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12 - Early Christian Involvement in Classical Education, Literature, and Philosophy

from Part III - Contested Heritage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2023

By
Josef Lössl
Edited by
Bruce W. Longenecker  and
David E. Wilhite
Bruce W. Longenecker
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
David E. Wilhite
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
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Summary

Ancient Christianity’s relationship to classical education, literature, and philosophy is oddly tense. To be sure, Christianity originated in a thoroughly Hellenized cultural context in which literary-rhetorical education (paideia)1 was not only a lofty humanistic ideal2 but an essential prerequisite for the functioning of society.3 It existed not only for the social, political, and economic elites in metropolitan centers; members of lower social strata in the provinces, women as well as men, had a stake in it, too. During the first and second centuries ce, Galilee and Judea, the regions where Christianity can be said to have originated, were thoroughly part of that world.4

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The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity , pp. 276 - 297
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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