Relational Aspects of Attention in Chrysostom’s hermeneutics

Abstract Chrysostom construed attention as an unwavering and wholehearted dedication to the study of the Word in view of one’s moral transformation. As it will become evident the attainment of this state required instruction, not in doctrines, but in the art of asking questions. This article tries to place Chrysostom’s hermeneutics in its Middle Platonic and Neoplatonic scholastic context. It also explores the interaction between preacher and audience as well as the erotic and hedonistic dimensions of intercourse with the Word so as to bring to the fore the relational aspects of attention. Above all, it highlights desire, and its close association with the formulation of aporias, as the key to Chrysostom’s Socratic way of converting his congregation to the Christian way of life.