ABSTRACT
The powerful rhetoric of Theophilus’ homilies has caused some modern scholars to doubt his sincerity.1 But no fourth-or fifthcentury preacher eschewed rhetorical devices in his effort to move his audience. The antitheses, exclamations, rhetorical questions and anaphorae that we find in Theophilus’ sermons may be paralleled in other ecclesiastical orators.2 Theophilus naturally used all the rhetorical resources of his age to make the Christian gospel as persuasive as possible.
