Inquiring
After God when Afflicted
11/09/04
TH 291
John Chrysostom
- Chrysostom
– nickname meaning “golden mouthed”
- Antioch
of Syria
- most
gifted preacher of the Christian church
A Treatise to Prove that no one can Harm the Man who does not Inquire
Himself
confession
repentance
Focus of the treatise
- virtue
of the victim
- human
dignity
- treatise
about personal character
- where
– theological anthropology (Christian understanding of human nature)
Audience
- the
victimizers (the perpetrators of suffering on the behalf of others)
- the
ones causing the suffering are in a worse situation
- the
ones suffering are not suffering – their character is strengthened
Why are the Victimizers suffering?
- hungry
/ thirsty – never able to appreciate what they have
- false
friends – worldly friendship for gain
- besmirching
their dignity – everyone is secretly hating them, nobody respects
people who make others suffer
Slave-master hits slave girl
- slave-master
is degraded
- slave
girl has virtue
Power
- power
itself is not corrupt, the poor use of power is what causes the problems
- power
cannot be done away with it
- all
misuse of power is not abuse of power
Human Dignity
- people
view dignity as human rights
- encroach
on my rights is an encroachment on my rights
- modern-liberal
idea from England and France
- John
Loche through Mill
- self-esteem
idea – from how other people treat us not from ourselves.
- Christian
understanding
Christian theological tradition vs. Modern-liberal tradition
- imago
dei
- Augustine
- source of human identity, meaning is only found in creation as image of
God
- in
modern period, Loche and Descartes didn’t intend it, but after Kant, the
autonomous individual takes reign
- narrated
self
- individual
story
- legal
rights then devolve onto individual who becomes more in control
- Chrysostom
– from a whole different perspective
- virtuous
– to partcipate in goodness itself, for Christians this is God
Liberation Theology
- danger
if spiritual element left out
-