My project is to reflect philosophically on the claim that God speaks. In this opening chapter I will situate these reflections within various ongoing contemporary discussions. But before I do that, let's have in hand some examples – or purported examples – of the phenomenon we will be discussing.

Examples of God speaking

In the year 386 there took place in the northern Italian city of Milan a conversation which was as fateful for religion in the West as any which has ever taken place. The participants were Augustine, his friend Alypius, and Ponticianus, a fellow countryman from North Africa who held a high position in the Emperor's household. The conversation was initiated by Ponticianus paying a visit to Augustine and Alypius at the villa in which they were staying along with Augustine's mother. Ponticianus, says Augustine in his narration of the episode, “had some request to make of us and we sat down to talk” (Confessions VIII, 6). Though Ponticianus eventually completed his business (VIII, 7), what is important to us is not the business transacted – we don't even know what it was – but the fateful crisis Ponticianus triggered in Augustine before they ever got around to discussing business.

Shortly after sitting down, Ponticianus picked up a book lying on a game-table near by. He expected something from Augustine's profession as a teacher of rhetoric; instead it was a copy of St. Paul's epistles.