Review article
Educational-theoretical Dilemma of the Early Christianity
Marko Pranjić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7072-0300
; Centre for Croatian Studies
Abstract
Life in the Hellenistic environment was a real challenge to
the early Christians. On the one hand they had to respect what
the society valued, and on the other hand, they could take an
extreme position and show worthlessness, or a moderate position
and harmonize Hellenistic and Christian contents according to
the principle of the ‘real application’. In that environment, there
were those not willing to see any connection between the old
and the new, but also those who started to understand the old
and interpret it as the propedeutics of theological knowledge. All
the opinions and nuances are delivered in the texts through the
examples and interpretation of numerous Early Christian writers
as Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr,
Saint Irenaeus, Tatian, Tertullian, Hippolytus of Rome, Origen,
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Eusebius of Caesarea, Pachomius, Basil
of Caesarea, Amphilochius of Iconium, Saint Jerome, Augustine
of Hippo, Isidore of Seville, Gregory the Great etc., but also from
the many modern authors’ works that start from those opinions
and establish their own attitudes. The author concentrated in
the research more on examining the reasons behind the lack of
a separate Christian school than on additionally confirming the
already known thesis that there was no particular need for it to
exist both because children were mostly raised and brought up in
the circle of their families and relatives and because what could be
called education, which was mostly offered to adults, was to a large
extent used for spiritual growth i.e. preparation for sacraments. It
is clear that dilemmas and disputes over whether the Hellenistic
heritage is thereby stimulating or inhibiting did not fail to occur.
This text also analyzes the question of absence of systematic
consideration of the education in the New Testament, as well as
the problems of the teaching functions in the Early Christianity.
Keywords
Hellenistic environment; Early Christianity; Early Christian Writers; school; education; teacher
Hrčak ID:
89227
URI
Publication date:
19.10.2012.
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