John Chrysostom´s Adversus Iudaeos homilies: topics and polemic argumentative estrategies
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Abstract
While he was presbyter of Antioch between 386 and 398 –year in which he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople–, John Chrysostom, who represented the Nicene Christianity, had a prolific career as a preacher in the most important churches of the city. He was known as “Golden Mouth” because of his rhetorical skills and many homilies are awarded to his antiochene period, among which we can mention his series known as Adversus Iudaeos. Pronounced between 386 and 387, it aims to attack those Christians who participate in Jewish rites and attend the synagogue. But not only them will suffer the onslaught of the priest: throughout his homilies, he goes after the Jews, the synagogue, the Mosaic Law and Jewish festivities. This article aims to track and discuss the epithets and criticisms pronounced by Chrysostom in the Adversus Iudaeos homilies against the Jews, their main institutions and festivities, as well as against those members of his congregation who shared, attended and participated in their parties and turned to the Jewish "specialists in the sacred" to obtain cures or solve problems.
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