Shaping Mind and Model: John Chrysostom’s Method of Exemplification in De Davide et Saule I

Abstract

In recent studies on Chrysostom, there has been an increased interest in his use of Biblical figures as moral examples and in his position within the ancient psychotherapeutic tradition. Building upon these new insights, this study analyses Chrysostom’s portrayal of David in the first homily De Davide et Saule (CPG 4412.1). Particular attention is paid to Chrysostom’s various techniques to visualise David, and moral exemplars more broadly. As a physician of the soul, Chrysostom not only seeks his audience to visualise David, but to interiorise this image, so it may morally transform his audience. This study shows that to inculcate a moral exemplar, he often uses a specific “spiritual exercise”, not only in the present case of David, but throughout the Chrysostomic corpus.