L’usage des emotions dans la polémique anti-juive: l’exemple des discours contre les Juifs de Jean Chrysostome
Résumé
In this paper I explore the way John Chrysostom uses emotions in his anti- Jewish polemics. This approach allows us to grasp the mechanisms – rheto- rical and psychological – which John exploits in order to convey his message. As all religious groups, Christian communities were also “emotional com- munities”, that is groups that share the same rules of emotional expression and attach (or do not attach) importance to the same feelings. By studying these sermons I try to answer the following questions: what kind of emotions did Chrysostom mobilize against the Jews? What did he mean while speaking of zelos, orge, thumos, misos? How did Chrysostom’s public react to his discourses? My hypothesis is that his sermons witness an emotional divide between John and his public, as well as a certain resistance by the audience to accept Chrysostom’s instructions. The emotional regime he wants his public to abide to, does not coincide with the emotions the public actually feels. In other words, the emotional community imagined by Chrysostom diverges from the emotional community he addresses.