The art of listening in the early church /

In this important contribution to patristics, Harrison (Univ. of Durham, UK) explores how practices of listening and speaking shaped Christianity's transmission to largely illiterate audiences in the fourth and fifth centuries. It employs a sophisticated interdisciplinary framework to understand how preachers and hearers understood the importance of listening for Christian formation in both cultural and theological contexts. The book begins with an exploration of what it meant to listen in the context of early Christianity and then goes on to explore the ways in which early Christian preachers both used and explained their use of classical rhetorical techniques in service to the Gospel. Harrison's discussion of various figures includes, of course, Saint Augustine of Hippo. Harrison also explores how words created images and memories that shaped the minds and souls of Christian listeners. She examines what it meant to hear and recite the creeds as catechumens, and then discusses early Christian preaching. Finally, she closes with a chapter on prayer, and what it meant to "hear God" in an internal work. Students of early Christian history and theology will find this book worthwhile. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. A. W. Klink Duke University