Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
INTRODUCTION 9 (8) Three other factors affected the style of the Tractates.
First, they were delivered extemporaneously and taken down in writing by shorthand experts as they were being delivered.-' This extern poraneity explains the occasional irrelevancies and ramblings, the spots of obscurity, the repetition, the structure of the content, and the numerous remarks addressed to audience reaction. Second, the centrality of Scripture in Christian preaching, as well as Christian life, necessarily influenced the style of all Christian writers, even those who were basically classical in their oratorical theory. Finally there was a heavy dependence upon prayer and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the planning that preceded the sermon. It was not that Augustine did not recommend study or thought planning unimportant, if there was time for it; rather, he assumed that such profound truth was not within the power of fallen man's intellect, and that without divine help not even the greatest intelligence could properly comprehend the meanings of Scripture. He constantly begs his audience to pray for him that he, and they through him, might gain understanding.
(9) Augustine accepted Cicero's three goals for oratory, to teach, to please, and to persuade.^" For the Christian preacher teaching was an eminent necessity. Pleasing, both through exhortation and rebuke (for condemnation is as satisfying to the serious soul as praise), was valuable, not for the pleasure in
27. R. Deferrari, "St. Augustine's Method of C>omposing and Delivering Sermons," American Journal of Philology 43 (1922) 97—123, 193-219, and "Verbatim Reports of Augustine's Unwritten Sermons," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 46 (1915) 35—45These two articles are still the basic studies on this subject. See also En m P5 51.1 (CCL 39.623); Berrouard, Homelies I-XVI, 9; and Possidius, Vita Augustini, ed. M. Pellegrino, Verba Seniorum 4(1 95 5) 60 -62. H. -I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity, tr. G. Lamb (New York, 1956), 312-313, has a good account of the prevalence, importance, and teaching of shorthand in the late Roman Empire.
28. "... the average sermon of Augustine makes such a disorderly impression that his unpretentious manner seems almost to suggest carelessness," Van der Meer, 418. Yet the artlessness is deceptive; it is intentional and part of the style and in no way detracts from its beauty, as the careful reader of the Latin text will observe.