This is a well written work that illuminates the important commentary of St. John Chrysostom on men and women and their roles in the family, church and society. It will help the reader understand the Christian meaning of human nature, human sexuality, male-female relationships and the roles of men and women in church and society.
About the Author: Dr David C. Ford is Professor of Church History at St Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary, South Canaan, PA. and is the author of Women and Men in the Early Church: The Full Views of St. John Chrysostom.
3 Reviews
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Women and Men in the Early Church
In this book, through his “careful textual analysis of the writings of John Chrysostom, . . . David Ford has opened a broad window of access to these questions that has not been looked through before. Look through this window, I plead with you. Let the wisdom found there illumine present dilemmas of sexuality, family, and marriage. I pray that this book may become a means of grace to women and men seeking to embody the praise of God in their sexual and spiritual lives.”
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Women and Men in the Early Church
It is necessary to read the writings of the Church Fathers, especially their popular sermons, with accuracy and empathy within the Church’s total life and witness rooted in the Bible. David Ford does just this in his exhaustive study of St. John Chrysostom’s teachings about women and men, gender and sexuality, marriage and monasticism, and spiritual life and service in the Christian Church. He examines the saint’s thought on these complicated and controverted issues with care and compassion. His work is a rare gift for which faithful Christians will surely return admiration and gratitude.
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Women & Men in the Early Church
Dr. David Ford’s articulate and lucid prose, as well as his broad familiarity with the writings of St. John Chrysostom—the most influential Biblical commentator in Eastern Christianity—make his book a most welcome and valuable contribution to Christian understanding of human nature, accessible to lay reader and specialist alike. It should be required reading for all who are interested in the deeper aspects of Patristic thought on questions of human sexuality, man-woman relationships, and the roles of men and women in family, Church, and society.
