Augustine:  “There are two things upon which every treatment of the Scriptures depends: the means of discovering what the thought may be, and the means of expressing what the thought is” (Source).

Foucault:  “In every society the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organized, and redistributed by a certain number of procedures whose role is to ward off the powers and dangers, to gain mastery over its chance events, to evade its ponderous, formidable materiality.…discourse is the power which is to be seized” (Source).

St. Augustine of Hippo was an early philosopher and bishop in northern Africa. Over his lifetime (354-430 C.E.) he made a number of significant contributions to western philosophy. Foucault was a 20th-century French philosopher and historian who sought to deconstruct systems and whose teachings are associated with the structuralist movement. (Gutting 2003).

St. Augustine comes from a time where education was concentrated in association with religion. His definition of rhetoric illustrates this focus. He is defining rhetoric as the discovery and formation of an idea about scripture and the expression of that idea to others. If a person’s disciples misinterpret his/her intended message then how can they have effectively ministered? St. Augustine recognizes the power that language holds for discourse regarding religious communication.

In Foucault’s time, access to a superior education was far more common than in Augustine’s. Literacy rates had comparatively skyrocketed and so had the techniques used for communication and persuasion. For Foucault rhetoric was no longer about effectively interpreting scripture, it was about the raw power that could come with persuasive and convincing language. Just as the education had evolved, so had the power that could come with profound rhetorical arguments. In general, people now had access to more wealth than ever before in history and weapons were more destructive. A single armed man could easily kill a number of his brethren. Therefore convincing people to be on your side became that much more potent of a skill.

As society advances and becomes more powerful so does the importance and value of effective rhetoric.