The Reception of John Chrysostom in Early Modern Europe

Book excerpt: The Reception of John Chrysostom in Early Modern Europe explores when, how, why, and by whom one of the most influential Fathers of the Greek Church was translated and read during a particularly significant period in the reception of his works. This was the period between the first Neo-Latin translation of Chrysostom in 1417 and the final volume of Fronton du Duc’s Greek-Latin edition in 1624, years in which readers and translators from Renaissance Italy, the Byzantine Empire, and the Basel, Paris, and Rome of a newly-confessionalised Europe found in Chrysostom everything from a guide to Latin oratory, to a model interpreter of Paul. By drawing on evidence that ranges from Greek manuscripts to conciliar acts, this book contextualises the hundreds of translations and editions of Chrysostom that were produced in Europe between 1417 and 1624, while demonstrating the lasting impact of these works on scholarship about this Church Father today.