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The Dialectic of Orality and Literacy: The Case of Book 4 of Augustine's De doctrina christiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

John D. Schaeffer
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Abstract

Some critics cite book 4 of Augustine's De doctrina Christiana as a source of the anti-rhetorical style of Renaissance English prose. However, such critics do not recognize that book 4 offers instruction in extemporaneous oral performance. Nor do contemporary critics note Augustine's pervasive orality, though a substantial critical literature addresses this fact. The relation of orality to literacy was complex in late antiquity, particularly as illiterates converted to Christianity, a text-based religion. Augustine's prescriptions can be seen to illustrate the development of “innerness” among Christians. Book 4 shows how Scripture reading, prayer, and style can be marshaled to produce extemporaneous oral performances that provoke interior religious experiences. Modern criticism of book 4 that views oralily and literacy as simple opposites and that privileges literacy can lead to misreading. As a document imbricated in the complex relation of literacy and oralily, however, book 4 makes a different kind of sense.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 111 , Issue 5 , October 1996 , pp. 1133 - 1145
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1996

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