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John Chrysostom believed that Christian philanthropy could transfigure his city and the world beyond it. For this Antiochene priest and preacher, his congregants were the means toward this transformative end. The preacher, however, had to first transform his flock into philanthropic Christians. To convince his community of the virtue of Christian almsgiving, John Chrysostom introduced the Patriarch Abraham to his community as a heroic high priest of philanthropy. In this article, I examine the ways in which Chrysostom portrayed Abraham as the model almsgiver whose charity Christians were called to emulate. This Abrahamic ideal emerges as part of a broad vision in which non-ordained Christians represented a general, lay priesthood whose sacrifice was charity and whose altar was the poor who received it. I also treat the eschatological component of Chrysostom’s pastoral theology. This theology is couched in Greek rhetorical terms, expounding upon the rewards the faithful would receive if they assisted the poor and setting forth the consequences facing them if they neglected their philanthropic responsibilities. I argue that Chrysostom formulated a distinct social theology in which he saw philanthropy as beneficial, not only to his immediate Antiochene congregation but also to the greater society in which he and his congregants lived.
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