“Stretch Yourself on the Rack of Your Heart” (S. 13.7): Reality, Spirituality, and Emotions in Augustine’s Imagery

Abstract

When transmitted in writing sermons lose most of the actual contemporary context of their oral delivery. However, the rhetorical images used by the preacher may provide a key to access state of mind and emotions of both orator and audience. This “unlocking of minds and hearts” requires (1) the oral re-enacting of the text, in order to verify the actual form and delivery of the spoken word, and (2) the (archaeological) reconstruction of the real world those images refer to, in order to avoid misunderstandings by introducing modern (mis)conceptions. This newly suggested method is exemplified by analyzing Augustine’s admonition “Stretch yourself on the rack of your heart” (S. 13.7). First the material reality of the rack in antiquity is closely studied in order to ascertain the precise impression its notion made on the minds of the audience. On this basis the unrecorded emotional and psychological effects of the image are investigated. Eventually, the similar use of the same image by Gregory of Nyssa shows the wide-spread diffusion of this kind of rhetoric that evokes emotions through images and the value of introducing their analysis as a key to the oral and unrecorded context of ancient sermons in general.|Keywords: Images, imagination, realia, torture, oral delivery of sermons, emotions, Gregory of Nyssa