected flow of the oratory style. One interesting part that stood out to me was when he included himself as the audience, "... do not be ashamed to seek pardon. In the same manner I speak to all, men and women, young and old, lay persons and clerics, and to myself, also. Let us all hearken; let us all fear." He puts us all on the same level! But at the same time utilizes high style to try and inspire action.

Most of us think of a good leader as one who works a long side those he leads. My mind turns to Jesus Christ; a great deal of the love and respect that many have for Him stems from the fact that He, the single greatest being in the Universe has been through everything that we go through, He's descended to our level, so that He can lift us up to His level. Augustine kind of does the same when he uses the pronoun "us", but could have done it to a greater extent by sharing relevant personal experiences, which, when effectively done, is done in all three styles: high, low, and middle.

He's our best friend!

Practice What You Preach

In thinking back to Book IV of De Doctrina Christiana, I felt that St. Augustine stayed true to many of the things that he talked about and said were necessary for a Christian Teacher in his sermon around the time of Lent. In his teachings Augustine says that it is the duty of the teacher to “rouse the hearers” so that the listeners are attentive or intrigued enough in the speech before delivering what they want their audience to learn. Augustine accomplishes this well in the first paragraph of the sermon using intriguing thoughts and ending on a metaphor, comparing the differences of anger and hatred. This really gets his audience, as I did me, interested in what he is about to teach. This pleasing style of speech is aimed at getting an audience interested before heaping on the instruction or exhortation.

...St. Augustine would agree.

Another point St. Augustine made in De Doctrina Christiana, which he felt was important for the Christian teacher, was that clarity was of utmost importance, but not at the cost of giving up eloquence. From my own experience, this can be a very difficult thing to do. Often times the cost to be very clear is to cut out much of the “fluff” and decorum of speech. All throughout his speech, Augustine accomplishes a wonderful middle ground, with clear ideas and thoughts backed up by powerful scriptures and beautiful language. One example of this is found in paragraph 6 where Augustine addresses people whose offenders have chosen not to apologize. With the use of a story like scenario that anyone in his audience could apply to themselves he walks them through their situation, eloquently teaching the doctrine and what should be done in this situation. This method of moving the audience is really effective as Augustine attempts to put his listeners into the topic of discussion right then and there.

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.

Eloquence and Isaiah: Parallelism, Synonymia, and Repetition in Isaiah 53:5

            Isaiah 53:5 states, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  

Parallelism

             I noticed chiefly here that the majority of eloquence, beauty and pleasing manner of the verse occurred through parallelism.  I noticed through the parallelism that the structure goes for the first two clauses, “He was helping verb for our plural noun.”  Thus we have a classic clausal parallelism in two adjacent clauses. 

Synonymia             

Furthermore, we see synonymia, which is the use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a given subject or term.  In this verse we understand that wounded and bruised, transgressions and iniquities, and chastisement and stripes are basically synonymous in this context.  The use of synonymia adds emotional force, repeating the horrible and amazing truth that the Savior was hurt for our sins.  Furthermore, it adds a type of intelligence to the verse.  It would be much simpler to say simple that Jesus died to forgive our sins, but by adding various synonyms for hurt, sins, and chastisement, we are compelled twice to analyze the meaning behind the words in a more intellectual manner than a more simple construction would yield.

Repetition

Repetition is the final stylistic idea that I thought was a major part of this verse that added to its eloquence.  Its anaphora (if we ignore the “but” at the beginning of the verse) of “he was” adds emphasis on Jesus and is pleasing and musical to the ear.  There is a certain rhythm overall to this verse and the repetition throughout of “he” throughout the verse adds a consistency and rhythm to the verse.  Clearly, Isaiah was aiming not only to instruct in this verse but to please through eloquence.  This verse is most definitely Middle Style.

Walking the Line: Clarity and Condescending Tone in English Teaching Style

Ms. Evans might wear an
outfit like this to seem
professional but still
stylish to her students.

About a month and a half into the school year, Ms. Evans carefully reviews her lesson plan for the following day—the basic structure of the essay.  She has spent several weeks working on this particular lesson plan.  She can teach them how to write essays successfully, their entire lives will likely benefit.  When she wakes early the day of her lesson, Ms. Evans carefully dresses in a pencil skirt and floral blouse.  She knows that if she dresses nicely but not exuberantly, she will increase her ethos.  The girls will comment on how they love her style of dress, and the boys in the class will respect her as a clean-cut and authoritative leader who can still be personable and addressable. 

As she lectures with a helpful PowerPoint, she is careful to use both the middle and low style.  Although she relies mostly on the low style to help instruct her students, she understands that teaching is a profession that relies on both instruction and entertainment.  If the class is not at least somewhat entertained, they “zone-out” and fail to learn about how to write a successful essay.  Therefore, at key parts of the lesson, such as the introduction into new sections, she inserts entertaining humor through paronomasia, hyperbole, and even at extremely choice times sarcasm.  Furthermore, she understands that wit will increase her ethos.  She will be seen as intelligent and authoritative, but also personable.

Ms. Evans will use PowerPoint to add
clarity to her lesson.  Clarity is at the
heart of her teaching.  She can make
the PowerPoint interesting and
entertaining, too in order to engage the
students.

Decorum and propriety are incredibly important parts of Ms. Evans lesson.  She cannot seem condescending, rude, or out-of-touch with her students.  Therefore, she speaks with limited ornateness and talks with clarity.  She is careful to mix her lecture with dialogue and discussion between the students.  She uses a few metaphors or similes to help the class understand something when it is compared to something else.  All the figures of speech she uses are geared toward clarity and conciseness.  Knowing that nothing discourages a student from learning like condescending tones and belittlement, Ms. Evans walks the fine line between being extremely specific and clear in her argument without sounding like she thinks her students know nothing.  Homiologia (tedious repetition) and perissologia (superfluity of speech) will not be conducive to teaching so she avoids those at all times.  She uses a method wherein she states something and then adds what it is in an apposition in order to be clear but also maintain faith that she thinks her students are intelligent.  She uses body language that is open and inviting but also authoritative.  Her head is held high, but she smiles and nods often when her students are

explaining concepts to her.

The best English teachers avoid being condescending like this
teacher.  They instead help their students by being clear,
personable, and understanding.

After her lesson, several students walk up to her desk and tell her that they had never had the   Ms. Evans smiles and knows that her lesson went as well as possible.  She knows that her lesson is the most effective when she speaks clearly, uses multimedia presentations, and engages in both lecture and dialogue with her students.  She knows that in this particular lesson, she was extremely effective.

“writing an essay” lesson explained so clearly and well.

Actuaries Have... Style?

On the final stop of a string of flights around the country, the head actuary of a leading firm in the industry prepares to meet with the last of his clients. It is the end of the fiscal year and customers are eager to see where their money is going, and the value that actuarial risk management is bringing to their business.

            The actuary has been preparing for this end of year meeting all year long, each day of the year perfecting his communicatory style. His style will be important as he sits down and discusses business with his clients. The reports he has written all year and the work he has done with other actuaries has helped to prepare him to now orally deliver a confident and stylistic report. The actuaries’ stylistic goal is to please the client. This middle type of style – one set at delighting the hearers – is a skill that a head or lead actuary must have mastered by the time he meets with his clients at the end of the year.

           

            The first chance the actuary has to attempt to please his client happens before either of them opens their mouths. How he decides to dress will put an idea into the clients mind almost immediately on how much they can trust the work that his actuary is doing. A red tie can resemble intellect, but also can resemble dominance. Appropriate business dress for a consulting actuary should give off the message of confidence, but avoid going too far into the realm of arrogance and god-like prowess. Allowing his appearance to become too expensive, flashy, or “mighty” will negate much or what can be achieved through a powerful middle style in pleasing his clients.

            Once conversation is flowing and the bulk of the conversation is in the actuaries court that is the time he has to pounce, making sure to do all he can to please and retain the business of the customer. Providing evidence and clarity in his style helps to put the client at ease, minimizing the amount of questions of doubt that may arise in the clients mind as the conversation goes on. Tone and delivery must be friendly, timely, and confident. As the actuary focuses on these aspects of his style he will undoubtedly leave this last meeting with a firm handshake and an assurance for continued business with the client through the upcoming year.