Exegetical Practices of John Chrysostom and the Formation of the Subject of Faith

Abstract

This article attempts to consider John Chrysostom’s practice of exegesis (interpretation of biblical texts) from the point of view of the formation of the subject of faith. The main research method applied here is multilevel hermeneutic and exegetical text analysis. The author of this study shows how John Chrysostom’s exegesis evolves from a simple set of tools into a condition for a person’s self-change. According to John Chrysostom, a subject engaging in exegesis transforms and brings his mind into a holistic state. The purified mind becomes able to notice its own non-authentic existence, while authentic existence must be revealed to the subject in the process of biblical interpretation. This happens when the interpreter questions himself and doubts the existence. Text interpretation for an exegete is not an act of studying an object. Exegesis is fundamentally dialogical in nature and is based on the subject–subject relationship, thus presenting an opportunity to meet with the Other being, which needs to ask a question about itself. Questioning the Other is an attempt to get out of the closed world and start moving towards the truth. The truth lies before the subject and opens up new ways of existence for him. Becoming a subject is always incomplete: it is impossible to reach the moment of final formation since the truth cannot be exhausted, one can endlessly approach it. A unique and inimitable relationship is established between the truth and the subject, opening up new ways of being. It is safe to say that exegesis for the subject becomes an act of creating his own life.