Ancient Education and Early Christianity

What was the relationship of ancient education to early Christianity? This volume provides an in-depth look at different approaches currently employed by scholars who draw upon educational settings in the ancient world to inform their historical research in Christian origins. The book is divided into two sections: one consisting of essays on education in the ancient world, and one consisting of exegetical studies dealing with various passages where motifs emerging from ancient educational culture provide illumination.

The chapters summarize the state of the discussion on ancient education in classical and biblical studies, examine obstacles to arriving at a comprehensive theory of early Christianity's relationship to ancient education, compare different approaches, and compile the diverse methodologies into one comparative study. Several educational motifs are integrated in order to demonstrate the exegetical insights that they may yield when utilized in New Testament historical investigation and interpretation.

• Table Of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• I. Introduction - Matthew Ryan Hauge & Andrew W. Pitts
• II. Education in Greco-Roman Christianity and in Judaism
  • 1. State of the Question - Matthew Ryan Hauge & Andrew W. Pitts
  • 2. The Torah versus Homer: Jewish and Graeco-Roman - Catherine Hezser, SOAS, University of London, UK
  • 3. The Development of Jewish Greek Education in Egypt - James Atkin, Independent scholar.
  • 4. The Delphic Canon and the Ephebic Ethical - James R. Harrison, Sydney College of Divinity, Australia
  • 5. Observing Teachers and Students in a Rhetorical - Ronald F. Hock, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
  • 6. A School of Paul?: The Use of Pauline Texts in early Christian Schooltext Papyri - Jennifer Strawbridge, Keble College, Oxford University, UK.
• III: Ancient Education and Early Christian Literature
  • 7. Luke's Antetextuality in Light of Ancient Rhetorical Education - Dennis R. McDonald, Claremont Graduate University, USA.
  • 8. Luke, Progymnasmata, and Graeco-Roman Education: Rhetorical Handbooks and Their Influence on the Selection of Genre – Sean A. Adams, University of Edinburgh, UK.
  • 9. Fabulous Parables: The Storytelling Tradition in the Synoptic Gospels - Matthew Ryan Hauge, Azusa Pacific University, USA
  • 10. So What's the Difference? How Education Affected Paul's Letters - Stanley E. Porter, McMaster Divinity College, Canada.
  • 11. The Rhetoric Paul did Use: Progymnastic Composition in the Pauline Corpus - Andrew W. Pitts, Bethel Seminary, USA.
  • 12. Paul and the Sophists in 1 Corinthians 1–4 as Evidence of a Rhetorical Education - Duane F. Watson, Malone University, Ohio, USA.
  • 13. How Did the 'Teaching' Teach? The Didache as Catechesis – William Varner, The Master's College, California, USA.
• IV. Conclusion - Matthew Ryan Hauge & Andrew W. Pitts