Seeking Feedback on Examples and Communication Style
Paul's instruction to the Colossians—"that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak" [1]—establishes clarity as a biblical standard for Christian communication. The apostle's concern extends beyond mere content to the manner of delivery, recognizing that how truth is communicated affects whether it is received. This principle appears elsewhere when Paul writes to the Galatians expressing his wish to "change my tone" because of his perplexity about them [2], demonstrating that effective communication requires adjusting one's approach to the audience and situation.
Patristic Reflection on Style and Audience
Augustine's On Christian Doctrine provides the most systematic early treatment of communication style in Christian teaching. one tradition argues that Christian speakers must master three aims: perspicuity (clarity), beauty of style, and persuasive power [7]. These qualities do not attach exclusively to any single rhetorical mode but must permeate all forms of discourse. Augustine insists on "a strong desire for clearness" that may even lead to "neglect of the more polished forms of speech," describing this as "a kind of careful negligence" [8]—prioritizing intelligibility over ornament without descending into vulgarity.
The necessity of varying one's style emerges as a consistent theme. Augustine observes that "when we keep monotonously to one style, we fail to retain the hearer's attention; but when we pass from one style to another, the discourse goes off more gracefully" [6]. He recommends that speakers exercise discretion in alternating between subdued and majestic styles, noting that the majestic becomes "more majestic by comparison" when contrasted with temperate introductions [4]. This principle of stylistic variation serves not rhetorical showmanship but the practical goal of maintaining attention and achieving understanding.
The Limits of Technique
Early Christian writers resisted reducing communication to mere technical proficiency. One patristic author dismisses critics who focus on "barbarisms and solecisms" as displaying "a childish and petty spirit" [5], suggesting that substance matters more than grammatical polish. Yet this does not excuse carelessness. Job's declaration—"Hear and I will speak; I will question you, then inform me" [3]—models the dialogical nature of effective teaching, where the speaker remains open to correction and refinement through interaction with the audience.
Sources
- Colossians “Colossians 4:4 (NASB) — that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
- Galatians “Galatians 4:20 (BSB) — how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.”
- Job “Job 42:4 (LEB) — ‘Hear and I will speak; I will question you, then inform me.’”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 23.--HOW THE VARIOUS STYLES SHOULD: BE MINGLED. 52. Now it is a matter of importance to determine what style should be alternated with what other, and the places where it is necessary that any particular style should be used. In the majestic style, for instance, it is always, or almost always, desirable that the introduction should be temperate. And the speaker has it in his discretion to use the subdued style even where the majestic would be allowable, in order that the majestic when it is used may be the more majestic by compar”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 6: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius, Julius Africanus, Methodius, Arnobius — BOOK I. (part 37): but do not clearly mark its great features. But he who really knows the subject under discussion, neither defines, nor deduces, nor seeks the other tricks of words by which an audience is wont to be taken in, and to be beguiled into a forced assent to a proposition. 59. Your narratives, my opponent says, are overrun with barbarisms and solecisms, and disfigured by monstrous blunders. A censure, truly, which shows a childish and petty spirit; for if we allow that it is reasonable, let us cease”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 22.--THE NECESSITY OF VARIETY IN: STYLE. 51. But we are not to suppose that it is against rule to mingle these various styles: taste. For when we keep monotonously to one style, we fail to retain the hearer's attention; but when we pass from one style to another, the discourse goes off more gracefully, even though it extend to greater length. Each separate style, again, has varieties of its own which prevent the hearer's attention from cooling or becoming languid. We can bear the subdued style, however, longer without variety tha”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 26.--IN EVERY STYLE THE ORATOR SHOULD AIM AT PERSPICUITY, BEAUTY, AND PERSUASIVENESS. (part 1): 55. Now in regard to the three conditions I laid down a little while ago(1) as necessary to be fulfilled by any one who wishes to speak with wisdom and eloquence, viz. perspicuity, beauty of style, and persuasive power, we are not to understand that these three qualities attach themselves respectively to the three several styles of speech, one to each, so that perspicuity is a merit peculiar to the subdued style, beauty to the temperat”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 10.--THE NECESSITY FOR PERSPICUITY (part 1): OF STYLE. 24. Now a strong desire for clearness sometimes leads to neglect of the more polished forms of speech, and indifference about what sounds well, compared with what dearly expresses and conveys the meaning intended. Whence a certain author, when dealing with speech of this kind, says that there is in it "a kind of careful negligence."(1) Yet while taking away ornament, it does not bring in vulgarity of speech; though good teachers have, or ought to have, so great an anxiety abo”