The Homilies On The Gospel According To St John

Chrysostom's extant homiletical works are vast, including many hundreds of exegetical homilies on both the New Testament (especially the works of Saint Paul) and the Old Testament (particularly on Genesis). This book contains the 88 homilies that Chrysostom gave on the Gospel of St. John.

THESE Discourses on St. John are assigned by the Benedictine Editors to A.D. 416, or the following year. In favour of an earlier date, it might indeed be alleged, that the keen controversy against the Donatists, which so frequently occurs in these Sermons, shews the schism to have been still flagrant when they were preached; as in fact in the Homilies on the Epistle of St. John, delivered in the same year, St. Austin expressly mentions, that the schismatics had still their altar at Hippo: quid faciunt in hac civitate duo altaria? Whence it might seem that their date must be prior to A.D. 411, the year of the Conference of Carthage. That this, however, would be too early a date, is shewn, as the Editors remark, by numerous passages, in which not only is the doctrine of Predestination put forth as a well-understood and most certain truth, (e. g. Tr. xlv, xlviii, lxviii, lxxxiii, cv, cxi.) but there is pointed reference, only not by name, (e. g. liii, lxvii, lxxxi, lxxxvi.) to the Pelagian heresy, which came into Africa in that same year 411. A distinct note of time, however, is given in Tract, cxx. 4. in the mention of the revelatio corporis beatissimi Stephani, which in the account written by the Presbyter Lucian is assigned to the close of A.D. 415. Aeterna Press

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Augustine's homilies on the Gospel of John are masterpieces not only of theological profundity but also of pastoral engagement. This volume also includes the index for Homilies on the Gospel of John (1-40). Few ancient Christian authors attempted anything like a complete commentary on the Gospel of John, among them Origen, John Chrysostom and Augustine. Of these, Augustine's must count as the greatest. Unlike Origen's, it has come down to us in its entirety, and of the others that remain it is certainly the most theologically profound. John's gospel allows Augustine to range broadly over themes that were his life’s work —the Trinity, the person of Christ, the nature of the Church and its sacraments, the fulfillment of the divine plan. The 124 homilies that constitute Augustine's commentary, however, are masterpieces not only of theological profundity but also of pastoral engagement. In the question-and-answer style that he frequently employs, for example, one can sense Augustine's real awareness of his congregation's struggles with the gospel text. And the congregation's response to Augustine, which he frequently alludes to, is an indication of the success of his dialogical preaching style. The Johannine literature drew out the best in Augustine. The Homilies on the Gospel of John are the indispensable complement to The Homilies on The First Epistle of John, published in this series, and they should be a part of any serious theological library.