Peter Moore: Chrysostom’s concept of γνώμη: how ‘chosen life’s orientation’ undergirds Chrysostom's strategy in preaching

This paper develops recent scholarship of Australian scholar Ray Laird in Chrysostom’s anthropology, and specifically his view of γνώμη [Raymond John Laird, "St John Chrysostom and the Γνώμη: The Critical Faculty Accountable for Sin in His Anthropology" Australian College of Theology,Th.D. Thesis, 2008.].  First, in the light of the ascetic tradition which was so important to Chrysostom the author suggests that it is better to translate γνώμη as ‘chosen life’s orientation’ (rather than ‘mindset’ as in Laird.) Further, it is argued that Chrysostom’s understanding of how γνώμη is shaped, undergirds a number of features of Chrysostom’s preaching, such as his use of ‘life portraits’ of significant figures [cf other recent scholarship such as Margaret M. Mitchell, The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002; and Pak-Wah Lai, "John Chrysostom and the Hermeneutics of Exemplar Portraits" University of Durham PhD Thesis, 2010] and his perpetual interest in the pastoral motivations of biblical writers. The author concludes by considering the possibility of γνώμη as a unifying principle in Chrysostom’s preaching method.