Christianization and Communication in Late Antiquity: John Chrysostom and his Congregation in Antioch

212 Pages·2006·1.23 MB·English

by  Jaclyn L. Maxwell

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CHRISTIANIZATION AND
COMMUNICATION IN LATE ANTIQUITY
Howdidordinarypeopleandchurchauthoritiescommunicatewith
eachotherinLateAntiquityandhowdidthisinteractionaffectthe
processesofChristianizationintheRomanEmpire?Bystudyingthe
relationship between the preacher and his congregation within the
context of classical, urban traditions of public speaking, this book
explainssomeofthereasonsforthepopularityofChristiansermons
duringtheperiod.ItsfocusonJohnChrysostom’ssermonsallowsus
toseehowaneducatedchurchleaderrespondedtoandwasinfluenced
by a congregation of ordinary Christians. As a preacher in Antioch,
Chrysostomtookgreatcaretoconveyhislessonstohiscongregation,
which included a broad cross-section of society. Because of this, his
sermonsprovideafascinatingviewintothevarietyofbeliefsheldby
thelaity,demonstratingthatmanypeoplecouldbeactivelyengaged
intheirreligionwhiledisagreeingwiththeirpreacher.
jaclyn maxwell is Assistant Professor in the Departments of
History and Classics and World Religions at Ohio University. She
studied at Princeton University and in 2002/3 held an Andrew J.
Mellon Research Fellowship for Junior Faculty from the American
CouncilofLearnedSocieties.

CHRISTIANIZATION AND
COMMUNICATION IN LATE
ANTIQUITY
John Chrysostom and his congregation in Antioch
JACLYN L. MAXWELL
OhioUniversity
cambridge university press
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Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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©JaclynL.Maxwell2006
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
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withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2006
isbn-13 978-0-511-24954-9eBook(EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-24954-3 eBook(EBL)
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isbn-10 0-521-86040-7 hardback
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Contents
Acknowledgments pageviii
Listofabbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 PhilosophicalpreachingintheRomanworld 11
2 Rhetoricandsociety:Contextsofpublicspeakingin
lateantiqueAntioch 42
3 JohnChrysostom’scongregationinAntioch 65
4 Teachingtotheconverted:JohnChrysostom’spedagogy 88
5 Practicalknowledgeandreligiouslife 118
6 HabitsandtheChristianizationofdailylife 144
Conclusions 169
Bibliography 176
Index 194
vii
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank a number of people and several institutions for
their support while I worked on this project. First of all, I owe much to
myundergraduateuniversityandprofessors.IattendedTulaneUniversity,
thanks to their generous Dean’s Honor Scholarship program. I did not
fullyappreciatetheextratimemyadvisers,KennethHarlandJaneCarter,
spent with me translating Greek, discussing research papers, and helping
meprepareforgraduateschooluntilIbecameaprofessormyself.
AtPrincetonUniversity,Ibenefitedfromthecollegialenvironmentsof
the Department of History, the Program in the Ancient World, and the
GroupfortheStudyofLateAntiquity.AseminaronGreekrhetoricwith
Josiah Ober and a seminar on recently discovered sermons by Augustine
withPeterBrownshowedmethepotentialofpublicspeechesassourcesfor
social and intellectual history. Peter was a wonderful dissertation advisor,
and I am thankful to both him and Betsy for making graduate school a
friendly place. William Jordan’s comments on early drafts of my disserta-
tionimprovedtheclarityofmywritingandhelpedmelearntotakecriti-
cismwithgoodhumor.ManyfriendsinPrincetonreaddraftsandshared
ideasduringtheearlystagesofresearchandwriting,includingLisaBailey,
KirstiCopeland,AdamDavis,MichaelGaddis,JenniferHevelone-Harper,
Christopher MacEvitt, Leonora Neville, Jarbel Rodriguez, Kevin Uhalde,
andJoelWalker.Severalscholarsreadallorpartofthemanuscriptatvarious
stages,offeringvaluableadviceandcriticism:TiaKolbaba,DerekKrueger,
Richard Lim, Wendy Mayer, Theresa Urbainczyk, Ruth Webb, and the
anonymous reader for Cambridge University Press. At Ohio University,
Lynne Lancaster answered numerous questions while I prepared the final
manuscript. I would also like to thank Michael Sharp for his help and
encouragementduringthereviewprocess.
Severalinstitutionsprovidedfinancialsupportandscholarlycommuni-
tiesthathelpedmeimmenselywhileIwrotemydissertationandrevisedit
intoabook.TheCenterfortheStudyofReligionatPrincetonUniversity
viii