Wendy Mayer

POVERTY AND SOCIETY IN THE WORLD OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Like those of Basil and the two Gregories, the writings of John Chrysostom provide useful data about poverty that is difficult to recover from the archaeological record. In this article, images of the poor and information about poverty in his writings are grouped into five categories: basic information, voluntary poverty (asceticism), the sight and sound of poverty in the urban setting, individual social response, and self-consciousness about poverty. In a sixth section, the status of the data and how they relate to the models put forward by Patlagean and Brown are considered.

John Chrysostom as Bishop: The View from Antioch

The basic details of the portrayal by the sources of the episcopate of John Chrysostom have long been accepted in the literature. So also the perspective from which his episcopate is viewed, which is both Constantinopolitan and partisan. By examining what happened from another angle, namely from Antioch, it can be seen that the standard portrayal needs to be treated with caution. At the same time, an Antiochene perspective offers new insight into the sequence of events as they unfolded.

The Persistence in Late Antiquity of Medico-Philosophical Psychic Therapy

Drawing on recent scholarship on mental health in the ancient world, it is argued that the previously puzzling final treatise that John Chrysostom sent to his supporters from exile is a therapeutic medico-philosophical treatise for the sick soul that draws on a well-established tradition within Hellenistic and imperial medicine and philosophy. Viewed in this light, it is a natural accompaniment to two other works written by him at this time, the treatise Quod nemo laeditur, and the final letter to Olympias. It is argued that all three works emerge from a holistic approach to the health of the human soul that is in continuity with Galen and his predecessors, an approach embraced by John early in his ministry.

Reconceiving Religious Conflict: New Views from the Formative Centuries of Christianity

Reconceiving Religious Conflict deconstructs instances of religious conflict within the formative centuries of Christianity, the first six centuries CE. It explores the theoretical foundations of religious conflict; the dynamics of religious conflict within the context of persecution and martyrdom; the social and moral intersections that undergird the phenomenon of religious conflict; and the relationship between religious conflict and religious identity. It is unique in that it does not solely focus on religious violence as it is physically manifested, but on religious conflict (and tolerance), looking too at dynamics of religious discourse and practice that often precede and accompany overt religious violence.

The Chrysostom Knowledge Base: An Ontology of Historical Interactions

The semantics of order-sorted type hierarchies are fundamental both to the retrieval of knowledge from large real-world-size knowledge bases and to the next generation of web technology. The Chrysostom web knowledge-base project provides an interesting case for furthering this research. An attempt to model the social world of the late Roman Empire, this knowledge base rests upon an ontology which uses the knowledge found in a very large body of documents associated with the cities of Antioch in ancient Syria and Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in the fourth and fifth centuries. We describe the knowledge base and its use, as well as the ontology that was created (and continues to develop) to support it.

Concept type hierarchy as ontology: an example historical knowledge base

In this paper we explore the issue of using some aspects of the Conceptual Graph Theory formalism to define functions on ontologies We exploit the formal definitions of type hierarchy and projection to define operations on an ontology, and then illustrate these ideas by demonstrating a knowledge base of historical interactions that was implemented on an ontology defined in this way.

Theatrical Shows and Ascetic Lives. John Chrysostom's Attack on Spiritual Marriage (review)

In addition to drawing out a coherent portrait of Gregory the man, McGuckin also does an extraordinary job of reconstructing the politics of the later fourth century from Constantius to Theodosius. The various political alliances that were formed in an effort to defend the vision of Nicaea are so clearly presented that readers may wish simply to consult certain sections of the book for clarification of what is often very dense reading for historians. Particularly useful is the author’s description of the time Gregory spent in Constantinople composing and delivering the Theological Orations. Here again Gregory proves to be an inept politician, but through the prism of his ineptitude the reader gains understanding of the intense power struggle raging in the capital among the sees of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. McGuckin’s description of the creed of Constantinople is also quite illuminating. According to him, the entire thrust of Gregory’s theology in the orations had been pushing for a declaration that the Holy Spirit is “homoousios” as well as the Son. This did not happen, and Gregory left the capital believing that his vision of the Nicene faith had failed. As McGuckin explains, it is only because of the later triumph of Gregory’s theology that subsequent generations have read the creed of 381 as if it did, in fact, affirm the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. Like so many great people in the history of the church, Gregory did not live to see the full fruition of his intellectual legacy. Despite the impeccable attention to detail that McGuckin brings to this text, it is possible to note a few things that are lacking. First, there is very little attention given to some of the most current discussions of Arianism that call into question even the usefulness of that term for understanding the dynamics of the period. Second, at times the detail of the book is overwhelming: McGuckin is a bit prone to summarize the content of individual orations, a practice which can, at times, make the text seem to labor under the weight. On the other hand, these summaries will doubtless increase the book’s value as a reference for individuals who want to find out quickly what Gregory was thinking at a given period in his life. All in all, McGuckin has produced an outstanding piece of scholarship that should be read by anyone interested in Gregory and fourth-century doctrinal history. After reading this text, I am convinced that the tradition did not err when it deemed Gregory worthy of the title “the theologian.” John J. O’Keefe, Creighton University