Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric

Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric is a landmark contribution to the field, leaving readers with a profound appreciation for the dynamic power of Augustine's martyrs as instruments of persuasion. Ployd's meticulous analysis, engaging writing style, and compelling arguments make this book essential reading for scholars of early Christianity, rhetoric, and theology. It is, without a doubt, a groundbreaking study that reshapes our understanding of Augustine's martyr theology and its rhetorical construction.

Auteur
Adam Ployd is Vice Principal at Wesley House, Cambridge. He previously served as Assistant Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. An ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church, Ployd's work on Augustine has appeared in Augustinian Studies, Journal of Early Christian Studies, Journal of Theological Studies, Harvard Theological Review, Scottish Journal of Theology, Augustiniana, and Vigiliae Christianae. He is the author of Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church: A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons (OUP, 2015).

Texte du rabat

Early Christian martyr accounts were less about recounting history than about constructing theology. As such, we may call them "rhetorical," and indeed many historians of late antique Christianity have done so. But what does this mean for early Christian theology of martyrdom? And what rhetorical techniques are actually being used for such theological construction? This book answers these questions by reading the martyr discourse of Augustine of Hippo in the context of classical rhetorical theory and practice.