Robert Minor CMN 415 RRP: St.

Augustine Confessions 04/25/2011 (2 Days Late)

The following quotations provide support for the reading response paper: Confessions Book 1 Pg. 39 A man who has learnt the traditional rules of pronunciation, or teaches them to others, gives greater scandal if he breaks them by dropping the aitch from human being than if he breaks your rules and hates another human, his fellow man. This is just as perverse as to imagine that our enemies can do us more harm than we do to ourselves by hating them, or that by persecuting another man we can damage him more fatally than we damage our own hearts in the process. Confessions Book 5 Pg. 97 I have known men of another sort, who look on truth with suspicion and are unwilling to accept it if it is presented in fine, rounded phrases. But in your wonderful, secret way, my God, you had already taught me that a statement is not necessarily true because it is wrapped in fine language or false because it is awkwardly expressed. Confessions Book 9 Pg. 188 For those who try to find joy in things outside themselves easily vanish away into emptiness. They waste themselves on the temporal pleasures of the visible world. Their minds are starved and they nibble at empty shadows. How I wish that they would tire of going hungry and cry out for sight of better times!

The confessions of a Catholic saint seem an odd place to find works on rhetoric, but St. Augustine made clear-cut references to rhetoric and its place in dialogue. Rhetoric finds its place in St. Augustines confessions as he travels in search of the truths in this world. St. Augustine finds truth only in God, in the invisible, whereas those things known by the senses are of the physical world and can deceive the inquirer away from the true nature of things. St. Augustine stayed open to the teachings of the day until they proved themselves not to be in line with Gods teachings. St. Augustine spent a great deal of time with the Manichees, a religious sect that recognized the pull between good, of the spiritual or invisible, and evil, of the physical world. The Manichean teachings resembled much of the Christian church; most likely the reason St. Augustine was attracted so strongly to their teachings. As his journey continued, St. Augustines focus fell on the qualities of the invisible world. Patience and humility appear as cornerstones for all his inquiries. Never does he argue for his greatness or his success, but instead he contributes his success to the work of God. When truth did not come to him right away, he did not lose his focus, but instead remained patient waiting for further guidance from God. When a man like Faustus encountered St. Augustine on his journey to find truth, St. Augustine makes a point to appreciate each aspect of his speech for what it is, but to separate each aspect clearly from one another. St. Augustines dedication to finding unadulterated truth helped him separate fine rhetoric from the content of the message thereby enabling him to keep each characteristic of the speech properly weighted. If there was eloquence in the speech, St. Augustine praised its verbosity, but recognized its unimportance in determining if the content was in line with truth or fiction. St. Augustine was only interested in finding the truth in this world, and truth was with God, which is of the invisible. If truth is in the invisible, then the invisible part of each of us, the soul, is where truth or the lack thereof finds its place to influence. St. Augustine recognized this and sought only that which would strengthen his soul. As God was the source of those qualities that strengthen his soul, it was necessary for St. Augustine to confess to God all those things not compatible with truth in order for those sins not to wear away at those things which make the soul stronger, the presence of God (or truth). Rhetoric plays no role in determining truth for St. Augustine. It is only the format of the medium of speech used to convey a message. For this reason St. Augustine feels pity for those men who are nervous of truth wrapped in eloquent speech and those who ignore truth if it is presented in an unattractive way. Scaling rhetoric down to its appropriate place is a cornerstone of St. Augustines teachings, and ignoring it when searching for truth in a message is as important. Searching for truth or those qualities considered eternal and with God, is the only source of true happiness for St. Augustine. All things of this world are part of the shadows, or the world of illusion, blocking out the light of truth from reaching its pursuer. If this interpretation were accurate, then it would seem the world of illusion would be more visible then the light put off by truth as the world of illusion skews the view. St. Augustine is sympathetic and concerned for those who nibble at shadows. These people will never find the happiness they seek due to their distraction with things of this world resulting in a loss of sight of the source of happiness, truth found in God.