Pluck the rose but shun the thorns

The ancient school and Christian origins

Bibliographic Data

ID3942603
AuthorsMary Ann Beavis (0000-0001-6558-9942, Department of Religious Studies, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W6, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume29
Issue4
Pages411-423
Publication date2000-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-4298 • E-ISSN: 2042-0587
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/000842980002900402
OpenAlexW1990360267
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited8

Although early Christianity had a "scholastic" dimension at an early stage, the place of the Greco-Roman urban institution of the school in the lives of Christians and the role of education in the development and dissemination of Christianity has not received much attention in recent scholarship. This article revisits this topic, with special reference to the concept of "competition." Three conclusions result: Christian students and teachers typically resorted to pagan schools; the Greco-Roman school system provided Christians with education in grammar and rhetoric that they put to good use in undermining paganism; and, to some extent, the schools may have provided a forum for proselytizing on the part of some Christian teachers and pupils

Christianity · Competition (biology · Early Christianity · Grammar · Grammar school · Institution · Linguistics · Paganism · Pedagogy · Political science · Religious education · Rhetoric · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions

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