John Chrysostom and Divine Pedagogy by Dr. David Rylaarsdam - Faculty Book Review
From The Forum Magazine, Spring 2015 - view the full issue here
Ask David Rylaarsdam what possible relevance a fourth-century preacher could have for the way churches care for souls in 2015 and watch his eyes light up. A compelling overview of John Chrysostom’s pastoral strategy is on its way.
Rylaarsdam published John Chrysostom on Divine Pedagogy as a technical work for a scholarly audience, defending Chrysostom’s theological soundness and influence against modern detractors in the academy.
Citing Chrysostom’s enormous gifts as a preacher-theologian as well as his ability to cultivate a broadly and deeply Christian culture, Rylaarsdam is also convinced that this church father has much to offer members of today’s church.
“He’s considered one of the greatest preachers ever. John Calvin thought he was the greatest interpreter of Scripture who ever lived. He ranked him ahead of Augustine or anybody else.”
Chrysostom was a masterful cultural observer who re-appropriated familiar images from the theatre and marketplace to striking effect on Sunday morning.
“He’ll use images that people love and know, and he’ll use them to describe a basic teaching of Christianity,” Rylaarsdam says.
"He’ll say things like, ‘The end of the world Is like the end of a play: Everyone is wearing a mask, and they look like a rich ruler, or a peasant, or whatever … . But when you remove the mask [at the end of the play] you find out who they really are.
‘That’s the way it’s going to be at the end of time. We don’t always know [the truth of] people’s faith life and love for God … . But we all get to remove our masks at the end of the play. Then we see each other for what we really are.’”
Rylaarsdam traces one of the primary unifying concepts in Chrysostom’s thought: divine adaptability, or God’s facility in working with his people in just the right way at just the right time.
“[Chrysostom and his contemporaries] see that God always knows the state of your soul. So [God is] always saying things in such a way that it is precisely what you need at that stage of your faith formation—not only the content of what he’s communicating with his people, but also the way in which he does [it].”
The early church recognized a similar adaptability in the Apostle Paul. “[T]hey would read one of [Paul’s] letters and say, ‘Oh, Paul senses that the Corinthians need to be confronted about something, so he’s rather sharp and abrasive in this phrase; but then he backs off in the next phrase because he doesn’t want to send them into despair.’ They’re saying Paul is imitating God’s adaptability because that’s exactly how God relates to us.”
Studying divine adaptability has dramatically affected Rylaarsdam’s teaching. “I keep coming back to these basic themes: How do we strategically do faith formation in a way that’s rooted in Scripture, rooted in the way God seems to be working with human beings?”
Rylaarsdam plans to undertake a popular version of the book in the next several years.
“I think there are lots of practical implications, not only for how we do pastoral work, [but also for] how we train our pastors [and parishioners]. What spiritual disciplines do we encourage in our people? It all goes back to the insightful pedagogy that God seems to use with humanity.”
