• Brings together insights from classics, theology, and linguistics
• Demonstrates how Augustine's statements on the nature of language inform his own work as a literary stylist
• Accessible to all, since all Latin is translated

Readership: Scholars and students of classics, theology (especially of Augustine and the early Church), historical linguists

Philip Burton, Lecturer in New Testament Studies and Biblical Languages, University of Birmingham

"Philip Burton has written a throughly researched book that is sure to impress any reader of Augustine who appreciates both the nuances of language and the subtlety of argument weaved within Augustine's writings... this book is a must read read for those who wish to gain a deeper and richer appreciation Augustine's Confessions." - The Heythrop Journal

"Burton's book is a creative addition to the scholarship on the Confessions, well worth reading in its entirety by specialists onAugustine, but as articles, too, by any with interests in the individual topics...The result is unusual, welcome, and refreshing...a fine example of what can result from getting a different pair of eyes with a different methodology to work on a renowned and overworked canonical text." - Dan Uta Shanzer American Journal of Philology

1: Sermo
2: Alternative Comedy: The Language of the Theatre
3: The Vocabulary of the Liberal Arts
4: Talking Books
5: Biblical Idioms in the Confessions
6: The Paralinguistics
7: Epilogue