John Chrysostom’s interpretation of the rhetoric of the letter to the Colossians

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how John Chrysostom interpreted the rhetoric of Colossians in his homilies on this letter and to compare his interpretation with the current understanding of the rhetoric of Colossians. This study is conducted in three phases. During the first phase of this study, all twelve of Chrysostom’s homilies on Colossians are studied both in translation (Schaff) and in the Greek text (Field 1855). The aim of this exploration is to identify: i) any comments that Chrysostom made on why Paul used specific phrases and words to persuade his audience; and, ii) any rhetorical aspects that Chrysostom identified in Colossians and referred to in his homilies. A second set of data are gathered during Phase 2 of the study. In this phase, three existing rhetorical analyses of Colossians are examined to determine how scholars are currently interpreting the rhetoric of Colossians. The analyses of Witherington (2007:155–207), Copenhaver (2018:90–143) and Collins (1995:60–102) are examined. It is clear from the data that all three scholars follow a traditional approach during their analysis of Colossians. The data gathered during Phases 1 and 2 are carefully analysed and thoroughly examined to present a comparison between Chrysostom’s interpretations of the rhetoric of Colossians and the three existing rhetorical analyses of the letter. The aim of the last phase is to determine how John Chrysostom’s insight into the rhetoric of the letter corresponds to or differs from the existing analyses. The study of Chrysostom’s understanding of the rhetoric of Colossians enabled the researcher to construct a new (alternative) rhetorical structure of Colossians.