Chris De Wet

This volume examines the prevalence, function, and socio-political effects of slavery discourse in the major theological formulations of the late third to early fifth centuries AD, arguably the most formative period of early Christian doctrine. The question the book poses is this: in what way did the Christian theologians of the third, fourth, and early fifth centuries appropriate the discourse of slavery in their theological formulations, and what could the effect of this appropriation have been for actual physical slaves? This fascinating study is crucial reading for anyone with an interest in early Christianity or Late Antiquity, and slavery more generally.

Preaching Bondage introduces and investigates the novel concept of doulology, the discourse of slavery, in the homilies of John Chrysostom, the late fourth-century priest and bishop, to determine how it shaped early Christianity. The dynamics of enslavement in Chrysostom’s theology, virtue ethics, and biblical interpretation are examined, thereby showing that human bondage as a metaphorical and theological construct had a profound effect on the lives of institutional slaves. Slavery, a highly corporeal and gendered discourse, was necessarily central in Chrysostom’s discussions of the household, property, education, discipline, and sexuality. De Wet investigates the impact of doulology in these contexts, and disseminates the results in a new and highly anticipated language that serves to bring the more pervasive fissures of ancient Roman slaveholding to light. The corpus of Chrysostom’s public addresses provide much of the literary evidence for slavery in the fourth century, and De Wet’s convincing analysis is a groundbreaking contribution to the studies of the social world in late antiquity.

This article analyses the nature of slavery in late ancient Syria and Mesopotamia, and investigates the possible influence of slavery on Christian ascetic practices in the region. This analysis demonstrates how slavery, especially the techniques of discipline and punishment within slaveholding contexts, produced correlates in the ascetic practices of Syrian Christian monks. The study commences with an investigation of institutional slavery in Syrian urban and rural areas. In order to better understand slavery in the urban context, the works of John Chrysostom are used as a primary source. For rural areas an example from Theodoret’s Historia religiosa is used, along with findings from recently published secondary sources. It is shown that slavery was a basic characteristic of both contexts, but that distinctions between slaves and free persons were more pronounced in urban than in rural contexts. The reason is that the type of labour in the smaller villages surrounding the urban area...

More than two decades ago, the journal Actα Pαtristίcα et Byzαntίnα was launched in order to promote the study of Patristics and Byzantine Studies in South Africa, with Prof. Hennie Stander as editor. In the past twenty years, the journal published a large amount of quality articles ranging from Old Testament and LXX studies, Classics, New Testament, Patristics and Byzantine Studies. When my term as editor began in 2008, the field of Patristics had moιphed into something different, namely Early Christian Studies, coupled with the study of Late Antiquity. Ι realised that many aspects of the journal had to change in order to 'keep up with the times.' τhίs fact became even more evident when Ι attended the 16th International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford, inAugust 2011. One ofthe discussions Ι attended was that involving Elizabeth Clark's new book Foundίng the Fαthers (Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press, 2011 ). The book traces the development of the study of Patristics and Early Church History in nineteenth-century Ameήca. Participating in the panel discussion, convened by David Hunter, was Pier Franco Beatrice, Averil Cameron, Wolfram Κinzig and Mark Vessey. Α very stimulating and enlightening discussion followed on similar developments in Europe, most notably in Italy, UΚ and Germany. After the formal discussion, the audience partook in conversation regarding the developments in their own contexts. Although Ι did not verbally participate, this discussion made me think of these developments in my own context. that is, South Africa. Ι realised that similar reflections are necessary also for my own context, and perhaps in Africa in general. Although Ι have not (yet) undertaken such an enteιprise, it is evident that much of such a study would revolve around, ίnter α/ία, the development of the journal Actα Pαtristίcα et Byzαntίnα. In 2008, with the journal being my responsibility, the vision for transforming the journal was bom. Most of the ideas were begotten and tested among colleagues in the Department of New Testament and Early Chήstian Studies at UNISA. The transformation would begin with two important shifts firstly, a title change, and secondly, amending the editoήal board. Now, three years later, Ι can happily announce the publication of the journal under its new name, Joumαl of Eαrly Christίαn Hίstory (JECH). Ι would also like to thank the colleagues who are part ofthe new editoήal board for their wίllingness to participate. In the forthcoming volumes, more changes will take

ABSTRACT This article looks at the current status quaestionis of slavery in the writings of John Chrysostom. With the reception of Kyle Harper's Slavery in the Late Roman World (Harper, 2011), the ground seems ripe for more focused investigations of slavery in the authors of late antiquity. This article then specifically looks at the case of John Chrysostom, and makes some suggestions for further study.

This article compares the views of the church fathers Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Ambrosiaster on the treatment of slaves. The views of the authors are examined individually and in detail. An analysis is made of the extent to which the views of these three 4th-century church fathers exhibit continuity with Christian and Stoic views from the 1st and 2nd centuries on the treatment of slaves. Particular attention is given to the different tasks given to slaves, their reward and punishment, sexual abuse and the relationships slaves had, along with assessing the impact of the "slave of God" rhetoric and corporeal heteronomy for the treatment of physical slaves.

The purpose of this article is to investigate how John Chrysostom (347-407 C.E.) understood homoeroticism and how he structured his invective against it. Chrysostom's construction of homoeroticism is a conglomeration of numerous discourses of abnormality and criminality. This article traces, firstly, how Chrysostom understood the discourse of nature in relation to homoeroticism and marriage, and specifically its effect on his understanding of gender inversion and ambiguity, as well as passion, pleasure, and the affluent life. Secondly, the paper examines Chrysostom's understanding of the criminality of homoeroticism and its punishment, in which he meticulously constructs an image of the homoerotic as monstrous, and worthy only of the proportionate monstrous punishment, that is hell, especially represented by the story of the demise of Sodom.

This paper examines the role of the Logos with regard to the expression of the mystical experience in the writings of St. John of the Cross. The term "mystical expression" is examined and a brief etymology of the Logos-concept is provided. The various writings of St. John are then examined with special attention to the influence of the Logos in the mystical expression of St. John of the Cross. After this, various aspects of the Logos are extrapolated from the latter analysis, such as the revelatory nature of the Logos, the creative nature of the Logos and the relationship between the Logos and the intellect. Finally, the significance of this excursus for the general study of spirituality is discussed.

This paper argues that slaves should not be included in the household hierarchy as assumed by some scholars in the field of theology. Relying upon advances in the field of embodiment, the argument uses Jennifer Glancy's theory of slave-corporeality as a basis for the premises to prove the theory of exclusion of slaves in the Christian household hierarchy. The first premise states that power, according to Michel Foucault, is only reserved for the free, which excludes slaves from hierarchical inclusion. Slavery should rather be understood as domination (Hegel). The second premise points to Aristotle's theory of natural slavery and the animalization of slaves which excludes slaves from hierarchies and the final premise shows that slaves who did exercise power only did so as surrogate bodies for the masters. Christians only attempted to include slaves through fictive kinship participation.

This study examines John Chrysostom's homilies On the Maccabees specifically from the perspective of martyrdom as corporeal discourse. Chrysostom focuses mostly on the martyr-mother and the last of the seven sons. Along with the discourse of maternality and the maternal body, a contrary meta-discourse of masculinity is promoted that overrides the feminine weaknesses of maternality. In typical androcentric and patriarchal fashion, Chrysostom has the Maccabean martyr-mother deny her maternal corporeal knowledge, and implements a potent andromorphism in the reconstruction of her corporeality and self-definition. Central to this endeavour is the application and promotion of a new scopic economy, a new way of looking with spiritual eyes. The last son's martyrdom, being voluntary and suicidal, is valued by Chrysostom, since the mother acts as a catalyst for his death. Chrysostom strategically succeeds in claiming this corporeal capital for the wider programme of reconstructing martyrdom in late antique Christianity.

ABSTRACT This study investigates how Pauline literature was used in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian empire in the writings of the bishops. Paul is described as an imperial palimpsest, a “text” that was reread and rewritten, often selectively and strategically. The role of key-texts in Pauline literature is discussed in the following Christian imperial discourses: a) the formation and maintenance of the episcopacy; b) the problem of religious and ethnocultural difference; and, c) the new economic model of community polarising the “rich” and the “poor.” Among the Christian authors of the fourth century, we find a new, imperial Paul speaking the language of the episcopacy and the empire.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamics between Paulinomorphism (becoming like Paul) and Christian identity-formation in John Chrysostom's (347–407 C.E.) De laudibus sancti Pauli apostoli. Chrysostom understands Christian identity-formation as a type of Paulinomorphism. The discursive operation of Paulinomorphism is most clearly manifested in Chrysostom's homilies De laudibus sancti Pauli apostoli, and operates by means of four interrelated discourses, namely: a) transformation and mimesis; b) virtue and masculinization; c) the zealotic, and; d) medicalization. The four discourses are delineated and critically discussed in this study.

The aim of this study is to give account of the dynamics between Christian scriptural pedagogy, orality and power in the writings of John Chrysostom. The study firstly examines Chrysostom’s views on the discourse of reading scripture, with reference to his In Acta apostolorum homilia 19. Thereafter, the study investigates the practical application of this discourse in the household ritual of reading scripture, here with reference to Chrysostom’s In Genesim sermo 6. Finally, on an even higher level of abstraction, the study looks at scriptural pedagogy in the education of children as seen in Chrysostom’s De inani gloria.

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.

This work introduces and investigates the novel concept of doulology, the discourse of slavery, in the homilies of John Chrysostom, the late fourth-century priest and bishop. The text examines the dynamics of enslavement in Chrysostom's theology, virtue ethics, and biblical interpretation and shows that human bondage as a metaphorical and theological construct had a profound effect on the lives of institutional slaves.

This study provides a commentary on John Chrysostom's homily 32 on 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3. It is specifically written in dialogue with modern-day New Testament scholarship to illustrate the value and importance of reading a late ancient author like Chrysostom in the present-day study of the Bible. Chrysostom delivers compelling insights into the text, relating not only to the history and rhetoric of the text, but also to the social and cultural dimensions of 1 Corinthians. The study also provides text-critical data regarding readings preferred by Chrysostom, along with reasons why such readings are preferred. The study shows that ancient authors like Chrysostom and others certainly enrich the modern study of the Bible; even if they illustrate how not to read a text, they are part of a significant Wirkungsgeschichte that has influenced the study of the Bible for centuries, and cannot simply be ignored.

This study traces the discursive links between early Christian oikonomia, pastoral governmentality and slave-management in the Deutero-Pauline and Petrine haustafeln. It especially utilises the concepts of discipline, surveillance and governmentality as extrapolated by Michel Foucault. The Colossian and Ephesian household codes are approached as social contracts, in which certain liberties are given up for the sake of identity and group cohesion. Slaves should render obedience to masters. From this, the codes exhibit a strict hierarchical system, one that is authorised by a potent Christic panopticism. From the Pastoral Epistles the development of Christian pastoral governmentality, or pastoralism, is clearly seen, and with this, a culture of psychagogy related to slave-management. Slaves become the objects of normalization, which assumes a general delinquency of slaves. Finally, the unique stance of the Petrine codes admonishes slaves to embrace unjust suffering as a Christomorphic process; this promotion of suffering as slaves of God would pervade the very essence of Christian virtue discourse.

The aim of this study is to experiment with a prominent feature in religious texts, namely prayers, and aims to look at the political function of prayer. As an example one religious text from the Septuagint (LXX) is taken, namely the Second Book of the Maccabees, and the experiment is conducted with reference to this text. First, a cultural-systems model of Second Temple Judaism is given, and second, the literary accounts of prayers and prayer-narratives are examined. It is shown that the prayers in 2 Maccabees had two distinct functions. It firstly promoted group cohesion between Palestinian and Diaspora Jews and, second, it promoted an anti-Hellenistic sentiment and positive temple propaganda.

This paper approaches John Chrysostom’s De Sacerdotio from the perspective of body/power/identity. It identifies five power-discourses active in the text. Firstly, the discourse of hierarchy is present. The office of the priest ranks with the angels. Secondly, the priest is represented as disciplinarian and psychagogue, an enforcer of state and ecclesiastical policy in the process of making docile bodies. In the third instance, much attention is given to the disruptive others – those people who complicate the life and duty of the priest. Fourthly, the notion of andronormativity and normality is discussed, since gender is an important feature in De Sacerdotio. Finally, the relevance and effect of the priest as orator is extrapolated. The study concludes by asking how these discourses also shape the way Chrysostom thinks about himself and the sacerdotal office.

This study explores the relationship between slavery and the theological concept of original sin in late ancient Christianity. The link is discussed in terms of three intersections, namely “nature”, or “naturalness” and “unnaturalness”, domination, and kinship. These intersections shed light on the very conceptualization of the sin-as-slavery concept, and show that in many instances late ancient thinking differed considerably from classical conventions. Even though sin was considered as slavery, it took more than a millennium for the church to realize that slavery is sin.

The question this article addresses is how the encratic, virtuous body in 2 Clement ‘speaks itself’ as a missional performance. It is in essence concerned with the discourses of corporeal virtuosity in 2 Clement. Firstly, the agon motif (2 Clem 7:1−6; 20:1−4) is discussed since it forms the basis metaphor for the understanding of ancient virtue-formation. Secondly, 2 Clement’s encratic technologies of soul and flesh as an extension and overamplification, respectively, of the body are examined (2 Clem 9:1−11). In the third instance, the proliferation of visible technologies of the body in 2 Clement are brought into perspective with special emphasis on these technologies as strategies of andromorphism, a crucial element in the understanding of virtue in antiquity (2 Clem 12:1−6). Fourthly, 2 Clement also links concepts of holiness and the pneumatic dimension of spirituality in its argumentation (2 Clem 14:1−5). This needs to be understood in the light of corporeal virtuosity. Finally,...

This study examines the role of John Chrysostom as bishop-missionary to the Goths in Constantinople. After Theodosius declared Nicene orthodoxy to be the only valid and legal faith, a potent programme to establish orthodoxy in Constantinople had begun, with bishops like Gregory Nazianzen and Nectarius promoting the cause. During and shortly after Chrysostom’s arrival in Constantinople, most of the Arians were Goths, and Chrysostom became personally involved in their affairs. In the light of this, the study specifically looks at how Chrysostom constructs and negotiates barbarian identity, with special emphasis on the rhetorical and ethical dimensions of his involvement; with emphasis on the trajectories provided by Foucault and De Certeau for understanding rhetoric, ethics and identity. It is specially asked whether Chrysostom could escape the classical Graeco-Roman habitus of barbarism and the normativity of the free, male Roman body.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between the discourse of death, or thanatology, and self-fashioning, in John Chrysostom’s thirteenth homily In epistulam ad Romanos. The study argues that thanatology became a very important feature in the care of the self in Chrysostom’s thought. The central aim here is to demonstrate the multi-directional flow of death, as a corporeal discourse, between the realms of theology, ethics, and physiology. Firstly, the article investigates the link between the theological concepts of sin and death. Secondly, the study argues that death also becomes a highly paradoxical discourse when it enters the realm of Chrysostomic virtue-ethics, where the mortification of excessive passion leads to life, while ‘living’ in passion only results in death on every level of existence – death as a discourse therefore becomes interiorised, a process functioning as a subset of a more extensive biologisation of the spiritual life-cycle. Finally,...

The purpose of this article is to investigate the dynamics between religious conflict and sexual exceptionalism, as a means to radicalise members of a religious group, in the works of John Chrysostom (347–407 AD). Using modern terms, Chrysostom aims to infiltrate and minimise the 'grey zone' of religious identity and participation by constructing the sexual identity of the group he represents as masculine, pure, and dominant, and that of his opponents as inferior, perverse, and diseased. Chrysostom affirms the sexual exceptionalism of his radical adherents by means of inclusion – it is no longer one's ethnicity, gender, class, or social status that are markers of exceptionality, but rather the presence of self-mastery and chastity, or sōphrosynē. Chrysostom abnormalises his opponents by means of teratogenisation, that is by making monsters out of them, in highlighting their abnormal pathic excess, corporeal mutilation, demonisation, psychic disease, and puerility. The masculinity of the radicals is

... One could draw various parallels between the mother and Eleazar in the previous account. Todorov (1999:48-49) in turn ... nascent stages was a direct result of the martyrdom of the early Christians. Martyrdom was considered a privilege and blessing (Ramsey 1985:122-135). In ...

The aim of this article is to investigate the views of the three Cappadocian fathers, namely Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus, on how to manage slaves. The article approaches slaveholding as a habitus. Firstly, Basil of Caesarea’s views are examined. Basil’s views on slave management were based on the principle that slaves should still remain obedient and submissive to their masters, but that masters should treat their slaves justly. He especially discusses slave management as the management of wealth and sexuality. Secondly, Gregory of Nazianzus’s views, especially from his testament, highlighted the importance of managing slaves after death. It is also a window into the realities of clerics and churches managing slaves. Finally, Gregory of Nyssa’s fourth homily on Ecclesiastes can be described as the ancient treatise against mastery and the vice of pride, since this is the angle from which he criticises slave management. The homily is indeed proof that ancient authors were able to think outside the habitus of Roman slaveholding.

This article examines the phenomenon of slavery – both institutional (being enslaved to other human beings) and divine (being enslaved to God) – and its relationship to asceticism in John of Ephesus’ (507-589 CE) Lives of the Eastern Saints. The study first examines the nature of institutional slavery in Lives. It is shown that John is somewhat indifferent with regards to institutional slaves – they are either depicted as symbols of the wealth and decadence of the elite, or part of the ascetic households of the virtuous. In both cases, though, the slaves serve to illuminate the vice or virtue of the masters (wicked masters have scores of slaves serving them, while virtuous masters are so exceptional that even their slaves follow the ascetic lifestyle). Slavery is no impediment to the ascetic vocation – slaves have a part to play in John vision of asceticism as social outreach. John’s views on divine slavery are less conventional. In Lives, the ideal slave of God (ʿabdā d’Allāhā) is ...

The purpose of this article is to investigate the intersection of the discourse of slavery—or doulology—and Romanness in Salvian of Marseilles' De gubernatione Dei. After providing a short overview of the author and his work, the study examines how Salvian considers the slavery to God as the most important expression of true Christian-Roman pietas. Thereafter Salvian's vice list, which is based on servile vices or uitia seruorum—including robbery, lying, greed, homicide, and sexual misconduct—is investigated to show how his Christian opponents fail both at being good masters of slaves and good slaves of God. The sexual abuse of slaves by Christian masters receives special attention. Finally, the study delineates the key dynamics and implications of Salvian's doulology, and shows that the Christian failure of mastery, both of the self and others, is what informs Salvian's view of why the Christian-Roman Empire is disintegrating under barbarian powers.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the intersections between old age, masculinity, and martyrdom in late antiquity, and it will focus specifically on John Chrysostom's homilies on the Maccabean martyrs (CPG 4441.13; 4354). After an introduction that provides a literature review and a note on the approach followed, the article begins by examining how old age, virtue, and authority function in Chrysostom's thought. Thereafter, a brief discussion follows on the problem of the Maccabean martyrs as being part of the old covenant/Testament. It is argued in this case that there is a direct correlation between Chrysostom's use of old age in the homilies and the status of the martyrs as being part of the old covenant. Finally, the article considers the dynamics between old age, martyrdom, and masculinity in the homilies. Here it is argued that Chrysostom uses the rhetoric of spiritual athletics and spiritual fertility to present the elderly martyrs as exempla of masculinity, which should not only be admired by Chrysostom's audience, but also imitated. The Maccabean martyrs are recast by Chrysostom in a pedagogical light, and their narratives serve the promotion of a new Christian masculinity in which ascetic practice, especially moderate ascetic practice, serves as its defining feature.