Ambivalence Within a "Totalizing Discourse": Augustine's Sermons on the Sack of Rome

Recent scholarship has explored the role of rhetoric in the Christianization of the ancient world. Particular attention has been given to "totalizing discourse" whereby Christian interpretations of events subsumed or excluded other interpretations. Augustine's sermons after the sack of Rome attest to competing interpretations of the sack and to tension between the attitude of Augustine and attitudes in his congregations. The paper explores the way in which Augustine deals rhetorically with the views of others, noting in particular his orchestration of biblical themes and divine sanctions to construct an identity for Christians that is antithetical to that of pagans. The persistence of dissent, even as it is represented by Augustine, reveals the limits of rhetoric as a medium of Christianization.