Apologist is the English translation of two of Chrysostom's treatises, written about 378 and 382, aimed at provoking the divinity of Jesus Christ. In Discourse in Blessed Babylas and Against the Greeks, Chrysostom responds to specific attacks on Christianity by such philosophers as Porphyry, using historical narrative and the arguments of fulfilled prophecies to prove Christ's divinity. Chrysostom relates the story of St. Babylas, bishop and martyr, who defended the Church against an evil emperor and whose relics produced sobriety at Daphne and silenced the oracle of Apollo. Although a product of Christianized sophistic rhetoric, the discourse on Babylas furnishes interesting new material on the development of the veneration of relics and church-state relations in the third and fourth centuries. Schatkin's translation is based on her critical edition prepared for Sources Chrétiennes. The Demonstration Against the Pagans that Christ Is God is one of Chrysostom's earlier works and one of his basic contributions to apologetics. Chrysostom argues for Christ's divinity in the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and in Christ's own prophecies--particularly those on the phenomenal growth of the Church--to provide proof of a power that can be only divine. Harkins' translation is based on the unpublished critical edition of Norman G. McKendrick.

Apologist (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

Religion & Spirituality

Chrysos, John

Christian Books & Bibles

The Catholic University of America Press

John Chrysostom, called the "golden-mouthed" for his eloquent preaching, continues in this second volume of the sixty-seven Genesis homilies to provide instruction for the moral reformation of the Christians of Antioch. He continues in Homily 18 with Genesis 3 and finishes in Homily 45 with Genesis 20. They seem to have been delivered perhaps as early as 385, half just before and during Lent and the remainder, from Homily 33 onward, after Pentecost.
That Chrysostom favored Antiochene exegesis is clear from his exhortation at the beginning of Homily 20 to "take up the thread of the reading and apply...the teaching from the passage." "You see," he writes, "there is not even a syllable or even one letter contained in Scripture which does not have great treasure concealed in its depth." He artfully interprets the literal spiritual meaning of this treasure for his congregation through inspiring and colorful exegesis.
It was Chrysostom's pastoral responsibility to guide his congregation by means of homiletic exegesis. He urged his listeners to take note of the instruction and to give attention to the correction of their own daily lives so as to "proceed to the enjoyment of salvation." The theme of the good man Noe, who remained unaffected by the universal decline of mankind into wickedness, provides the example for the moral improvement of his listeners in Homilies 23-29, as does the hospitality of Abraham in Homilies 41-45.
The Genesis homilies reveal Chrysostom as commentator, preacher, moralist, and profoundly theological and precise exegete of Scripture, the truth of which he teaches for the betterment of this congregation.

Homilies on Genesis, 18-45 (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

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