The Bible: The School of Antioch

In the fourth and fifth centuries a rival school arose in Antioch to challenge the Alexandrian insistence on allegorical interpretation. Scholars of this school dismissed allegorical meanings as so much nonsense and insisted on reading for the historical and grammatical meaning. What the text said was what it meant. It did not convey some abstract philosophical concepts. In keeping with a historical focus, these scholars emphasized the humanity of Jesus. They examined chronology and sequence of events, which had little meaning to those who read everything as allegories. Possibly because Antioch had a large and influential Jewish population, some of its Christian leaders emphasized the monotheism of Christianity--i.e., God understood as a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was still one God.

The most famous representative of the School of Antioch was John Chrysostom* (c. 347-407), a beloved preacher in Antioch [right]. He was famous as a teacher of orthodoxy. Chrysostom focused on the simple reading of a text rather than what he called a lofty meaning from philosophers. Many of his sermons have been preserved, and are still powerful today.

After serving happily as a pastor in Antioch for a dozen years, Chrysostom was elected Bishop or Patriarch* of Constantinople against his will in 398. John was an ascetic* man of enormous zeal and integrity who used his own wealth to help the poor. He also took seriously his responsibilities as bishop, and sought to reform the corruption of the capital city and its church. He had no gift for flattery, tact, or compromise, and he made enemies in the church and at court, including the Empress. He was also resented by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who organized Chrysostom’s enemies and got him deposed and sent into exile on trumped-up charges. (The Bishop of Rome disapproved of this action, and broke off communion with Constantinople and Alexandria.) The Empress called Chrysostom back from exile, but later she took offense at the bishop’s continued disapproval of the ways of the court, and had him banished to distant Armenia. His admirers from Antioch made pilgrimages to hear him preach, so in 407 he was banished to a more remote district. He died of hardships on the way.

This study is a resource from:
The Women's Division
General Board of Global Ministries
The United Methodist Church
E-mail: umw@gbgm-umc.org.
Web: http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/

The picture of St. John Chrysostom is a detail from "John Chrysostom" in An Outline of Christianity: The Story of Our Civilization, Vol. II (New York: Bethlehem Publishers, Inc., 1926), p. 91.

The School of Antioch*