scholarly journals Chryzostomowa terminologia wychowania

Vox Patrum ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 337-391
Author(s):  
Ewa Osek

This paper is the study of the Greek terms using by John Chrysostom on rea­ring, upbringing, training and teaching of children. The analyse of these terms and their use in all the John Chrysostom's writings shows as strong influence of the Atttic writers' vocabulary (especiallty Platoʼs), even in his commentaries on the Scriptural verses, as of the early Christian litera­ture (New Testament, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa).

2020 ◽  
pp. 002436392096295
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Becker

While the early Christian Church demonstrates a deep desire to relieve physical suffering, the Greco-Roman world in which it developed lacked the same impetus to respond to human need, especially in the context of epidemic or communicable disease. Christianity’s dedication to health care, and its belief that assisting the sick constituted an absolute obligation, distinguished early Christianity from its contemporary cultural milieu which regularly ignored and excluded the sick. The novelty of the Christian approach to healing can be traced to the early church’s unique recognition of human need. This vision of human need, which ultimately replaced the secular Greco-Roman emphasis on reciprocal philanthropy and providing assistance only to the worthy, is clearly exemplified in the life of Christ, in responses to plague and in the writings of John Chrysostom and the Cappadocian Fathers Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus. An analysis of these sources demonstrates that the early Christian Church viewed the sick not only as persons to be assisted insofar as they shared a common human nature but also individuals necessary for the salvation of the broader community as a whole. The early church’s emphasis on reciprocal interdependence between healthy and sick eliminated the boundaries traditionally established between these two groups and transformed long-standing notions of contagious disease. Ultimately, the development of these attitudes toward the sick originates in a deeper truth which underlies the Christian healthcare tradition both in the ancient world and in the modern era: humanity’s profound and mutual need of God, before whom all are spiritually ill.


Open Theology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 354-367
Author(s):  
Carl Vennerstrom

Abstract This article addresses the topic of parables in the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria. The broad thesis is that New Testament scholarship can help clarify early Christian interpretation of the New Testament. Clement of Alexandria has a very precise definition of the genre of parable. This definition is compared with various literary definitions found in the work of the grammarian Trypho of Alexandria and with one modern definition. Both of these comparisons bring out the precision, clarity, and usefulness of Clement’s definition for understanding the function of parables. The discussion then turns to the grounding of Clement’s definition in the saving mission of the Son. Since Clement closely links parables with prophecy and redemptive suffering, John Meier’s exposition of the Parable of the Wicked Tenants is introduced to show how parables can concretely express the redemptive suffering of the Son. Meier also demonstrates how the disciples were themselves involved in writing and completing this parable, so the article closes with an analysis of one of Clement’s interpretations of a parable, his own contribution to the tradition of parabolic speech.


1985 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 67-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Pagels

Is a human being capable of self-government? Christians who defied the Roman government that hounded them as criminals emphatically answered yes. Early Christian spokesmen, like Jews before them and the American colonists long after, claimed to find in the biblical creation account divine sanction for declaring their independence from governments they considered corrupt and arbitrary. Unlike its Babylonian counterpart, the Hebrew creation account of Genesis 1 indicates that God gave the power of earthly rule to adam—not to the king or emperor, but simply to “mankind” (and some even thought this might include women). Most Christian apologists from the first through the fourth centuries would have agreed with Gregory of Nyssa who, following the lead of rabbinic tradition, explains that after God created the world “as a royal dwelling place for the future king” he made humanity “as a being fit to exercise royal rule” by making it “the living image of the universal King.”


2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Thurén

AbstractModern rhetorical investigations of the New Testament are based on either ancient or modern rhetorical textbooks, but pursued without due consideration of the way in which the early Christian writers, who were trained in rhetoric, studied the texts of the New Testament. Thus it is useful to ask, how did John Chrysostom understand the biblical rhetoric, and how did he utilize his own rhetorical education in the exegesis? He was well trained in rhetoric and thus probably had a natural way of reading the texts, without misinterpreting the persuasive elements. This provides us with a critical perspective on modern rhetorical and theological analyses. Do they match with the reading of Chrysostom? If not, it is important to lay bare the reasons for the difference. It turns out that Chrysostom sees the text as a means of persuading the addressees more than just displaying static dogmatic ideas. The theology must be sought through comprehension of the devices and tactics. Surprisingly, Chrysostom provides a strictly text-based interpretation. For example, he emphasizes Paul's sharp message condemning any positive use of the Law. Moreover, Chrysostom utilizes his knowledge in order to clarify the interactive functions of the author's expressions, instead of focussing on technical details. Compared with most exegetes of the past millennium, Chrysostom's comments on the communicative aspect in Galatians display a fresh perspective on the text.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-376
Author(s):  
Mike Duncan

Current histories of rhetoric neglect the early Christian period (ca. 30–430 CE) in several crucial ways–Augustine is overemphasized and made to serve as a summary of Christian thought rather than an endpoint, the texts of church fathers before 300 CE are neglected or lumped together, and the texts of the New Testament are left unexamined. An alternative outline of early Christian rhetoric is offered, explored through the angles of political self-invention, doctrinal ghostwriting, apologetics, and fractured sermonization. Early Christianity was not a monolithic religion that eventually made peace with classical rhetoric, but as a rhetorical force in its own right, and comprised of more factions early on than just the apostolic church.


Author(s):  
Alicia D. Myers

Augustus’s prioritization of family life to promote his own masculinity resulted in a simultaneous emphasis on motherhood in the Roman world. Not only did motherhood advertise a man’s masculine purposing of his woman/wife, but it was also a legitimate path to increased agency for free(d) women. Situated in this context, New Testament and other early Christian traditions offer varying constructions of “feminine virtue,” some of which prioritize or assume motherhood and others of which downplay or even reject it. This chapter examines these themes in the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament household codes (Col 3:18–4:3; Eph 5:21–6:9; 1 Pet 2:9–3:12), the Acts of Thecla, Acts of Andrew, and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. In their sustained wrestling with and formations of Christian gender(s), these writings present salvation as masculinization for all followers of Christ, but they disagree on whether motherhood should be a part of this process.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto

As an allegorical interpreter who perceived some of the spiritual teachings embedded in the Hebrew scriptures, Philo did not match the image of the stereotypical Jew constructed by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. Neither, however, did he fulfill their criteria to be considered a legitimate Christian. This chapter argues that Philo functions in early Christian writings as neither a Christian nor a Jew but is situated in between these two increasingly differentiated identities. Acting as a third term in the equation, Philo the “Pythagorean,” the “predecessor,” and the “Hebrew,” mediates between the categories of Christian and Jew while ensuring that the two identities remain rhetorically and conceptually distinct. An epilogue briefly traces the varying depictions of Philo in later Christian literature, including accounts of his baptism by the apostle John and his transformation into Philo Judaeus, Philo the Jew.


Author(s):  
Morwenna Ludlow

Ancient authors commonly compared writing with painting. The sculpting of the soul was a common philosophical theme. This book takes its starting-point from such figures to recover a sense of ancient authorship as craft. The ancient concept of craft (ars, technē) spans ‘high’ or ‘fine’ art and practical or applied arts. It unites the beautiful and the useful. It includes both skills or practices (like medicine and music) and productive arts like painting, sculpting, and the composition of texts. By using craft as a guiding concept for understanding fourth-century Christian authorship, this book recovers a sense of them engaged in a shared practice which is both beautiful and theologically useful, which shapes souls but which is also engaged in the production of texts. It focuses on Greek writers, especially the Cappadocians (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa) and John Chrysostom, all of whom were trained in rhetoric. Through a detailed examination of their use of two particular literary techniques—ekphrasis and prosōpopoeia—it shows how they adapt and experiment with them, in order to make theological arguments and in order to evoke an active response from their readership.


Author(s):  
Yii-Jan Lin

This chapter contends that the study of gender, sexuality, and the New Testament is not limited to the content of texts or their historical contexts. On the contrary, how we formulate a textual entity and how we approach that entity contribute to the dynamics that constitute identity, and are thus important to the discussion. In the case of the New Testament, Western Christianity has understood the active Word, or Logos, of God as “masculine” in its creative power. The text of the New Testament, on the other hand, requires historical and philological study, and is decidedly “feminine” in its vulnerability to disease and adulteration, especially in the field of textual criticism. Disrupting metaphors and conceptions of text and speech, masculine and feminine, can be found in ancient Judaism’s formulation of the Written and Oral Torah, as well as in Clement of Alexandria, the Odes of Solomon, and in Plato.


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