School of Theology and Seminary Faculty Publications
The Encounter of the Early Church with the Greek and Roman World: A View from Monastic Theology
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2006
Disciplines
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Arts and Humanities | Christianity | History of Christianity | Religion
Abstract
I have been asked to use a particular perspective, that of monasticism, to look at how early Christianity understood its relation to Greco-Roman culture. In some geographical and linguistic regions the influence of Greco-Roman culture may have been attenuated, but it was never absent, particularly among the literate. The monastic writings of the fourth and fifth centuries display the full range of attitudes toward Greek and Roman understandings of the cosmos, and the place of human beings within it, that can be found in the larger pool of Christian literature.
Recommended Citation
Stewart, Columba. “The Encounter of the Early Church with the Greek and Roman World: A View from Monastic Theology.” In Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 61 (2006): 1-13.