De Wet Chris L. - Preaching bondage : John Chrysostom and the discourse of slavery in early Christianity

My interest in the topic of ancient Roman slavery did not result directly from reading scholarly volumes on slavery as such; rather, my curiosity began via a different route, through cultural historical studies on embodiment, as well as through gender studies, philosophy, and critical theoryparticularly my love for the work of Michel Foucault. My reading on this topic led me to a book that in fact first made me consider slavery in late antiquity as a topic for my doctoral dissertation. That book was Jennifer Glancys Slavery in Early Christianity. Glancys book approaches slavery from the perspective of the rhetoric of the body, and in this I saw an opportunity for a novel research projecta study of slavery as a corporeal discourse in the works of John Chrysostom.

Ideas and sections of this book were presented at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature and the North American Patristics Society and at the Oxford Patristics conference, the New Testament Society of Southern Africa conference, and the annual University of South Africa (UNISA) Symposium for New Testament and Early Christian Studies. I gratefully acknowledge the College of Human Sciences at UNISA for several research grants that made it possible to present my research in both local and international contexts.

I would also like to acknowledge colleagues and friends who were kind enough to read the entire, lengthy manuscript, and gave treasured input. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Jennifer Glancy, not only for her wonderful work on slavery in early Christianity, but also for encouraging me to pursue this project, and her involvement in its development. She read the full manuscript and made very incisive comments on its value and also how to improve it. The friendship and collegiality of Blake Leyerle continue to humble meher meticulous suggestions as an expert scholar on Chrysostom and his sociocultural world were invaluable; she was able not only to highlight the strengths of my work, but also to point out in detail areas for improvement. Another amica academica is Christine Shepardson, whose creative edge made apparent to me questions and issues I had not considered before. I must also thank Susanna Elm and Ilaria Ramelli, as well as my colleague at UNISA, Pieter Craffert, all of whom read the manuscript; their feedback was a creative stimulus beyond any doubt. J. Albert Harrills generous and insightful comments on the manuscript assisted in wider contextualization of some points in the book, for which I am very grateful.

I can truly say that I have the most admirable colleagues and friends in the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies at UNISA, with whom I am every day honored to work. I thank my mentors and friends, Pieter Botha, Pieter Craffert (again), Gerhard van den Heever, and Johannes Vorster for their stimulating and challenging contributions to my own development as an academic. I also thank the chair of the department, Elelwani Farisani, for his support in providing me with valuable time away from the bustle of the office to complete this book.

Anyone who knows Wendy Mayer, who joined UNISA for three months as a visiting researcher during the completion of this book, knows that her encyclopedic knowledge of Chrysostom and late antiquity is matched only by her generous collegiality and warm friendshipI am privileged to share in both. I must also acknowledge two very dear friends who, while they were not directly involved in this project, added immeasurably to my own critical thinkingI thank Evan Stapelberg for those wonderful theological conversations we had almost thirteen years ago, and Leonard Mar for his friendship and support throughout the years.

Among those mentioned above, I would also like to thank the following scholars, who in one way or another, be it in conversation, collaboration, or consultation, contributed to the success of this project: Pauline Allen, Cynthia Baker, Philip Bosman, Phil Botha, Sheila Briggs, Bernadette Brooten, Kate Cooper, Jitse Dijkstra, Benjamin Dunning, Peter Lampe, Nickolas Roubekas, Hennie Stander, Annika Thiem, Ronald van der Bergh, Johannes van Oort, Julia Watts Belser, Jamie Wood, and the late Abraham Malherbe.

At the University of California Press, I would like to thank Eric Schmidt, Maeve Cornell-Taylor, and Cindy Fulton for their patience and encouragement, and for believing in this project. Marian Rogerss professional and elegant copyediting transformed the manuscript.

To all the friends and colleagues mentioned above, I express my gratitude in the eloquence of Cicero: Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore!

Finally, I need to thank my family and friends (outside the academy) for their love, support, and most of all, their patience, while I was completing this book. I could not have asked for a better mother in this life than my own, Sarie Jacobs. She believed in me often when others did not, when I fell she picked me up, and also inspired me to excel. Because of her, I am what I am. I thank my dearest aunt, Jackie Sanders, a second mother to me, and my cousin Len-John, the brother I never had, and Chandelle, as well as my new family, Rui and Letitia Rodrigues, Rosa and Akina Croeser, and my dear friends Justin, Samantha, and Liaan. At the time of the writing of this book, I lost three very dear family members, Len Sanders (Boetie), Tjaart van der Walt, and Jimmy Christensen, whose memory I recall here, along with my father, Chris, and grandparents Len, Joekie, Koenie, and Magriet, who would hopefully be proud of me today. Most importantly, I must thank the love of my life, my fiance, Artemisa Rodrigues, for her love and companionship. I treasure our every moment together, the stimulating conversations, and warm embracesthank you, Artemisa, for feeling with me, laughing with me, crying with me, thinking with me, living with me. I dedicate this book to you.