The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo
De Doctrina Christiana and the Search for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric

The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo is the definitive edition of St. Augustine's fourth book of De Doctrina Christiana, the book that deals with rhetoric and its uses in Christian discourse. The edition of DDC contains both the original Latin and Sister Tèrèse Sullivan's brilliant translation. An introduction discusses the historical importance of DDC. Seven seminal essays written during the last seventy-five years provide representative discussions of the important topics of DDC. The volume includes a detailed, synoptic outline of all four books, with a conclusion by Amy K. Hermanson that synthesizes Augustine's rhetorical theory in a religious context. This is the only edition of its kind. It will remain the standard for a long time to come.

Acknowledgements                                                                                                    

Foreword                                                                                                                    

James J. Murphy

Part I

Introduction

1. St. Augustine and the Creation of a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric   

Amy K. Hermanson, Drew M. Loewe, Kristi Schwertfeger Serrano, Lisa Michelle Thomas, and Sarah L. Yoder

Part II

De Doctrina Christiana

2. Synoptic Outline of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana          

Stacia Dunn Neeley, D. B. Magee, and Lisa Michelle Thomas

3. Latin Text, Translation, and Commentary of Book IV of De Doctrina Christiana

 Sister Thérèse Sullivan

Part III

The Rhetoric of Saint Augustine

4. St. Augustine on Preaching (1928)                                                  

Charles Sears Baldwin

5. St. Augustine and the Debate about a Christian Rhetoric (1960)     

James J. Murphy

6. Augustine and the Problem of a Christian Rhetoric (1974)             

Ernest L. Fortin

7. St Augustine and Martianus Capella: Continuity and Change in Fifth-Century Latin Rhetorical Theory (1976)                                         

Michael C. Leff

8. St. Augustine’s Theory of Language (1982)                                               

Gerard Watson

9. Charity, Obscurity, Clarity: Augustine’s Search for a True Rhetoric (1990)

David Tracy                                                                                        

10. The Dialectic of Orality and Literacy: The Case of Book 4 of Augustine’s           De Doctrina Christiana (1996)                                                           

John D. Schaeffer

Part IV

Conclusion

11. Religion’s Rhetoric:  St. Augustine’s Union of Christian Wisdom and Sophistic Eloquence

Amy K. Hermanson

Appendix:  Original Front Matter to Sister Thérèse Sullivan’s De Doctrina Christiana, Liber Qvartvs (Epigraph, Preface, Select Bibliography, and Introduction)                       

Notes                                                                                                                          

Bibliography                                                                                                               

Roger C. Thompson and Lisa Michelle Thomas

Index

Richard Leo Enos (Ph.D. Indiana University) is Professor and Holder of the Lillian Radford Chair of Rhetoric in the Department of English, Texas Christian University.

Roger Thompson (Ph.D. Texas Christian University) is Associate Professor of English and Fine Arts, Virginia Military Institute.  His work has appeared in Rhetoric Review and College English, and he is co-editor of a Dictionary of Literary Biography series on American Nature Writing.  He is currently working on a book, Emerson and the History of Rhetoric.