Chrysostom As Exegete

This systematic study of Chrysostom’s Homilies on Genesis demonstrates the wide-ranging sources and techniques that undergird his exegesis, shedding new light on networks of Biblical learning in Late Antiquity. It shows the relationship between exegetical traditions and ethical evaluation in specific homiletic discourses, highlighting the importance of name and word meanings for Chrysostom.

V. 1. Homilies 1-17.- v. 2. Homilies 18-45.

While St. John Chrysostom may have commented on all 150 psalms in the Psalter, commentary has survived on only fifty-eight. In these volumes, Robert Charles Hill has prepared an excellent translation of the commentary - in Volume One Psalms 4-13, 44-50, and in Volume Two Psalms 109-150 (with the exception of the long Ps 119) - all appearing for the first time in English. In this work, probably composed while he was still in Antioch, Chrysostom's brilliance as an exegete of the "literal school" of Antioch shines forth, even as he works with the metaphorical language and imagery of the psalms. As Hill writes, "it is fascinating to watch Chrysostom . . . coming to grips with this lyrical material, achieving some sense of comfort, and eventually devising - for the first time? - his own hermeneutical principles for coping with such texts." The extensive Introduction in Volume One covers basic issues on the commentary, including its origins, its relationship to Chrysostom's other exegetical work, his attitude to Scripture, and the theology, spirituality and other moral accents of the commentary. Comment on Chrysostom's text is also given in endnotes, and indexes are provided in each volume. -- ‡c From publisher's description

This volume describes the multifaceted world of Chrysostom, shedding light on his pivotal role as an exegete. It explores his cultural backgrounds, central topics, and enduring impact.

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In addition to the classical literary corpus, Chrysostom, like many other educated Christians, relied upon the Scriptures as an equally important source. Focusing on the use which writers made of the Scriptures in order to convey their moral, social, and theological ideas, this study is unique in that it offers a detailed analysis of patristic rhetoric against the background of the scriptural corpus. A close examination of a wide range of Greek exegetical and homiletic writings, in particularly the newly-available edition of the Greek Catena, reveals that the Fathers wrote and preached in accordance with well-established literary conventions. Chrysostom, his Antiochene colleagues and his Alexandrian rivals approached the biblical text with a full appreciation of the methods formulated by their predecessors. The evidence of the exegetes' meticulous and calculated use of the biblical text contradicts the present scholarly tendency to describe the homiletic literary output as spontaneous and free-flowing. For the first time, Chrysostom is examined not in an isolated way, but in the wider context of Antiochene and Alexandrian exegesis, and their respective theological ideologies. When studying the wider aspects of the Fathers' methods of interpretation, it becomes clear that the study of ideas cannot be separated from the study of their modes of expression.

St. John Chrysotom has left us as many as two hundred and fifty homilies on the Epistles of St. Paul, which are generally considered to constitute the finest commentary ever written on the Epistles of the apostle of the Gentiles. The collection of sermons contained in this volume testify to his close knowledge of St. Paul's writings as well as to his deep admiration and attachment to Paul's many virtues. Reading them we can easily see what he meant in the introduction to his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans: "As often as I hear the Epistles of St. Paul read, twice a week, or often three or four times, I rejoice each time over this spiritual trumpet, and I exult and am kindled with holy desires, when I hear the voice which is to me so dear and familiar, and then I imagine that I see him before me, and that I hear him speak." The saint preached these sermons at Antioch sometime during his twelve-year stay there after his ordination.