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Friendship with God and the Transformation of Patronage in the Thought of John Chrysostom
Author(s) -
Sherwin Michael
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2005.2004.00040.x
Subject(s) - friendship , content (measure theory) , transformation (genetics) , john chrysostom , sociology , psychology , communication , theology , philosophy , social psychology , mathematics , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Chrysostom sketched an alternative economic system in which the rich had to acknowledge their indebtedness precisely to those who were poor and insignificant in the eyes of the world. His message was one of mutuality. He obtained this mutuality by investing the very poor, who had previously been excluded from patron-client relations because they had nothing to contribute, with a valuable commodity, namely, special access to God.