Discourses Against Judaizing Christians (The Fathers of the Church, 68) [Paperback]

Saint John Chrysostom (Author), Paul W. Harkins (Translator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Catholic Univ of Amer Pr (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813209714
• ISBN-13: 978-0813209715
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,538,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A timely reminder of persistent trends in Christianity, August 2, 2005

By 

T. Kalamaras "Scrivener" (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Discourses Against Judaizing Christians (The Fathers of the Church, 68) (Paperback)

This translation of St John Chrysostom's famous homilies against the Jews, "Kata Ioudaion," or as rendered by the translator "Discourses Against Judaizing Christians," is a timely reminder of the tendency among some Christians to revert to Judaism.

While the term "Judeo-Christianity" is often heard and used today as if the two religions were one, as these homilies make clear, they are not. Indeed, this Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church, who is also revered by the Orthodox Churches, makes the differences stark and clear. He denounces Christians who obscure those differences, and would meld the two faiths together. And, as the translator aptly notes, the homilies are directed against Christians principally, not Jews. Of course, St John Chrysostom's writings have figured importantly in many pogroms against the Jews throughout history, and so this work is of significant historical, as well as theological interest.

While Jewish readers may disagree with St John Chrysostom's negative characterization of many key elements of Judaism, they will also find this a worthwhile read to help understand the important differences between Judaism and Orthodox Christian dogma.

I strongly recommend this work to all who have an interest in the cultic and philosophical differences between Judaism and Christianity.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Revolting stuff, April 27, 2010

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Geoff Puterbaugh (Chiang Mai, T. Suthep, A. Muang Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Discourses Against Judaizing Christians (The Fathers of the Church, 68) (Paperback)

Anyone interested in the revolting history of Christian anti-Semitism can find one of the founding documents here. I am amazed that two people posted reviews of this book and didn't even mention the truly disgusting language and images employed by this so-called "Saint." In fact, the latest edition of the works of the "Fathers of the Church" simply omits these homilies because they are so repellent.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Response to T. Kalamaras "Scrivener's" comment that Judeo-Christianity are separate faiths, February 27, 2010

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schwent - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Discourses Against Judaizing Christians (The Fathers of the Church, 68) (Paperback)

"Judeo-Christianity" is not one religion ONLY because the Roman Catholic Church ("RCC") made that decision 350 years after Jesus' crucifixion. In 155 AD, Polycarp of Smyrna (a direct pupil of the Apostle John) went to Rome to try to persuade the bishop not to switch Passover to Easter Sunday (*a Roman tradition), as Passover had been always observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles [as recorded by Irenaeus, an Ante-Nicene Church father]. In 193 AD, Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, was excommunicated (along with all Quartodecimen aka Christians who kept the Passover) by the Roman bishop Victor for observing the Christian Passover on the 14th of Nissan (like the Jews) and not switching it to a Easter Sunday. Polycrates claimed that he was simply following the practices as taught by the Apostles John and Philip, and leaders Polycarp and Melito of Sardis. If the Jewish feasts were abolished by God, then WHY does He say in Zechariah 14:16-19 that in the Messianic Era, ALL NATIONS will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)? It's amusing that after all the laws in 360 AD forceably removed Jewish traditions from the church, 20 years later John Chrysostom was still having to address this issue several times a year. If Christians want to celebrate the Jewish feasts, LET THEM. Judaism always held that righteous Gentiles were not bound to the law of Moses; righteous Gentiles were only bound to the Noahide laws (the 7 laws given to Noah by God in Genesis 9), and in 50 AD (being 20 years after Jesus' crucifixion) at the Council of Jerusalem, the Jewish church narrowed this down to 4 laws for the Gentile believers in Acts 15:28,29. My point? The early Jewish church recognized that the Gentile church had a different set of rules to follow. But ironically, after pagan Roman Emperor Constantine legalized (Gentile) Christianity at the Council of Nicea (325 AD), around 360 AD, the Council of Laodicea made Judeo-Christianity ILLEGAL and changed the Sabbath to Sunday. See Canons 29, 37 and 38. (*c.100 AD in the Apostle John's vision [Revelation 3:14-22], Jesus gave a prophetic warning to the church of Laodicea). The Council of Laodicea (representing the Gentile church) FORCED the Jews and Christian Judaizers out of the church. John Chrysostomus' book contributed to the church entering the Dark Ages (500 AD) and indoctrinated Catholics with anti-Semitism and centuries of Jewish persecution. How many descendants of Jesus' brothers and of the Apostles were murdered by the Church? The Apostle Paul said in Romans 10:1 - Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. If true Christianity isn't supposed to be the fulfillment of Judaism (being, the coming of the Jewish Messiah), then what is it? Romans 11:24 says: "For if you (Gentiles) were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree (Jewish Israel): how much more shall these (Jews), which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?" Are Judeo-Christians wrong because they don't follow the Catholic creed? [*NOTE: Any Jewish people reading this, please understand that from 380 - 1500s AD, the Roman Catholic Church were NOT Christians. Other Christian groups (the Protestants) were not tolerated and were also tortured/murdered during the Inquisition by the RCC (*also responsible for the Crusades, which murdered Greek/Roman Orthodox Christians, too). Jan Huss, a Protestant church reformer, was burned at the stake for his "heretical" beliefs that didn't agree with the RCC, as were many other Protestant reformers.]