Augustine's Theology of Preaching

8. Conclusion

8 Conclusion We began our book by exploring the historical context of Augustine’s preaching. Chapter 1 showed that we recognize that, although our study is a doctrinal investigation, doctrine is not formulated in isolation from cultural and historical realities. Following on from that background we considered the challenges faced by pagan oratory in Chapter 2. This presented the issues Augustine was sensitized to through his career as a secular speaker. The above chapters laid the foundation for exploring how Augustine articulated his approach to interpreting Scripture and preaching in De Doctrina. In Chapter 3, we considered the role of interiority, temporality, and Scripture in De Doctrina. All of this shaped our in-depth explication in Chapter 4 of our two hermeneutical keys: interiority and temporality. The value of our terms of investigation as hermeneutical keys was then demonstrated in Chapters 5 to 7. These comprised inductive studies of themes commonly preached about in the Sermones ad Populum. Throughout these chapters, we showed that our hermeneutical keys provide a valid reading of Augustine’s approach to preaching Scripture. They enabled us to expose the assumed doctrinal framework which Augustine brought to the task of preaching. Our material has been organized to expose and explore the beliefs developed by Augustine concerning preaching. This has been done in a way which gives readers a sense of what Augustine’s preaching was actually like. All of this has been done against the backdrop of relevant historical and rhetorical matters. Terms of Investigation The terms interiority and temporality acted as a hermeneutical guide through the large numbers of Sermones which have been explored. Throughout our reading of the Sermones, we considered whether the terms provided meaningful 171 hermeneutical keys for reading the Sermones and whether they increased understanding of Augustine’s assumptions about how he preached. Our conclusion is that our terms are indeed a valid and constructive way of understanding what Augustine believed he was doing while preaching. A reader desiring to understand the Sermones and the concerns which were held by Augustine the preacher would benefit from keeping these terms in mind as he or she reads through the Sermones. A guide such as this is helpful when attempting to explore such a vast range of writings. Our claim is not that these terms provide an exhaustive interpretation of the Sermones, nor that they are the only valid way of approaching them. However, it would seem reasonable to conclude that they are a valid and meaningful path through what can otherwise appear an insurmountable collection of writings. Their usefulness has been tested across a wide range of the relevant texts. Scripture played a leading role in our study, as it did in Augustine’s preaching. Scripture was, in essence, the reality upon which Augustine continually focused; interiority and temporality were the hermeneutical keys which guided him deeper into Scripture. As he thus ventured deeper into its obscurities and mysteries, Augustine was better able to refigure his congregation’s inner longings and destinies around its concerns. The more Augustine explored the interiority and temporality of Scripture, the more listeners’ interior desires and temporal lives were drawn into a scriptural view of reality. Augustine’s probing of temporality and interiority broke down the walls between congregation and Scripture; lives were refigured by Scripture. The value of this insight may be seen when it is compared to a recent unpublished interpretation of Augustine’s preaching.1 Boyd-MacMillan’s helpful doctoral thesis is concerned with the psychology and spirituality of transformation in preaching, making use of Augustine’s Sermones and other modern thinkers. Like us, he perceives and makes much of the centrality of Scripture in Augustine’s preaching, writing “We have seen Augustine’s belief in the power of scripture to reorient desire, albeit over time, which is why he saw his role as bishop to be primarily one of preacher.”2 Boyd-MacMillan seeks to explain how Augustine used the Scriptures to impact listeners: 1. Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Ronald, “The Transforming Sermon: A Study of the Preaching of St. Augustine, with Special Reference to the Sermones Ad Populum, and the Transformation Theory of James Loder” (PhD diss., University of Aberdeen, 2009). 2. Ibid., 89. 172 | Augustine’s Theology of Preaching He has a text, and his community is listening. How does he seek to connect the two, consciously, as he preaches? The sermons reveal, at the very least, his aim to...