Primary Authors & Sources
Students read Augustine’s major moral and exegetical homilies beside Chrysostom’s priesthood and preaching corpus—the two poles of Western and Eastern exhortation in the NPNF. Augustine’s Expositions on the Book of Psalms teach the church how to pray and preach the Psalter as Christ’s voice and the church’s. His Sermon on the Mount and Harmony of the Gospels form Christian morals and a unified reading of the Evangelists. The Homilies on the Gospel of John and on First John join Christology to love and sacramental life. John Chrysostom’s On the Priesthood, ascetic treatises, and select homilies and letters (NPNF) remain the classic Eastern school of pulpit power and pastoral burden. Together they serve preaching that is both doctrinal and searching.
What You Will Study
Students read Augustinian moral and pastoral writings alongside Chrysostom's homiletical corpus, examining how two great preachers applied theology to ethics, marriage, wealth, and congregational instruction. Augustine's works on Christian life, continence, and moral responsibility pair with Chrysostom's practical exhortations on almsgiving, fasting, and family piety from his homilies on Scripture. The course analyzes homiletic method, rhetorical strategy, and the integration of exegesis with moral application in patristic preaching. Students compare Eastern and Western pastoral emphases while extracting transferable principles for Reformed pulpits and house church teaching. Readings emphasize primary sources that model sermon preparation rooted in biblical text and love for souls.
Course Objectives
Objectives include summarizing Augustinian and Chrysostomic teaching on key moral issues, analyzing homiletic structure in patristic sermons, comparing patristic moral exhortation with Reformed ethical theology, and writing sample sermon outlines inspired by patristic models filtered through confessional standards. Students will evaluate anachronistic use of patristic ethics while receiving genuine wisdom on pastoral care. The course cultivates preaching that unites doctrinal truth with practical holiness. Students will identify rhetorical strengths and weaknesses in ancient homilies for contemporary adaptation. Assessments require oral or written homiletical analysis of assigned patristic sermons with constructive critique.
Ministry & Life Application
Patristic homiletics and moral theology equip pastors to preach for transformation, not merely information, with examples from history's most celebrated preachers. House church leaders in the Florida Keys learn from Chrysostom's clarity and Augustine's psychological insight into sin and desire. Pastoral ministry gains models for addressing wealth, sexuality, and charity in a culture as confused as fourth-century Antioch or Hippo. This course bridges exegesis and application through masters who preached Christ from every text. Congregations benefit when elders preach with patristic earnestness and Reformed doctrinal fidelity combined.