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Rating: 
Summary: Pastoral Advice from the "Golden-Mouthed"
Review: As a pastor who has been exposed to models of ministry based upon modern psychology and business management, St. Chrysostom's treatise is refreshing. Being famed as a preacher, I especially appreciated the "Golden-Mouth's" chapters on preaching and teaching. At one point, he compares the priest's work to the doctor. Whereas the doctor has a variety of medicines and treatments available, "there is only one means and only one method of treatment available [to the priest], and that is teaching by word of mouth. That is the best instrument, the best diet, and the best climate. It takes the place of medicine and cautery and surgery. When we need to cauterize or cut, we must use this. Without it all else is useless." (pg 115) That being said, the modern reader will probably not be happy with the entire work. The whole treatise is a dialogue between St. Chrysostom with and Basil, a friend whom he has deceived into the priesthood while avoiding it himself. That deception casts a shadow over the whole book, making the reader less than sympathetic toward St. Chrysostom. Nonetheless, the author forces the modern pastor to wrestle with the possibility that deception can be a useful tool of the ministry. Graham Neville's translation is extremely readable, especially compared to older English translations. Moreover, his introduction is very helpful not only as a introduction to the book but also to ministry in the early church. He surveys pastoral works by Gregory of Nazianzus and Pope Gregory the Great as well as Chrystostom. The modern pastor must never forget that he or she is surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses" whose advice is as timely as when it was written.
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