Religious Education in Pre-Modern Europe 9789004232136, 9789004232143, 2012020405

Table of contents :
Foreword ........................................................................................................... vii
List of Contributors ........................................................................................ ix
Towards a Theoretical Frame for the Study of Religious Education:
An Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and Marvin Döbler
Religious Education in Classical Greece ................................................ 39
Christoph Auffarth
Etrusca Disciplina: How Was It Possible to Learn about Etruscan
Religion in Ancient Rome? ..................................................................... 63
Charles Guittard
Before the Teachers of Israel and the Sages of Greece: Luke-Acts
as a Precursor of the Conjunction of Biblical Faith and
Hellenistic Education ............................................................................... 77
Reinhard Feldmeier
Religious Education in Late Antique Paganism .................................... 97
Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler
From a Way of Reading to a Way of Life: Basil of Caesarea and
Gregory of Nazianzus about Poetry in Christian Education ........ 147
Andreas Schwab
Locating Young Students in Byzantine Churches: A Chapter on
Primary and Secondary Religious Education in Byzantium ......... 163
Nikos Kalogeras
Formation for Wisdom, Not Education for Knowledge ...................... 183
E. Rozanne Elder
Bernard of Clairvaux and Religious Education: An Approach from
the Perspective of the History of Religions ....................................... 213
Marvin Döbler
Index ................................................................................................................... 247

Citation preview

Religious Education in Pre-Modern Europe

Numen Book Series Studies in the History of Religions

Series Editors

Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada) Richard King (University of Glasgow, Scotland) Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) Gerard Wiegers (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

VOLUME 140

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nus

Religious Education in Pre-Modern Europe Edited by

Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and Marvin Döbler

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012

Cover illustration: A detail of the Quedlinburg tapestry showing the wedding between Philologia and Mercurius, according to the work of the late antique writer Martianus Capella. Reproduced with kind permission from Domschatz Quedlinburg, Perner&Schmidt. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religious education in pre-modern Europe / edited by Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and Marvin Döbler.   p. cm. — (Numen book series, ISSN 0169-8834 ; v. 140)  Includes index.  ISBN 978-90-04-23213-6 (hardback : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-90-04-23214-3 (e-book) 1. Religious education—Europe. 2. Education—Europe. 3. Europe—Religious life and customs. I. TanaseanuDöbler, Ilinca. II. Döbler, Marvin. LC313.8.R45 2012 370.11’4094—dc23 2012020405

This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 0169-8834 ISBN 978 90 04 23213 6 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 23214 3 (e-book) This research and publication was funded by the German Initiative of Excellence. Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper.

CONTENTS Foreword  ........................................................................................................... List of Contributors  ........................................................................................

vii ix

Towards a Theoretical Frame for the Study of Religious Education: An Introduction .......................................................................................... Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and Marvin Döbler 

1

Religious Education in Classical Greece   ................................................ Christoph Auffarth Etrusca Disciplina: How Was It Possible to Learn about Etruscan Religion in Ancient Rome?  ..................................................................... Charles Guittard Before the Teachers of Israel and the Sages of Greece: Luke-Acts as a Precursor of the Conjunction of Biblical Faith and Hellenistic Education  ............................................................................... Reinhard Feldmeier Religious Education in Late Antique Paganism  .................................... Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler

39

63

77

97

From a Way of Reading to a Way of Life: Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus about Poetry in Christian Education  ........ Andreas Schwab

147

Locating Young Students in Byzantine Churches: A Chapter on Primary and Secondary Religious Education in Byzantium  ......... Nikos Kalogeras

163

Formation for Wisdom, Not Education for Knowledge  ...................... E. Rozanne Elder

183

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contents

Bernard of Clairvaux and Religious Education: An Approach from the Perspective of the History of Religions  ....................................... Marvin Döbler

213

Index  ...................................................................................................................

247

FOREWORD This volume has its roots in a panel organised by the editors in 2007 for the Annual Congress of the Deutsche Vereinigung für Religionswissenschaft (formerly for Religionsgeschichte) at the University of Bremen (Germany). Originally, we had intended a publication as conference proceedings, but while we were preparing the introduction the idea for a more elaborate project developed. In 2008 we taught a class highlighting religious education in pre-modern Europe at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). The discussions with the advanced and graduate students at Bayreuth greatly stimulated our interest in the subject. The systematic framework sketched in the introduction to this volume was composed in 2009 at the Ohio State University (Columbus, USA). The articles then underwent a thorough revision by the respective authors in the light of this framework. The final steps of this dialectical process were accomplished at the Courant Research Centre EDRIS (Education and Religion from Early Roman Imperial Times to the Classical Period of Islam) at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany) and the Institut of Religionswissenschaft and Pedagogy of Religion at the University of Bremen (Germany). We would like to thank Brill and the editors of the Numen Book Series for considering our work for publication. We are especially thankful for the extensive and constructive feedback provided by the blind peer review. We also thank Maarten Frieswijk of Brill for his consultation and guidance throughout the review and production process. Kocku von Stuckrad of the editorial board oversaw our integration into the Numen Book Series. Many hands were involved in the production process, and we would like to express our gratitude to Susanne Becker for her redactional help, and to Gabriela Ryser who checked English spelling and grammar. We are enormously grateful for the final linguistic and stilistic revision by our bilingual colleague and professional academic translator Cornelia Jane Oefelein. Furthermore, we thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for travel grants allowing our foreign colleagues to attend the 2007 Bremen congress. The Courant Research Centre EDRIS, founded at the University of Göttingen within the framework of the German Excellence Initiative, has provided a wonderful working environment and resources for the completion of this work.

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foreword

Finally, we wish to thank our dear colleagues who contributed to this volume. Their interdisciplinary impetus and openess towards a systematic frame provided by Religionswissenschaft inspired this project and made it reality. We hope this book will stimulate further research in this exciting topic in the field of European History of Religions and that our systematic framework may prove helpful for future interdisciplinary scholarly discussion. Göttingen/Bremen Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and Marvin Döbler

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Christoph Auffarth, Dr. phil. (1987), Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Dr. theol. (1996), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, is Professor for the History of Religions at the University of Bremen. His research concentrates on the history of European religions, as well as diverse aspects of theory and method. His publications include Der drohende Untergang. “Schöpfung” in Mythos und Ritual im Alten Orient und in Griechenland am Beispiel der Odyssee und des Ezchielbuches (Berlin/New York, 1991). Marvin Döbler, Dr. phil. (2010), University of Bremen, is a Historian of Religion at the University of Bremen. He is interested in historical and methodological topics and his monograph entitled Die Mystik und die Sinne: Eine religionshistorische Untersuchung am Beispiel Bernhards von Clairvaux is forthcoming in the series BERG (Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 2012). E. Rozanne Elder, Ph.D. (1973), University of Toronto, is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. She has published widely on Cistercian monasticism. Recent publications include “Christologie de Guillaume de Saint-Thierry et vie spirituelle”, in N. Boucher (ed.), Signy l’abbaye, site cistercien enfoui, site de mémoire et Guillaume de SaintThierry (Signy L’abbaye 2000), 575–587, and “Communities of Reform in the Province of Rheims: The Benedictine ‘Chapter General’ of 1131”, in M.F. Williams (ed.), The Making of Christian Communities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (London 2005), 117–129. Reinhard Feldmeier, Dr. theol. (1986), Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, is Professor for New Testament at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. His extensive publications include his recent major work together with Hermann Spieckermann, God of the Living: A Biblical Theology (Baylor UP, 2011). Charles Guittard, olim alumnus Ecole normale supérieure (1969–73), Ecole Française de Rome (1975–78), DLitt. (1996), is Professor of Latin Literature at the University Paris Ouest Nanterre. He is editor and translator

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list of contributors

of Livy, Lucretius, Plautus, Seneca, Macrobius and has published on Latin literature and Roman religion (Carmen et prophéties à Rome, Brepols, 2007). Nikos Kalogeras, Ph.D. (2000) in History, University of Chicago, teaches History at the Hellenic American Educational Foundation, Athens College. His major research interests focus on the Social and Cultural History of the Late Antique and Byzantine periods. He has published on education, childhood, family and literary criticism in Byzantium. Andreas Schwab, Ph.D. (2009) in Classics and Papyrology, University of Trier, is Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the Department for Classics at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg. He has published two monographs, on the Theological Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus (Tübingen 2009) and on the History of the Representation of the Presocratic Philosopher Thales of Miletus in Early Christian Literature (Berlin/ Boston 2011). Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler, Dr. phil. (2005), Universität Bayreuth, is Professor of the History of Religions at the Courant Research Centre EDRIS, GeorgAugust-Universität Göttingen. Her research has focused on religions in antiquity, and her second monograph, entitled Theurgy in Late Antiquity: The Invention of a Ritual Tradition is forthcoming in the series Beiträge zur Europäischen Religionsgeschichte (BERG; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2012).

A detail of the Quedlinburg tapestry showing the wedding between Philologia and Mercurius, according to the work of the late antique writer Martianus Capella. Reproduced with kind permission from Domschatz Quedlinburg, Perner&Schmidt.

Towards a TheoreTical Frame For The sTudy oF religious educaTion: an inTroducTion ilinca Tanaseanu-döbler and marvin döbler 1. Defining ‘Religious Education’ oὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ εὐσεβεῖν ὅλως δυνατὸν εἶναι ἔφασκεν, ὀρθῶς λέγων, μὴ φιλοσοφήσαντι.1 Thus does gregory Thaumatourgos characterise the attitude and teaching impetus of his renowned teacher origen: “ ‘Therefore,’ saith he, and truly he spoke indeed, ‘it is completely impossible for him who has shunned philosophy, to practice piety.’ ” This statement, aimed at the powerful christian teacher and philosopher from caesarea,2 prompts the question of the exact relationship between religion and education. scholars working on the history of european religion often conceptualise these two fields as distinct, so that they speak of reception or rejection of education by religious traditions.3 while this model is of great help for understanding how religious groups and religious individuals accept and integrate various items of ‘classical’ or ‘secular’ learning, a different theoretical approach is necessary in order to grasp the interference between these two fields of culture within various religious traditions.4 Therefore,

1 gregory Thaumatourgos, Oratio prosphonetica ac panegyrica in Origenem 6, 78. cf. capbosq 2007. 2 origen’s role as a teacher is portrayed in Tloka 2005. 3 This conceptual frame can be observed e.g. in gemeinhardt 2007, Prostmeier 2007 or sandnes 2009. less clear is the aim of Kranemann/makrides/schulte 2008 who unite lectures with divergent objectives, some conceptualising religion and education separately, others focusing on religious education. The volume lacks a unifying theoretical discussion and thus provides little more than a collection of fascinating material. 4 For a recent instance of this approach in the field of early christianity and Judaism see the valuable collection of historical material edited by ego/merkel 2005; a history of christian education was undertaken by Paul 1993. Both volumes do not pursue a wider theoretical and systematic interest in the study of religious education but concentrate on historiography. The same can be said of the recent volume on Religion und Bildung. Medien und Funktionen religiösen Wissens in der Kaiserzeit edited by ch. Frateantonio and h. Krasser (2010), which discusses mostly the handling of religious topics and their function in texts from the second sophistic, without developing a theoretical frame. Berliner/ sarró 2007 present a collection of studies on “learning religion” from an anthropological perspective, reflecting on the issue of religious transmission in the introduction but not on the question of learning or education.

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we have chosen the concept of “religious education” to denote models and processes of transmission and acquisition of knowledge and competences inside religious traditions. Before we can turn to a detailed description of this approach, we should pause for a moment to reflect upon the two terms which we thus connect. The impossibility of a generally valid definition of “religion” is by now a trivial commonplace in the history of religions;5 only working definitions are possible and of any use. For the purposes of this book, “religion” shall be understood substantively as a socio-cultural praxis, a web of discourses and practices based on the assumption that there is another level of reality behind the sphere of empirically graspable everyday life, whether this level be called “transcendent”, “supernatural” or, in modern cognitivistic terminology, “counter-intuitive superhuman”.6 This is not to say that we endorse or combine a rational choice theory of religion à la rodney stark or a cognitive approach to religion. endorsing a particular theory of religion would fatally narrow our perspective on the proposed field of study. we only underline the common feature of these substantive definitions of religion in order to illustrate the basis for our working definition, which allows us to include a plethora of ideas, practices and groups in our scope and freely move between individual agents, religious communities and their cultural and social context. This brief consideration already indicates that the concept of “religious education” must operate on distinct levels: the transmission of knowledge and competences has different objectives and requires different methods if it pertains to the sphere of ritual, for example, than if it takes place on the level of theological discourse or, as a third example, within a specific religious “lebensform”, such as training novices to become monks.7 These three aspects are by far not exhaustive of the different dimensions of religion, which the various contributions to this volume will highlight. a variety of concepts and discourses is also covered by the term ‘education’. a glimpse of this may already caught by looking into possible translations into other languages. in german, for example, certain aspects of

5 on the various definitions of religion and their dependence on the respective academic and social contexts see Platvoet/molendijk 1999; the epilogue of Platvoet accurately sums up the results. 6 For “transcendent” see e.g. Tanaseanu-döbler 2008, 15–16; for “supernatural” e.g. stark/ Bainbridge 1985, 3–5 (but see the criticism of this notion already in durkheim 1912/1984, 49 or Frazer 1890/1981, 8–9; for “counter-intuitive” e.g. Pyysiäinen 2001, 9–23. all these terms are attempts to circumscribe the assumption of a particular meta-empirical level of reality. 7 For the monastic ordo as a Lebensform see e.g. döbler 2007.

an introduction

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education can be captured by the term Bildung, denoting a life-long, existential process of forming the individual.8 in recent times, the german term and concept has increasingly gained influence in anglophone theories of education, due to its philosophical grounding, its plethora of nuances and therefore its ultimate untranslatability.9 other aspects of education, such as educating children or schooling, would fall under Erziehung when the emphasis lies on the inequality of the educational agent and the educand.10 The ambivalence of ‘education’ goes back to its very roots in european culture, namely the greek discourse of education and culture under the umbrella term paideia.11 ‘education’ is a label of a vast and sometimes ambiguous semantic field subject to constant negotiation on the object level as well as on the scholarly meta-level.12 This imprecision is illustrated by the fact that in most cases a qualifier is needed to narrow down the respective aspect of education: primary vs. higher education, adult education, parent education, professional education or, as in this case, religious education. To map this field, different distinct terms are employed whose definitions and/or understandings vary according to the theoretical background or the research interest.13 Thus, in german pedagogical terminology one can distinguish between ‘Bildung’, ‘erziehung’, 8 This view of education is illustrated e.g. by herbert spencer’s succinct definition: “To prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge” (spencer 1866, 31). see also Peters 1967, 7–9, who points out that ‘education’ as we use the word implies something beyond mere accumulation of information: “. . . the knowledge which a man must possess to qualify as being educated must be built into his way of looking at things . . . education implies that a man’s outlook is transformed by what he knows” (7); this basic point of his view of education is also taken up by Barrow/woods 2006, 32–36. 9 see gingell/winch 2008, 23–25. 10 education is equated with schooling e.g. by rury 2005 who writes the history of american education as a history of schooling and the educational system. his leading question is: “do schools change society, or does society change the schools?” (2005, 1). 11 most self-respecting academic introductions to pedagogy begin with classical greece and especially with Plato (e.g. hörner/drinck/Jobst 2008; Prange 2008/2009). as Prange 2008, 27 notes, paideia can be best translated as “Bildung und/oder erziehung”. For the crucial influence of Plato’s ideal of paideia on the development and history of pedagogical reflections see e.g. hager 1981, esp. 13–14, or, more recently, Follack 2005. For the critique of ‘Bildung’ and its renegotiations in the contemporary german education discourse see Kunstmann, 2003, 43–50. an excellent historical overview of the development of european ideals of education, up to the Bildung of german idealism, is given by lauer 2007. 12 see e.g. Barrow/woods 2006, 8ff or inglis/aers 2008, 73–75. For a similar analysis of the concept Bildung see e.g. Prüwer 2009. 13 cf. Prondczynsky 2009, who maps the semantic field of “Bildung” and discusses its ambiguity and hermeneutical potential. The polysemy and manifold possible approaches to Bildung are discussed from the perspective of modern philosophy by ricken 2006, esp. 163–209. overviews of the historical roots and development of the modern educational discourse are given by reichenbach 2007, or Borst 2009.

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‘lernen’, or ‘sozialisation’;14 in english, between ‘instruction’, ‘training’, ‘socialisation’, or ‘education’.15 For this volume, we employ ‘education’ in a general sense, to denote instruction as well as autonomous learning, culture or formation.16 The various domains of religion necessarily require distinct modes of transmission: instruction of children in special classes in school or a religious setting, adult informal learning or conscious formation of religious experts are all aspects of religious education. Therefore, each essay in this volume takes up a different aspect of religious education specifically pertinent to its data. 2. Previous Scholarship and Theoretical Issues The present volume studies religious education in the framework of the history of religions (Religionswissenschaft). From the possible english terms which are commonly used to designate our discipline—such as ‘comparative religion’, ‘academic study of religion’, ‘history of religion(s)’ or ‘religious studies’—we opt for ‘history of religions’ as the most specific and least compromised term. ‘comparative religion’ carries the persistent flavour of a-historic phenomenology. The study of religion from a theological perspective forms a distinctive field of academia. since all non-normative academic study of religion is ultimately grounded in the recognition of the fundamental historicity of its object—religion as a human and therefore historical phenomenon—we shall employ ‘history of religions’ to

14 see e.g. hörner/drinck/Jobst 2008. The terminological ambiguity is sensed e.g. by drinck who notes that Bildung and Erziehung are often used synonymously; however, the authors attempt to distinguish between the two by pointing to the mainly reflexive use of ‘bilden’ versus the transitive use of ‘erziehen’. The latter would always presuppose an asymmetric relationship between educans and educandus, while Bildung would be an essentially subjective process (see hörner 10–11, drinck 73 or 92–93). however, this grammatical distinction does not hold true, because ‘bilden’ can also be used in a transitive manner: e.g. the much-debated ‘Bildungsauftrag der universität’. This differentiation can be pursued in even greater depth: see e.g. the contributions to marotzki/wigger 2008. regarding the translatability of the german terminology: hörner (in hörner/drinck/Jobst 2008, 9–11) considers the distinction between Bildung and Erziehung as a german proprium; drinck, ibid. 92, notes that both are translated in english as ‘education’; similarly alberts 2007, 55–56. 15 see e.g. the model of Peters 1967, 14–22, who distinguishes between various “educational processes”: training, instruction, teaching, “transmission of critical thought” and finally “conversation” as encompassing the plethora of informal situations of interaction which round off the education imparted in explicit learning situations and eventually lead to an “integrated outlook” on the world. 16 That is to say, both ‘Bildung’ and ‘erziehung’.

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designate our discipline, not in the phenomenological sense of m. eliade, but rather along the lines of methodological reflection which prompted the subtitle of the numen Book series and were recently deepened by J. rüpke.17 The term also corresponds to the romance names for our discipline (histoire des religions, storia delle religioni, istoria religiilor, etc.). “religious education” is one of the rapidly growing areas of the history of religions.18 most research, however, concentrates on modern, especially western phenomena. The recent special issue of Numen dedicated to “religious education and the history of religion” is a good illustration of this situation, as all contributions exclusively discuss contemporary issues.19 although the ambiguity of the concept is acknowledged, there are surprisingly few attempts at theoretical discussion; one such approach can be found in K. Frank and chr. Bochinger, who outline a typology of modern models of religious education in switzerland and germany, and, from the point of view of teaching contents and methods, propose the distinction between dogma-related, life-world-related and culturalstudies-related religious education.20 Frank’s research on swiss religious education, conducted as a detailed analysis of how teachers of religion shape their classroom lessons, provides further valuable insight into the micro-mechanisms of modern religious education,21 which are, however, too closely linked with the specific material studied to permit an application to historical data; this is, of course, determined by the limitations of sociological case studies. another characteristic of religious education studies within the history of religions is that they aim, beyond academic concerns, at establishing the discipline as a player in the field of educational practice: . . . the discipline of the study of religions needs to develop a didactic branch. otherwise, the important field of education about religions (in school and other educational contexts) will continue to be left mainly to other interest groups, possibly with religious or anti-religious agendas, while the knowledge produced by the study of religions is ignored. however, as recent political and public debates about religion, religions and religious diversity

17 rüpke 2007. The numen Book series consists of ‘studies in the history of religion’. 18 we will concentrate here exclusively on the state of the art in the history of religions, not including the discussions in the pedagogy of religion. For a taste of this discourse see e.g. Kunstmann 2003; Büttner/scheunpflug/elsenbast 2007 or the panoramic Festschrift Bednorz/Kühl-Freudenstein/munzert 2009. 19 cf. numen 55.2 (2008). 20 Frank/Bochinger 2008, here 191–95 and 198–204. 21 Frank 2010.

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ilinca tanaseanu-döbler and marvin döbler have shown, the expertise of the academic study of religions is needed also beyond academic contexts.22

in the same issue of Numen, Tim Jensen presents the quintessence of his work on religious education by drawing a “reasoned, normative argument for making religion education (re) a separate, compulsory, time-tabled and totally normal school subject at all levels in public schools”. his desiderate is “that normalisation of re in public schools be added to defining characteristics of a secular state, and that scholars of religion engage not only in studies of re but also in establishing rs based re.”23 Besides the problems inherent in such explicitly normative and ideological involvement of scholars of religion qua scholars of religion, this specific practical research interest of modern scholars of religion, however, cements the exclusive orientation towards contemporary issues, closing the historical perspective. But, it might be asked, why should a historian of religion study religious education in a historical perspective? is it not a specific concern of modern times, more specifically of the modern western world, when the complex processes of transformation and pluralisation that religion undergoes challenge established patterns and call for new strategies to accommodate the changed situation?24 This view on the topic considers only some, albeit certainly important aspects. apart from the social and political engagement of scholars, the study of religious education as such has also much to tell about fundamental mechanisms of religious dynamics. For religious education is one crucial process in the transmission of religion. its study helps us understand how religious traditions are transmitted and perpetuated, how they integrate and accomodate different circles and strata of adepts, how they gain new adherents and incorporate them, or how they develop mechanisms to react to persecution. Processes of religious transmission have, for some time, been a focus of scholars of religion. cognitive theories of religion have approached the issue from the psycho-biological angle, analysing e.g. the connection between different types of memory and the transmission of religion,25 or the impact

22 alberts 2008, 121–22. 23 Jensen 2008, 123; cf. also 127–37; see also Jensen 1999; 2002; 2005. The same ideological impetus can be sensed in Jensen 2010. 24 For these challenges see e.g. Jensen 2008, 124–36, schluß 2010, 134–38 (with a focus on the german situation after 1989) or Frank 2010, 22–27. 25 see whitehouse 2004.

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of the cognitive structure of religious concepts on their dissemination.26 however, as yet they have paid little attention to the cultural framework in and through which these factors operate,27 a framework in which educational processes play a crucial part, connected as they are with learning, memory, reproduction and perpetuation of knowledge. This has been reflected in extenso from the perspective of pedagogy by a. scheunpflug. she shows that biological sciences can offer important impulses for the study of education but cannot describe the complex reality of learning processes by themselves.28 a similar point was made by Berliner and sarró with respect to “learning religion”.29 other much-studied aspects of transmission include e.g. larger-scale processes of globalisation and localisation, dynamics of religions in contact such as conversion or the migration of religions.30 By focusing on how religion is taught and learnt by different groups and individuals, religious education provides scholars of religion with a new lens, through which previously unstudied facets can be systematically perceived and analysed. how shall we approach religious education? what theories and methods are available to us? can the existing studies on modern religious education provide the necessary equipment? Their clear-cut orientation towards pragmatic issues often leads them to borrow from pedagogy, opting for one of the countless theories of education blending prescriptive philosophical and descriptive aspects.31 But pedagogy and the philosophy 26 see Boyer 1994, esp. 227–96; sperber 1996, esp. 56–97. For a more recent summary of cognitive theory of religion, its development and mechanisms of transmission see attran 2007. 27 mostly, cognitive scholars assert the importance of their approach for anthropology and history and the desideratum of cooperation in a general manner, amounting basically to the repetition of the cognitive theory of religion outlines (see whitehouse 2005; 2007; attran 2007). There have been different studies that propose to test the cognitive theory in the light of historical material, but they mostly focus on comparing the data and the theory, and on identifying matches and contradictions. see e.g. martin/whitehouse 2004; or the contributions reunited in the cognitive studies section of luomanen/Pyssiäinen/ uro 2007: l. martin attempts to uncover the cognitive patterns of religious transmission in the roman world; i. Pyysiäinen the emergence and spread of the idea of resurrection, i. czachesz uses models and simulations of social behaviour to explain the emergence of christianity as a religion. 28 scheunpflug 2007, esp. 104–05; ead. 2009. 29 Berliner/sarró 2007, 7–11. 30 This interest can be sensed e.g. in the efforts to reconceptualise the so-called ‘oriental religions’, a well-documented complex of religious traditions spreading in the ‘global world’/oikoumene of the roman empire while taking on specific local features. see e.g. auffarth/Baslez/ribichini 2009, esp. 57–62. 31  Thus, alberts’ monograph on religious education (2007), although stressing the ‘study of religion’, i.e. history of religions approach, only combines an overview of different

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of education encompass a variety of approaches, often with a prescriptive and pragmatic tendency.32 while the discourses on education help to clarify the various different terms that can be employed, such as education, instruction, Bildung, Unterweisung, Erziehung, or to offer heuristically valuable insights, highlighting different facets of education by terms such as ‘informal’ vs. ‘formal’ learning,33 ‘implicit’ or ‘explicit’ education,34 or ‘andragogy’ or ‘Erwachsenenbildung’35 vs. ‘pedagogy’, they cannot offer a clear-cut theoretical frame that could be readily adopted for the historical study of religious education. This is also the case for attempts at categorisation from the perspective of the history of religion, such as the distinction by Frank and Bochinger, and most recently Frank 2010, mentioned above, who categorises religious education from the perspective of the transmitted content and the approach of the teacher: these categories selectively draw attention to certain potential differences and phenomena. in order to be able to analyse religious education systematically, as a historical phenomenon of which modern forms are mere potential concretions, we first need to establish our analytical framework. 3. Analytical Approach a theoretical framework of religious education can only be developed starting from the interpretation and analysis of source material: a dialectical

definitions of religion and the field of the history of religions with a description of critical educational theory, a specific strand of philosophically oriented pedagogical reflection developed from the Frankfurter Schule around adorno and horkheimer (8–85). Thus, while on that basis able to discuss and assess a specific model of religious education in england and sweden and develop her own ideal structure of religious education in europe, she does not provide any tools that would help analyse and categorise the various forms of religious education as a historical phenomenon. The normative approach of the critical education theory is, of course, inacceptable for an empirical and descriptive academic discipline like the history of religions. her method is quite similar to that pursued by Jahnel 2007, who explicitly situates (13) her research in the liminal space between history of religions, education studies and theology. 32 see e.g. the influential essay by adorno 1959, which lies at the heart of the critical theory of education employed by alberts 2007, and on the other hand the recent plea for a new humanism in Böhme 2008, esp. 166–71. specifically on religious education see e.g. Koch 2007, who develops a proposal for non-denominational, pluralistic religious education based on Kant’s concept of natural religion. 33 see e.g. hager/halliday 2006. 34 e.g. sünkel 2008. 35 see e.g. Knowles/holton/swanson 2007, hufer 2009, raithel/dollinger/hörmann 2009, 224ff. For the use of ‘andragogy’ as a concept for the study of patristic texts see e.g. günzel 1989, esp. 250–74 who employs it to analyse the catechetical works of ambrose.

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process between the object level of the sources and the meta-level of scholarly abstraction (‘theory’). in the following section we shall attempt to map out some key categories in order to structure the field and provide a systematic approach, drawing our considerations from sources from different religious traditions in european history. Further comparative studies are necessary, in order to shed more light on the subject and to further refine the theoretical frame. The most obvious point of departure is the question of (1) contents: what exactly is transmitted in the processes of religious education? one possibility is the transmission of theoretical knowledge, e.g. theological ideas. This type of instruction can be seen in the christian catechumenate, where, among other things, knowledge of basic tenets of the tradition is deemed a sine qua non condition for the integration into the group.36 a special case is the transmission of authoritative texts, oral or written, which are considered holy, and of guidelines for their interpretation. examples can be found in Talmudic Judaism, where instruction centered on the memorisation of the Torah and other authoritative texts in a complex interaction between written and oral transmission.37 The case of rabbinic Judaism is of further interest because the access to the holy texts proper presupposes training in hebrew: language training can thus be part of the competences imparted in the process of religious education.38

36 The catechumenate as a prerequisite for baptism already appears in the didache and appears to have been firmly established by the last third of the second century and subsequently elaborated during the fourth century, which provides us with ample extant baptismal and post-baptismal catecheses from cyril of Jerusalem or John chrysostom. insight into the western practices of religious instruction is offered by the catechetical writings of ambrose or augustine. For the development of the catechumenate see wyrwa 2005. 37 For a concise survey of different methods and institutions of instruction developed around the transmission of sacred texts see stemberger 1979, 109–25. 38 a further interesting case is that of two different religious traditions sharing the same authoritative text and traditions, such as christianity and Judaism. learning the language of the old Testament and tapping the exegetical expertise of the other tradition’s representatives can be a delicate endeavour, for which normative representatives of christianity feel the need to develop a variety of strategies to legitimise and/or curtail such inter-religious learning. The first case is illustrated by Jerome (see the analysis of m.h. williams 2008), the second e.g. in John chrysostom’s insistence that christians should not participate in Jewish celebrations (Adversus Iudaeos, migne Pg 48, 844 or 913–14 passim). another example would be the use of latin as the language of theology and liturgy in the western church. Knowledge of latin was a prerequisite e.g. for the status of religiosus/ monachus, the choir monk, as opposed to the mere lay brother (conversus); cf. e.r. elder in this volume. The case of latin is however more complex, because it was also connected with classical culture with all its pagan associations, and was taught basically through the works of pagan poets and historians.

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another type of content is constituted by rituals. in this case, we must distinguish between the competence of the ritual participant (or professional), the practical know-how, on the one hand, and the various interpretations of ritual on the other.39 closely related to ritual knowledge and competence is the field of ethics, within which we can also distinguish a theoretical and a practical aspect: greek philosophers not only expounded different theories of correct behaviour conducive to happiness, but often also designed a multitude of pragmatic methods to train their students to apply the theory in their daily life;40 the early christian catechumenate included a period of moral formation and—at least ideally—scrutinised the catechumens’ way of life.41 and “[i]n the rabbinic communities of late antiquity, the study of texts was framed not only as a process of mastering information, but also an intrinsic element in the development of the disciple’s character”; ethical formation being viewed not as “a solitary endeavor, but rather a communal activity that is embedded within a scholastic context”.42 rabbinic texts also represent a good example for another field religious education can include, namely the transmission, interpretation and practical application of legal texts regulating not only strictly cultic matters but a variety of everyday situations as well.43 Finally, possible contents of religious education also include selfpositioning of religion with regard to other fields of society and culture that are perceived—on the object level—as non-religious, e.g. science, literature or philosophy. The medieval debate about the usefulness and legitimacy of the artes liberales or of natural philosophy can serve as a case in hand.44 39 That rituals form a distinctive object requiring specific teaching methods is also felt in the academic classroom: see e.g. Bell 2007 where different approaches are presented. a good example of a study focused on this particular aspect is given by hérault 2007, who analyses present-day swiss Protestant and catholic catechetic approaches to the preparation for the first participation in the eucharist. 40 cf. e.g. epicure, Letter to Menoikeus (ep. 3 usener, pp. 59–66) and the Kyriai Doxai (usener, pp. 71–81); epictetus’ Encheiridion, seneca, De vita beata or Porphyry’s letter to his wife marcella, esp. 10–35. For philosophy as a way and art of living see dihle 1990 or hadot 1987; for a more accessible treatment of the matter id. 2000. 41  see wyrwa 2005, 279. 42 schofer 2007, here 313 and 333. This correlates with the emphasis on community in role models presented by rabbinic texts rather than on the solitary charismatic figure of the “holy man” that enjoyed great popularity in late antique christian texts (levine 2004, 51–52). For the communal dimension and holistic character of rabbinic education see also stemberger 2005. 43 For rabbinic law and its place in late antique legal culture see hezser 2003 and 2007. 44 cf. m. döbler in this volume. For a positive view of the artes liberales cf. honorius augustodunensis, De animae exsilio et patria (migne Pl 172, 1241–1246), where the artes

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another field of exploration is constituted by (2) the addressees, groups or individuals, whom religious education aims to reach. here we must first distinguish between the training of religious elites and broader forms of instruction destined for wider circles. The students trained in rabbinic schools represented only one, albeit very influential, segment of Jewish communities in the mediterranean and the near east; they constantly redefine themselves as an elite group interacting with and positioning themselves with regard to other groups by emphasising their knowledge of hebrew, the Torah and rabbinic traditions.45 Besides the specialised higher training for rabbis, Jewish forms of learning in late antiquity display a variety of options directed at other groups. elementary schooling for boys is based on learning the alphabet and learning to read the Biblical texts, starting with the book of leviticus, while synagogal sermons and lectures on sabbath were aimed at adults forming “eine art sabbatschule für die ganze Bevölkerung”.46 Besides the rabbinic endeavour of elite formation, another, more individualistic conception of elite and elitist religious education can be traced e.g. in moses maimonides’ Dux neutrorum. There maimonides, taking up ideas from ancient philosophy, asserts that insight into the scriptures is possible only for a few people, who have been thoroughly trained first in the artes and then in philosophy.47 yet another type of claim to elite status can be found in groups and currents who assert their absolute knowledge regarding the cosmos and soteriology: here gnostic groups come to mind, the loose network behind the hermetica, or even the community of Jewish ‘dissenters’ at Qumran. religious education in the tenets of such groups or networks is asserted as indispensable make up the itinerary of the soul’s journey back to heaven (cf. for a german translation and brief comentary and overview of literature michel 2003); a more reserved view is found in Petrus damiani’s De sancta simplicitate scientiae inflanti anteponenda, migne Pl 145, 695–704, esp. 695 B–c, 697a–c, 698d–699c and 701d–704B. The synthesis of philosophy, especially physics, and the christian scriptures, namely genesis, was a characteristic of the school of chartres in the 12th century; cf. ellard 2008, esp. 3–28. The question of classical literature was controversial since antiquity because of its interwovenness with pagan religious traditions and myth. cf. Basilius’ little treatise about the way in which christian youth should read the greek classics, discussed in this volume by a. schwab. 45 The gradual development of rabbinic identities and the various attitudes of rabbinic circles in Palestine and Babylonia to non-rabbinic Jews have been analysed by hezser 1997, Kalmin 1999 or rubenstein 2003, esp. 123–42. For later criticism of rabbinic Judaism, including, as a prominent example, but not limited to the Karaite movement, see e.g. Frank/goldish 2008. 46 see stemberger 1979, 112–15. 47 maimonides, Dux neutrorum, prologue or i 33–35. For his individualist and esoteric conception of Judaism and its roots in the idea of divine transcendence see Kellner 2008, 88–90. The idea that knowledge about the divine needs extensive preparation by training in various disciplines is classically developed in Plato e.g. in Politeia Vi–Vii, 511ff.

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for salvation,48 while all others are doomed to fall short of the truth and eventually of salvation. in gnostic or hermetic circles, a concept of elite based on exclusively religious grounds challenges all other claims to such status; the various external social hierarchies are rendered irrelevant.49 in early christianity, which had also begun as a conglomerate of similarly structured groups, we can discern the development of a two-tiered hierarchy during its growth that has repercussions on the concept of religious education: starting with the 2nd century a.d., a certain minimum of basic theoretical and practical theological knowledge is considered necessary for every member, while various forms of specialised training are reserved for and required of elite christians, be they individual philosophers or religious experts like catechetes, preachers, priests, and, later, monks.50 Beside social status within society at large and in the particular religious group, there are other important differentiating factors as well, when considering the target of religious education. on the one hand, we have different age groups: we could, using modern terminology, roughly distinguish between children, adolescents and adults. such classifications of age groups are culturally and socially constructed51 and include different educational ideals corresponding to the respective age groups. The expectations, and therefore the contents and the media of education in general and of religious education in particular, vary with the age group. a vivid illustration of this is provided by Plato: the question of whether philosophy were an acceptable pursuit for a free citizen was hotly debated and connected, among other factors, to age: some would argue that it was a proper pursuit for young men but had to be forsaken upon reaching

48 on religious education at Qumran see steudel 2005; its elitist character is visible e.g. from the designation of the members as “schüler gottes”, be they born into the group or admitted through an arduous process (103–07). 49 cf. the idealised gnostic preaching in the Poimandres (Corpus Hermeticum 1) or the Zostrianos (Nag Hammadi codex Viii, 1). Both treatises have a similar structure: individual struggle with existential questions, revelation, preaching to all men to eventually reach the potential elect. The only distinction is that between people predisposed by their nature to hear and receive the message, and those who are obtuse to it. 50 cf. e.g. clement of alexandria’s pedagogical project, which combines a first stage of mainly moral instruction for the whole christian community in the Paidagogos with a special philosophical and exegetical teaching for the outstanding christians in the Stromateis (cf. Paid. i 1–3 and Kovacs 2001, 23–24 or osborn 2005, 5–15) cf. also origen, De principiis i praef. 3–10 or iV 2, 4. 51 For a survey of childhood theories see e.g. hennessy 2008, 4–9, and the remarks in ch. auffarth’s article in this volume. For various constructions of childhood in different historical settings see horn/Phenix 2009 or orme 2003. Family pedagogy in the ancient church is the subject of gärtner 1985.

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adulthood.52 This leads directly to another much-debated question: differentiation by gender. The education of girls and boys, of men and women, is conceived as identical only in utopian works like Plato’s Politeia;53 in reality, we find regionally and culturally varying differences between the education boys and girls underwent, and again, between the education of adult men and women.54 The gender distinction is further complicated with regard to education by its interwovenness with other social factors.55 while in athens girls and women were expected to be educated within their homes, in archaic lesbos, the poetess sappho (6th century B.c.) ran a private school for girls.56 in general, women from more privileged social groups had, because of their status, better access to education and were in a position to challenge established conceptions about female education and competences. The neoplatonic philosophers sosipatra or hypatia (4th/5th century a.d.) come to mind, as well as the well-known heloise (12th century a.d.).57 with regard to religious education in particular, all these general factors and their interplay must be taken into account. however, the matter is further complicated by the fact that women and men could be assigned different religious roles and domains of competence. in ancient greece and rome, certain rituals were performed solely by women, such as the festival of Thesmophoria in honour of demeter.58 certain religious roles were also confined to women, e.g. the office of the Pythia at delphi or the priesthood of Vesta at rome, just to name

52 For philosophy as a pastime of youth cf. e.g. the polemical picture of the sophist Kallikles in Plato’s Gorgias, 484c–485e (Plato counters this idea in his Politeia with the demand that future philosophers be selected at thirty (537d) and be led to the peak of philosophical training until their fifties (539e–540b). For another aspect of education linked to age groups see the essay by ch. auffarth. 53 Politeia 451c–457b. 54 e.g. a special case of female adult education, the formation of religious women: here we find carefully designed instructional texts constructing, addressing and promoting a distinctive female monastic model. For some medieval voices on the topic see e.g. mews 2001. 55 For this perennial issue see, in a contemporary perspective on germany, metz-göckel 2009. 56 For female education in ancient greece see e.g. seveso 2007, 115–62. 57 For hypatia see dzielska 1995, for sosipatra see eunapius, Vitae Sophistarum Vi 6,5– 9,14. For heloise cf. waithe 1989, or Fumagalli 1991. 58 This is only a rough sketch pointing to some of the distinctions that must be taken into account when discussing religious education; the concept of gender can be superimposed with that of age to allow further differentiations, e.g. between girls, virgins and married women. cf. e.g. the design of the great celebration of the ludi saeculares by augustus and the different roles assigned to the girls, boys, matronae and adult citizens analysed by schnegg-Köhler 2002, here esp. 46–48, 249–56.

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two of the most well-known instances. The assignment of religious roles within a religious tradition may vary in time, one notable example being the evolution in the early christian tradition, where in the course of the “Veralltäglichung” of the original charismatic movement59 women were gradually barred from certain offices.60 This entire web of factors related to the question of gender must be considered when discussing religious education. another distinction on which to focus is the question of whether we are dealing with a form of socialisation within a religious tradition to which the target person or group already belongs, or whether the targets of religious education are potential proselytes. mission may be viewed as a particular form of religious education, aimed primarily at adults and perhaps also adolescents, where self-promotion, self-presentation of and instruction in religious traditions come together. The third category requiring consideration when discussing religious education comprises (3) the educational mediators and agents. religious education takes place in different settings: within the family or within larger groups and institutions. in classical greece, ritual behaviour was transmitted through “learning by doing”, first in the domestic context, and later through participation in public rituals; the members of the household and later the whole polis community could be seen as “teachers” transmitting the correct form of ritual behaviour.61 Transmission of theological and mythological knowledge was connected in antiquity with instruction in literature and philosophy, so that in these cases the grammatistes or the philosopher also acted as mediators of religious knowledge.62 To take a medieval example, the early religious education of Bernard of clairvaux is described by his biographer to have lain entirely in his mother’s hands.63 The late antique catechumenate or the Babylonian rabbinic academies can be seen as examples of institutions taking charge of religious education: in the former, specialised personnel instructs wider circles, while in

59 For this concept cf. weber 2005 (481–535, esp. 489–91; the term itself is used on p. 494 and p. 517). 60 cf. (in spite of its feministic stance) Torjesen 1993. 61 cf. the essay by auffarth in this volume. 62 cf. e.g. the outline for the education of boys transmitted spuriously among the works of Plutarch (Mor. 1a–14c) where religion appears as one object of philosophical instruction among many others. 63 william of st. Thierry, Sancti Bernardi Vita ia, migne Pl 185, 226–268. For a critical discussion of the historical value of this text see Bredero 1996.

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the latter religious experts train religious experts.64 another example are the late antique syriac christian schools, offering a formation in theology while drawing heavily on both christian and pagan culture.65 special attention must be given to processes of differentiation, specialisation and professionalisation of religious education, as well as to the aspects outlined above with regard to the addressees, such as age, gender, social status of the educational agents, as well as the position of the educational institution in broader social contexts. Finally, autodidacts represent a very particular case: educand and educator are one and the same person, but the self-arranged curriculum draws on existing texts, so that their authors can be seen to exercise a mediated influence, which must be analysed in the light of Rezeptionsgeschichte,66 or the various modern theories of ‘selfdirected’, ‘non-formal’, ‘informal’ or ‘life-long’ learning.67 an illustration is provided by augustine, whose philosophical and theological formation are largely dependent on his independent study of cicero’s Hortensius, aristotle’s Categories, neoplatonic texts, the Bible and athanasius’ Vita Antonii.68 The medieval lectio divina can also be viewed as a solitary engagement of the monk with a text, although it occurs in a fixed formative context.69 This brings us to (4) the various media and methods through and by which the processes of religious education are accomplished. The first aspect to consider would be the purely material educational infrastructure.

64 Besides the catecheses by ambrose or cyril of Jerusalem mentioned above, see e.g. augustine, De catechizandis rudibus, designed as a handbook of christian instruction for the use of the deacon deogratias, which gives us a glimpse of the practice of catechesis in late antique carthago. reil 1989 has analysed this work from the perspective of religion education. For the variety of Jewish forms of learning in late antiquity and the gradual development of highly institutionalised rabbinic academies in Babylonia as only one possible institution among other smaller-scale rabbinic learning situations see goodblatt 1975, with further discussion and refinement e.g. by rubenstein 2003, esp. 16–38. 65 see Becker 2006. 66 For the complex relationship between author, text and reader and their respective contexts, see the fundamental work of h.-r. Jauß, a partial epitome of which is given in his Abschiedsvortrag from 1987, and hardwick 2003, 4–11. Jauß sees in the following quotation of italo calvino the “Quintessenz aller rezeptionstheorie, . . . der lange unerkannt gebliebenen wie der durch die Konstanzer schule namhaft gemachten und vermutlich auch noch in der Postmoderne gültigen: ‘Von den lesern erwarte ich, daß sie in meinen Büchern etwas lesen, was ich nicht wußte, aber das kann ich nur von denen erwarten, die etwas lesen wollen, was sie noch nicht wissen.’ ” (Jauß 1987, 35). 67 For an overview of the different theories associated with these terms see merriam/ caffarella/Baumgartner 2007, 30–38 and 105–29, or hager/halliday 2006. on ‘life-long learning’ see Tippelt 2007. 68 cf. his own account in the Confessiones. 69 For the possible relationship between teachers and texts as transmitters and agents of education see snyder 2000, esp. 223–27.

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where does instruction take place? is there anything like a school building? were written materials or writing materials used, and if so, which and to what extent? in the case of group instruction: how large are the groups? who pays for specialised personnel if there is any—is there an instruction fee or not? These questions can be applied equally to cases of differentiated religious education, like christian baptismal instruction or rabbinic circles, as well as to forms embedded in the teaching of literature, philosophy or the artes liberales in european history. such embedded forms of religious education point to the fact that religion is interlinked with other aspects of culture like literature or music, which in turn can serve as media and vehicles to transport religious knowledge. in this context, the various attitudes to orality and writing must be examined. The status of books and other forms of written texts, their usage and handling varies from group to group, even within the same religious tradition.70 The formation of religious and cultural canons fundamentally shapes educational ideals—and conversely, religious education serves as a vehicle for transmission and consolidation of canonical traditions.71 The initial observation on the necessity to distinguish between different interconnected sub-fields of religion like rituals, theologies, ethics, etc. leads to the question of possible correlations between the media and methods and the contents: transmitting ritual behaviour requires different methods than those used to teach theoretical knowledge.72 another important aspect is the relationship between media and addressees: different age groups are taught differently, as can be people of different social status or gender.73 Finally, the (5) intentions and ideals of religious education demand attention. one basic distinction can be made between such educational processes that are primarily aimed at the transmission of knowledge and 70 This is especially evident in late antique rabbinic Judaism; cf. alexander 2007, who emphasises that orality and writing are closely intertwined (53–55). 71  regarding orality, literacy and cultural memory see esp. assmann 2007 and 2008 or—regarding intertextuality—culianu 1990; for the mechanisms of canon formation see e.g. gladigow 1987. 72 it is important to distinguish between instruction in the proper ritual acting on the one hand, and in reflections and interpretations of rituals on the other hand. The distinction and interconnectedness of these two levels can also be seen in late antique baptismal catecheses: after a process of instruction, the complex ritual of baptism is performed, and then afterwards explained theologically in relation to the christian canonical texts in a series of speeches delivered typically by the bishop. such speeches are extant e.g. by ambrose (De mysteriis), cyril of Jerusalem (baptismal and post-baptismal, i.e. ‘mystagogical’ catecheses), John chrysostom (baptismal catecheses). 73 cf. augustine’s instructions to the deacon deogratias on which methods to use with different types of addressees (De catechizandis rudibus Viii, 12–Viiii, 13).

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competences, e.g. of specific prayers, law texts and their interpretative frame, or of proper ritual behaviour, and intentions going beyond that, which envisage a far-reaching transformation of those undergoing education, aiming at personal formation and the training in a specific way of life and thought. another type of intention behind religious education is that which is directed at forming or strengthening a specific religious identity by preserving and transmitting certain traditions.74 mission is sometimes conceptualised on the object level in terms of education, with the aim of drawing outsiders to a specific religious tradition and making them acquainted with its tenets and rituals, with the ultimate goal of eventually incorporating them into the group.75 mission can therefore be taken to represent a particular complex of intentions and motivations connected with religious education. all these intentions can only be separated theoretically, in the sense of ideal types, as they interfere and form various combinations in historical reality. The intentions and ideals of educands and those of educators often vary, and this tension can trigger further dynamics, as in the case of augustine, who affiliates himself with different groups—manicheans, sceptics and finally the christian neoplatonists in milan—and portrays his quest as a process full of tension between his demand for knowledge and the instruction offered.76 These basic lines of research were developed from the interaction with sources from european history. The case studies assembled in this volume analyse aspects of religious education in different religious systems, all of which are interconnected as part of the european tradition. greek religion is fundamentally different from etruscan religion; with the emergence of christianity, new forms of religious education appear, which then in turn influence non-christian religions. These forms are further developed and diversified in medieval times, prompting us to include papers on monastic education as well as the education of children in Byzantium. The specific expertise of scholars from various disciplines, crystallised in these case studies, forms the foundation upon which the history of religions can build to develop an analytical framework. in a second step, this

74 “Tradition” can here be best understood in the sense of w.c. smith 1963. 75 mission represents e.g. the first step of clement of alexandria’s pedagogical programme, as represented in his trilogy of Protrepticus—Pedagogue—Stromateis (cf. n. 44). see also F. Prostmeier’s analysis of Theophilus of antiochia’s Ad Autolycum, a text presenting christian mission as higher education on the common basis of paideia: “ ‘Zeig mir deinen gott’. einführung ins christentum für eliten” in id. 2007, 155–82. The same approach to mission can be found in minucius Felix’s Octavius. 76 For augustine see his Confessions.

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framework can serve to structure the perspective of research on religious education in general, and not only within the cultures of europe and the mediterranean, by mapping this understudied field. only on this basis will further comparative work be possible. 4. Religious Education in Pre-Modern Europe: Highlights The papers gathered in this volume exemplarily highlight different aspects of religious education throughout the religious history of europe, from ancient greece and the mysterious etruscans to the western middle ages and Byzantium. They fall into three sections: classical antiquity, later antiquity, and the middle ages. The first section concentrates on classical Antiquity, on ancient greece and rome. christoph auffarth’s article leads us into the religious world of the greek polis. he emphasises the experimental and flexible character of greek religion, a religion not relying on scrupulous performance of rituals or on a fixed sacred lore, a religion without institutions arrogating themselves prescriptive power and without a body of trained professionals. Priests exercise their function in their spare time, without the need for extensive training; religion is communicated and discussed in the interaction of the polis community, in the family, in schools and in the theatre. religious aspects are intertwined with the elementary and higher, e.g. philosophical schooling. By definition, schools are spheres of leisure (σχολή), of gentlemanly sportive training (γυμνάσιον), where children and adolescents from well-off families engaged in poetry, music, dancing and sports. it is a culture in which literacy based on the alphabetic script and orality are closely intertwined. literacy allows for flexible and mobile fixation and transmission of knowledge and engenders an increased commitment to the written word. The basic medium for communication and learning, however, is orality; even written documents are meant as aidememoires, and only come to life when read aloud.77 within this framework, which provides defined contexts and settings for flexible and fluid religious interaction, such as public rituals, oracle shrines, schools or the

77 The primate of orality over writing has found its classical formulation in Plato’s Phaedrus 274c–277a, where the dangers of writing are exposed—sluggishness and degradation of memory, as well as the freezing of the essentially dynamic communicative process of learning in the form of a text which the author cannot control, which presents the potential reader with eternally the same answers, without any possibility of further elucidation.

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theatrical performances connected with the cult of dionysus, religion is transmitted and learnt informally. cultic personnel connected with a sanctuary can answer questions about the history and stories surrounding it, and indicate the right way or the correct and appropriate behaviour. while sacred laws only record prohibitions, there is no such thing as a handbook on how to sacrifice; the correct performance of ritual is learnt ‘by doing’, from the interaction with other, more experienced participants. since there is no manual, there is also no fixed correct procedure or outcome, but an ongoing discourse on religious practice, wherein different elements can be combined and discussed freely, e.g. in theatrical performances. Plays and choral performances, embedded as they are in a cultic setting, become a medium for putting forward different versions of the myths, and for playing with and enriching the audience’s knowledge of religious practices. seen thus, religious education and learning extend throughout society, encompassing all ages, the increase of experience providing the basis for taking up an active role in it. The only exception from this type of dialogical, informal religious learning is developed in philosophy, where a concept of absolute truth and of the infallibly correct ideal of life, including religion, comes to the fore. The most striking example is Plato, who designs a new type of philosophical religion based on the critique and transformation of his contemporaries’ practices, a religion with a distinctively articulated metaphysics and theology that can be taught. however, his model of religion only becomes relevant centuries later, in the early roman empire, when christianity emerges. a wholly different religious world is presented in the article by charles guittard, who focuses on rome and the etruscans. as in ancient greece, with the exception of philosophy, etruscan and roman religion are based on practice, not on beliefs or theological doctrines that could be taught. But unlike the greek practices, etruria and rome strictly codified theirs. in rome, every college of priests had its sacred books in which the proper sequences were recorded, as well as the specific formulae and prayers to be read out loud during a performance and not recited from memory, to guarantee they were spoken correctly. a special body of such practical religious knowledge centered on divination was the disciplina Etrusca, the etruscan lore that made them famous throughout the roman world as the “most religious of all peoples.” it attracted the interest of the roman rivals, who sought to appropriate this precious means of ascertaining the will of the gods and the future. in the process of appropriation, the etruscan lore had to undergo adaptations, most notably translations. The fascination with etruscan culture and religion led romans to send their sons

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to be educated in etruscan families, where they learnt the language and the sacred tradition. however, in order to appropriate the desired instrument of the Etrusca disciplina, translations into latin were necessary that would adapt the texts for a roman audience, creating e.g. bilingual latinetruscan texts. These translations ultimately led to the survival of the libri Etrusci as an important item of education and culture, carefully preserved and transmitted well into Byzantium, where John lydus still made use of them in the 6th century, at a time when the actual etruscans and their religious practice had long ceased to exist. here we have a striking example of how religious practice can survive no longer as practice, but solely as text, as a superior form of knowledge deemed worthy of conservation and transmission in itself. is this still religion, or has an originally religious element merely become a matter of antiquarianism, of bookish pastimes in a culture where christianity dominates the scene of ‘living’, practiced religion? The innovative, albeit provocative work of a. Kaldellis on Byzantine scholars such as lydus78 shows that such a conclusion is premature: they may be portrayed as having been generally indifferent to christianity, constituting their religiosity and identity around the hallowed knowledge and culture of glorious times past—which happened to be pagan. in their case, education is religion, and although practice has by their time become text, for them it nevertheless continued to be alive and relevant. after these glimpses into classical antiquity, the focus shifts to the roman empire, to the new situation created by the emergence and gradual rise of christianity. Three papers deal with the changes in the field of religious education and with their impact on later historical periods. reinhard Feldmeier discusses a crucial text from early christianity, the double work of luke-acts, to show that christians were involved from the beginning in a complex dialogue on education with the surrounding greco-roman culture. works like luke-acts stand in the long tradition of Jewish self-definitions in the light of greek paideia, which stress wisdom traditions and present themselves to the hellenic educated public as a higher form of philosophy.79 christianity follows in these footsteps from a very early stage, displaying a dialectical attitude to education and knowledge: authors like Paul provocatively claim to be bearers of

78 cf. Kaldellis 2003a, 2003b and 2005. 79 The dialectic nature of this self-presentation, oscillating between hellenic culture and the Jewish scriptures, is shown e.g. by Früchtel 2007.

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a new message, which renders the ‘wisdom of the world’ utterly irrelevant, while simultaneously presenting their message of christ as the true wisdom, surpassing all other knowledge. luke-acts is analysed as a text where this dialectical strategy is especially manifest. more than any other new Testament writings, the author employs a technique of ‘double encoding’, drawing on both Jewish and hellenistic concepts to present his characters and his story so as to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. To render the figure and meaning of Jesus intelligible to people educated in the greek paideia, ‘luke’ consequently undertakes what r. Feldmeier felicitously terms ‘sapientisation’: the sapiential background and profile of his protagonists are sharpened; they become representatives of religious wisdom. The twelve-year old Jesus in the temple sets the course: as a child, he is already wiser than the Jewish religious elite of his time, in the same manner in which “divine” greek philosophers distinguish themselves from the very beginning. John the Baptist can be read both as an eschatological prophet and a cynic itinerant philosopher. christ’s ascent to heaven takes up heracles imagery—a symbol figure of stoic and cynic philosophy. The early christians realise the philosophical ideal of koina ta ton philon,80 leaving behind greed and avarice. Paul’s speech on the areopagus presents the apostle as the teacher of religious wisdom, taking up greek philosophy and surpassing his traditional philosophical opponents. This analysis of luke-acts demonstrates exemplarily how a written narrative may be constructed for use as a medium for the transmission of a religious message, meant to enlighten and transform the readers: intertextuality and interculturality are consciously employed in view of the variegated religious and cultural environment, in order to allow readers access to christ. going back to ch. auffarth’s discussion of orality and literacy, we see here a different stance from Plato’s Phaedrus, for example: the written text is seen as a valid and effective medium of teaching and learning.81 From its early stage, christianity is characterised by the dialectic between its own formational and educational impetus— it transmits the history of salvation, the quintessence of religious wisdom to be taught, understood and existentially appropriated—and its tensions with the Jewish as well as graeco-roman educational elite. Jesus criticises the scribes; he is a craftsman, not a philosopher by training. This lays the 80 see e.g. Phaedrus 274c–277a. 81   however, holy texts require an exegete, a teacher as guide: see Acts 8:30–35. systematical reflections on teaching through writing can be found later in clement of alexandria Strom. i 1,3–i 2, 21.

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foundation for a new form of discourse as yet unknown in the ancient religious landscape, centering on the question of compatibility between religion and paideia. Besides theologians who present christianity as the quintessence of philosophy, other voices hint at the fact that the apostles are described in the gospels as simple fishermen unacquainted with classical education.82 This tension becomes part of the christian tradition and an ever-present topic in disputes about the proper education for christians: should children learn to read from homer or from the Bible? should their education be entrusted to rhetoricians or monks?83 This new facet of the discourse on education and religion is highlighted in the other two articles in this section, one enquiring after pagan religious education in late antiquity, the other outlining how christians creatively engaged with classical culture and developed reading strategies for pagan texts as part of their religious education. attempts at designing a pagan religious education can mostly be found in philosophical circles, which become the intellectual stronghold of late antique paganism. ilinca Tanaseanu-döbler explores three interconnected examples from the eastern roman empire of the 4th–5th centuries. with Julian, the convert from christianity, the field of paideia is explicitly defined as a contested ground between christians and pagans: drawing on hardline christian positions, Julian posits the unity and religious potential of classical learning. classical education, understood as an existential engagement with the works of the classical authors, purifies the soul, makes it capable of receiving higher truths and leads to conversion to the old cults. as the ideal education, Julian envisages a harmonious procession from the study of literature to philosophy, enabling the student to steadily improve himself. The role of the teacher in this training process is paramount: only he can guide the student on this path of self-perfection. moral character becomes a

82 For the compatibility of christianity with classical education see e.g. clement of alexandria or origen (with the recent analysis by a. Fürst, e.g. 2007a or 2007b); for the critical attitude towards paideia Tatian or Tertullian (both well-versed in it); lössl 2007. an insight into the non-problematised symbiosis of christian and classical learning, happily blended together as the result of different educational processes, is given by the diary of Vibia Perpetua, the well-known martyr; cf. hofmann 2007. The discussions fueled by the alleged simplicity of Jesus and the apostles are traced by auksi 1995, esp. 33–102 for the period covered in this volume. auksi shows that aside from the reference to scriptures, influences of classical rhetoric are taken up as well to articulate this ideal. This does not come as a surprise: the christian theologians were mostly intellectuals, drawing naturally on their cultural background to understand and express their religiosity; cf. also chin 2008. 83 cf. Tloka 2005; sandnes 2009; horn 2009, esp. 299–301.

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prerequisite for proper teaching. Besides the classical education qua pagan religious education, Julian also develops special instruction ideals for religious experts in his attempt to reform the pagan conceptions of priesthood. The emphasis on the harmony of literary and philosophical culture remains a constant characteristic of the neoplatonic model of education: only people trained in the classical paideia can aspire to learn about religion, and true understanding of religion is provided through philosophy. This is also apparent in a little handbook produced by a friend of Julian, who aims at providing a concise overview of the fundamental questions of neoplatonic theology, anthropology and cult for educated nonphilosophers. This endeavour goes beyond the stricter philosophical view that divine matters should be kept for philosophical initiates only, while at the same time restricting religious education to the circle of those partaking of classical education, that is, to a small segment of the social elite. Thus, the neoplatonic model can only provide a basis for religious identity formation against the christians at this level; no urge is felt to go beyond that—a clear competition disadvantage contrasted with the christian mechanisms of identity creation and religious education throughout all strata of society. Philosophers and, for that matter, teachers of literature and rhetoric, rather taught christian students of equal social status than develop an interest in wider dissemination of their religion; the lower classes are often presented as a fickle and unstable mass, readily falling prey to manipulation. But how did cultured christians handle the tension bequeathed to them between paideia and their religion? is classical education pagan per se, as Julian had ingeniously claimed; is ‘hellenism’ an inextricable unity of religion and culture? his edict forbidding christians to teach literature and rhetoric and confining them to expounding solely christian texts elicited strong protest from christian bishops such as gregory nazianzen, who claimed that ‘hellenism’ as language and culture was to be strictly distinguished from religion. on the latin side, the dream of Jerome, accused before a heavenly tribunal of being a ciceronian, not a christian,84 illustrates the uneasiness of certain christian intellectuals. as there were no specific christian schools, developing strategies for the correct appropriation of classical culture became part of a christian education, alongside familial religious education or the more technical and institutionalised catechumenate. andreas schwab discusses such strategies using Basil of

84 Jerome, ep. 22 ad Eustochium, 30; see weber 2000, 7, footnote 47.

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caesarea and gregory nazianzen as examples. starting from the philosophical observation that true culture consists of self-transformation through reading and, not least, through reading poetry, he shows how the transformative potential of poetry was perceived and on the one hand ‘tamed’ by guidelines for reading, while on the other fully exploited as an effective medium to capture the attention of adolescents and instruct them. in his treatise to the young people on how to read classical literature, Basil integrates classical culture as a whole, including philosophy, into a christian model of education by viewing it as a propaedeutic for the study of scripture. This model stands in the tradition of the Jewishchristian transformation of an often-encountered philosophical model of education, which regarded literature, rhetoric and other branches of learning as necessary preliminary exercises for the study of philosophy. Philo, and in his wake clement and origen, substituted the study of scripture as the highest form of education for philosophy.85 in order to fulfil this propaedeutic role, classical literature has to be read following strict guidelines; Basil lays them down, using the treatise as a medium through which he, driven by solicitude for the young people’s souls, can articulate his teaching. a strong moral note may be discerned: classical literature should form the young people’s souls by teaching them virtue and accustoming them to redirect their thoughts to the world to come, a world that will later be fully taught to them by scripture. Just as bees collect only what is useful to them, so should young readers only remember the useful passages, passing over errors such as the wrong, polytheistic presentation of the gods. Besides engaging with classical literature and integrating it into a christian model of education, christians such as gregory nazianzen strive to develop a specifically christian poetry, in order to compete with their non-christian rivals and to better reach and instruct the youth towards a christian way of life.

85 see the famous allegorical interpretation of sarah and hagar proposed by Philon, De congressu, esp. 9–22 and taken up by clement, Strom. i 5, 30–32. The connections between Philo’s, clement’s and origen’s use of the motif have been sketched by Van den hoek 1987. For the prominence of scriptural study, for which even philosophy can be but propaedeutic, in clement, see osborn 2005, 90–93, in origen: gregory Thaumatourgos, Oratio prosphonetica, 13–16, with origen’s own letter to gregory, in which he develops the allegory of the egyptian spoils. echoes of the “handmaid” function of education to religion are widely disseminated and can be heard as late as the 17th and 18th century in america (see Jahnel 2007, 144–45).

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The third section explores some aspects of religious education in the middle ages and Byzantium. nikos Kalogeras’ article focuses on the education of children and shows how close the symbiosis between secular and religious education had become some centuries after gregory and Basil. This closeness can be demonstrated not only with regard to the contents of education, but also with regard to its institutional background and infrastructure. religion now becomes part of the school curriculum: elementary education, for instance, comprises texts from the Psalter and other biblical texts, and reading and writing are learnt using religious texts; primary education can therefore be identified as ‘sacred letters’. different persons function as teachers in primary education, offered to boys and girls: family members, private tutors, teachers from clerical and monastic communities serving in church schools. The pedagogical reflections show much concern and sensitivity about the complex role of the teacher in education and discuss the character and behaviour towards pupils required of him. secondary education was provided mainly for boys, who either had the financial means to study, or chose an ecclesiastical career and studied at church schools; the path of the religious professional now also included a shortcut to higher education, in which various subjects such as grammar or rhetoric were taught in greater depth. another form of schools were monastic schools, specifically directed at monastic formation. although religion and classical education were thus closely intertwined in Byzantine schooling, the old dilemma about the value of ‘secular’ education persisted. while texts like Basil’s treatise on the use of classical education were used to legitimate the use of classical literature, christian schoolbooks e.g. for grammar, were also written. The debate is mirrored in hagiography, for example, by including or dismissing secular education from the portraits of the saints. while education, secular and religious, was thus firmly anchored within the church ideologically, the same could be said about their actual spatial location. schools often functioned alongside or in churches. Thus in early Byzantine times, the atrium of a basilica at nea anchialos was transformed into a schoolroom, appropriately decorated with an owl, the ancient greek symbol of wisdom, and a cross. other churches employed their colonnaded courtyards, their narthex or their vestibules as school locations, depending on the architectural peculiarities. while this paper offered us an impression of the infrastructure developed for the schooling of Byzantine children, the last articles in this collection discuss a distinctively christian form of education, namely monastic

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formation. as both centre on the cistercian order, they deal exclusively with the formation of adult—in both cases male—novices.86 The theory of cistercian formation is outlined by e. rozanne elder. it is deeply rooted in theological anthropology, starting from the premise that every monk is a unique person, who has to develop through a life-long process towards the contemplation of god. here, education appears at its most existential and soteriological, aiming at the total transformation of the complete human person, at the rediscovery and refashioning of the divine likeness in man, each at his own rate. By subjecting his body to the exigencies of monastic discipline, the novice learns to master it. memory is re-focused through the study of scripture, aimed at internalising the text through a multisensorial experience in liturgy and lectio divina. The capacity of abstraction from sensory images trains reason towards the contemplation of god; humility is a necessary counterpart to it. By living monastic obedience, the monk habituates himself to choose the right course of action. in so doing, he has as his paradigm christ as the exemplar of perfect humanity. while cistercian authors carefully set out this trajectory for man with all the sophistication of medieval anthropology, they were quite aware that they were describing an ideal. Turning this ideal into practice was not only the work of a lifetime for each monk, but required a strong pedagogical impetus on the part of the superiors. such an impetus can be grasped at its most vivid in the writings and actions of Bernard of clairvaux, who forms the focus of marvin döbler’s paper. here, the often-encountered dichotomy in the study of Bernard between philosophy and the liberal arts on the one hand and religion on the other, of ratio versus faith, is questioned from both the perspective of the sources as well as that of methodology. given the dynamic and fluid character of the definition of religion, an opposition of the two is problematic. on the other hand, Bernard is familiar with both and blends them to achieve his concept of the ideal education, encompassing not only his monastic environment, but going beyond it to include the whole church. he reflects closely upon the process of learning, of gaining knowledge, on the role of the agents involved, and the ideal direction and order of knowledge. all monastic— and christian—education must tend towards salvation, man’s supreme

86 This is a cistercian peculiarity; other ascetic and monastic communities would take up children. see e.g. schroeder 2009 or the provisions concerning children in the rule of st. Benedict. a parallel would be the Qumran community, which envisaged the possibility of members being born into the community and discussing their training (see steudel 2005, 103ff ).

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goal. To achieve this goal, not erudition, but introspection, knowledge of the self and of god, are essential—after all, the apostles were not skilled philosophers or rhetoricians. gaining knowledge in general must be accompanied by careful self-scrutiny, lest it fall prey to the wrong emotions and affections, and thus lead to wrong transformations of the person. The motivation must be deeply existential and intrinsic: love and prudence, not idle curiosity or the wish for social prestige or monetary gain. Pride is the worst trap, constantly endangering those who acquire knowledge, and thus necessitating the utmost care. education is seen as a deeply transformative process, affecting the psychology and personality of the learner. although in the spiritual religious formation of christians secular sciences like philosophy and rhetoric should not predominate in Bernard’s view, they are useful tools that the religious experts who need to define and defend religion should acquire. This ideal, developed by Bernard in three interconnected sermons, can be seen at work in his own actions. he uses the tools of dialectic to fight what he considers heresy— that is, not philosophy itself, but its wrong side effects, the egocentricity displayed by some philosophers. he constantly endeavours to teach and instruct individuals from different social environments, such as those in leading religious functions, abbots and even the pope, to help them deal with the duties of their station, not least the care for their subordinates. The metaphor of spiritual parenthood, of the mother who nurtures and educates her children, is prominent in this context, signalising the holistic character of christian formation and giving Bernard a comfortable stance from which to advise the pope, his former monk and spiritual son. Thus, Bernard provides an andragogy for religious superiors. his ideal of education as personal formation directed towards a soteriological goal, as well as his stress on the need for leisure for reflection as the necessary medium for personal growth can be seen as a christian transformation or adaptation of a certain, practical, greco-roman understanding of philosophy: a way of life oriented towards the care of the self and leading to salvation, viz. happiness.87 here we see how antique intellectual traditions are constantly adopted, modified and reframed in later, here the medieval, cultures, and how their reception and discussion involves different levels of discourse.88 The monastic tradition, the school of divine service, can be

87 on this see especially the work of Pierre hadot, e.g. hadot 1987. 88 For this process see already e.r. curtius 1978 [originally published 1948], 19–20 and passim.

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seen as an heir of this understanding of philosophy, re-oriented towards christian soteriological ideals. while Bernard, on the one hand, is able to dismiss philosophers as proud and infatuated and contrast them with the school of christ, he is also able to employ the tools of antique learning, and at a deeper level, stands in this tradition of practical philosophy as an ars vitae. 5. Conclusion and Perspectives with Bernard’s ideal of christian education, we have come a long way from the greek polis or the Etrusca disciplina. we have seen how the structure of a religious tradition and its relationship with other domains of its surrounding culture determines religious education, its ideals and methods. The embedded religion89 of classical greece, rome or etruria fosters other ideas about what constitutes religious competences and how they can be acquired than is the case in later antiquity with its competing plurality of religious traditions. even within one seemingly closely circumscribed culture, such as that of the greek poleis in the classical period, different concepts of religion engender different ideals and methods of education. in the flexible religious frame of classical greece, alongside the common sharing in myths and cults transmitted by social interaction—participation, learning by doing, the theatre—one may observe the emergence of a more self-conscious, reflexive type of religiosity in Plato’s philosophy, where truth is sought and a philosophical system taught as the only viable basis for orientation in the world, whereas the traditional rituals and myths are criticised. The progressive change in the Platonic dialogue from the open-ended early dialogues to the ‘closed’ and rigid Laws, can be viewed pars pro toto as an illustration of these tendencies of Platonic philosophy and pedagogy, an impetus for orthodoxy. an impetus for orthopraxy may be discerned in rome and the Etrusca disciplina. The plural situation in the roman empire leads to increased reflection on religion, to new demands on the religious market, to a ‘mysterisation’90 and philosophisation of religion. Traditions claiming exclusive truth and validity have to

89 For a recent overview of the term’s use see nongbri 2008, esp. 440–44; his critical remarks cannot be discussed here. 90 For the term see ch. auffarth’s article ‘mysterien’, forthcoming in the Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. we thank him cordially for sharing it with us before the publication.

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find ways to deal with their surrounding world; new dichotomies appear, such as the discussion of religious identity and the value or dangers of traditional education as may be observed for example in the case of early christianity. we were able to follow the discourse developed around this tension in what was later to be called europe, and trace some of the positions on the religious potential of classical education—a potential that was not expressly and explicitly thematised in the ancient world, save for the philosophical discourse. Finally, we surveyed aspects of the strand leading from philosophical ethics and the philosophical life to christian monasticism, a strand placing emphasis less on knowledge than on the growth and formation of persons belonging to a religious elite. This summarizes the specific historical observations. But history of religions should go beyond mere historical reconstruction and seek insight into the workings of religion as a human—cultural—phenomenon. in former times, this was expressed through the distinction between systematics and history of religions stricto sensu (systematische Religionswissenschaft and Religionsgeschichte) as the two basic subdisciplines.91 as the former was dominated for a long time by the phenomenological approach, this distinction has increasingly been criticised. after the cultural, the linguistic and the performative turn, the discipline witnessed a rise in anthropological, sociological and historical case studies, while the common meta-discussion about religion receded into the background. Τhis situation is now perceived as unsatisfactory, and a post-phenomenological approach to theory is desired. we must move beyond the telling dictum quoted by ch. auffarth, “in meiner ethnie ist es aber anders.”92 The cognitive theory, claiming to explain religion as such, tries to fill this gap, albeit unsuccessfully, because of its narrowly reductionist approach, 91  wach 1924. 92 auffarth 2001, esp. 237. The article was part of a conference volume enquiring into the possible chances for phenomenology; the organisers/editors also see the problem clearly: it may be dead, but its questions and tasks, especially comparison, are as urgent and necessary as ever (stolz 2001, 14, or michaels 2001, who also stresses the need to ask the old questions in a new manner, using terms and theories as heuristical tools, without falling prey to essentialism and generalism; his conclusion (492) is: “ohne religionsphänomenologie im angegebenen sinne—man könnte auch sagen: ohne Theorie—gibt es keine vernünftige religionswissenschaft, aber nur religionsphänomenologie ist nicht religionswissenschaft, sondern bestenfalls Theologie bzw. Kryptotheologie, schlimmstenfals oberflächlichkeit. die religionsphänomenologie ist tot, aber die arbeit am Phänomen (Benavides) bleibt.” The desideratum for new theoretical paths in the history of religions is central, and it is expressed also with a slightly different focus by Zinser 2010, esp. 282–84, who paints a gloomy picture of the desolate state of the discipline, underscoring what he views as its inability to clarify its terminological and theoretical confusion.

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ignoring the complexity of religion as a web of cultural and thus per se historical processes. Questioning J. wach’s term systematische Religionswissenschaft, J. rüpke has attempted to show that all research about religion as such must be grounded in history and he pleads for a historische Religionswissenschaft.93 Taking this one step further: obviously we must transcend the phenomenological temptation to superimpose an abstractly designed theoretical structure upon our data and make them fit. our insight into religion is always bound to our material and research interests, and therefore inevitably partial. By developing common terms and analytical frames, we can maintain a common discourse, wherein scholars working on different religious traditions could discuss their respective results in a mutually intelligible, distinctive meta-language, dialectically developed from never-ending engagement with their respective objects of study. not a system of precisely defined, quasi-mathematical terms adding up to all-encompassing theories about religion is the motor and common ground of the discipline, but the ongoing discussion about their use. To apply this to our present subject: there can never be a theory explaining religious education, and such an explanation cannot be our aim. By developing a common analytical frame for religious education, however, we can create a frame wherein scholars working on present-day material such as K. Frank can productively discuss and compare their results with scholars working on other periods and religious traditions, such as ch. guittard or e.r. elder. moreover, besides showing the history of religions as a distinct discourse in action, the present volume also illustrates how it can play the role of moderator in the academic discourse about religion in a meaningful way, by using its specific research interests to develop questions that can bring scholars from various disciplines together.94 The discussions at the easr congress panel in Bremen 2007 have shown the integrative potential of the history of religions by inspiring this book; they remain to be continued. Bibliography Sources ambrose of milan, De sacramentis; De mysteriis, ed. and trans. J. schmitz (Fc 3) (Freiburg et al.: herder 1990). augustine of hippo, Confessiones, ed. l. Verheijen (ccsl 27) (Turnhout: Brepols 1981).

93 cf. rüpke 2007, esp. 27–32. 94 cf. Kippenberg/stuckrad 2003, 7–8.

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augustine, De catechizandis rudibus, ed. i.B. Bauer (ccsl 46): aurelii augustini opera, 13, 2 (Turnhout: Brepols 1969), 115–99. clemens alexandrinus, Paedagogus, ed. m. marcovich (leiden/Boston/cologne: Brill 2002). ——, Les Stromates, vol. 1: Stromate i, eds. and trans. m. caster and c. mondésert (sc 30) (Paris: cerf 1951). Corpus Hermeticum, eds. and trans. a.d. nock and a.-J. Festugière, vol. 1 (7th ed. Paris: Belles lettres 1991). cyril of Jerusalem, Catéchéses mystagogiques, eds. and trans. a. Piédagnel and P. Paris (sc 126) (2nd ed. Paris: cerf 1987). John chrysostom, Adversus Iudaeos orationes octo, migne Pg 48, 843–942. ——, Taufkatechesen, ed. and trans. r. Kaczynski, vols. 1–2 (Fc 6, 1–2) (Freiburg: herder 1992). epictetus, Encheiridion, in The “Encheiridion” of Epictetus and its Three Christian Adaptations: Transmission and Critical Editions, ed. and trans. g. Boter (leiden et al.: Brill 1999), 276–349. Epicurea, ed. h. usener (leipzig: 1887; repr. stuttgart: Teubner 1966). eunapius, Vitae Sophistarum, ed. i. giangrande (rome: officina polygraphica 1956). minucius Felix, Octavius, ed. B. Kytzler (stuttgart/leipzig: Teubner 1992). hieronymus, Epistulae, ed. i. hilberg, vol. 1: ep. i–lXX (2nd ed. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen akademie der wissenschaften1996). maimonides, Führer der Unschlüssigen (Dux neutrorum), trans. a. weiß, vols. 1–2 (hamburg: meiner 1923–1924). origenes, Vier Bücher von den Prinzipien, eds. and trans. h. görgemanns and h. Karpp, (3rd ed. darmstadt: wBg 1992). Zostrianos in nag hammadi codex Viii, eds. and trans. J.h. sieber et al. (leiden et al.: Brill 1991), 30–225. Philo, Opera, eds. P. wendland and, l. cohn, (Berlin: reimer 1898). Porphyrius, Vie de Pythagore, Lettre à Marcella, ed. and trans. É. des Places (3rd ed. Paris: Belles lettres 2010). seneca, De la vie heureuse. De la brièveté de la vie, ed. and trans. a. Bourgery (5th ed. Paris: Belles lettres 1962). gregory Thaumatourgos, Oratio prosphonetica ac panegyrica in Origenem/Dankrede an Origenes, trans. P. guyot, with an intr. by r. Klein (Fc 24) (Freiburg et al.: herder 1996). Works Cited adorno, Th., “Theorie der halbbildung”, in Der Monat 132 (sept. 1959), 30–43. alberts, w., “editorial. The challenge of religious education for the history of religions”, in Numen 55 (2008), 121–22. ——, Integrative Religious Education in Europe. A Study-of-Religions Approach (Berlin/new york: de gruyter 2007). alexander, e. shanks, “The orality of rabbinic writing”, in Fonrobert/Jaffee 2007, 38–57. assmann, J., Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen (6th ed. munich: Beck 2007). ——, Religion und kulturelles Gedächtnis. Zehn Studien (3rd ed. munich: Beck 2008). attran, s., “religion’s social and cognitive landscape: an evolutionary Perspective”, in s. Kitayama and d. cohen (eds.), Handbook of Cultural Psychology (new york et al.: guilford 2007), 417–53. auffarth, chr., “sind heilige stätten transportabel? axis mundi und soziales gedächtnis”, in a. michaels, d. Pezzoli-olgiati and F. stolz (eds.), Noch eine Chance für die Religionsphänomenologie? (Bern et al.: Peter lang 2001), 235–57. ——, Baslez, m.-F. and ribichini, s., “appréhender les religions en contact”, in c. Bonnet, V. Pirenne-delforge, and d. Praet (eds.), Les religions orientales dans le monde grec et

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romain: cent ans après Cumont (1906–2006) (Brussels/rome: Belgisch historisch instituut te rome 2009), 43–62. ——, “mysterien” in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (in press). auksi, P., Christian Plain Style. The Evolution of a Spiritual Ideal (montreal/Kingston/ london/Buffalo: mcgill-Queen’s u Press 1995). Barrow, r., and woods, J., An Introduction to Philosophy of Education (4th ed. london: routledge 2006). Becker, a., The Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and Christian Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia (Philadelphia: u Pennsylvania Press 2006). Bednorz, l., Kühl-Freudenstein, o. and munzert, m. (eds.), Religion braucht Bildung— Bildung braucht Religion. Festschrift Horst F. Rupp (würzburg: Königshausen & neumann 2009). Bell, c. (ed.), Teaching Ritual (oxford: ouP 2007). Berliner d. and sarró, r. (eds.), Learning Religion. Anthropological Approaches (new york/ oxford: Berghahn Books 2007). iid., “introduction”, in Berliner/sarró (eds.) 2007, 1–19. Böhme, g., Kultur und pädagogische Reform. Zur Aktualität einer humanistischen Bildung (idstein: schulz-Kirchner 2008). Borst, e., Theorie der Bildung. Eine Einführung (Baltmannsweiler: schneider Verlag hohengehren 2009). Boyer, P., The Naturalness of Religious Ideas. A Cognitive Theory of Religion (Berkeley/los angeles: u california Press 1994). Bredero, a.h., Bernhard von Clairvaux. Zwischen Kult und Historie. Über seine Vita und ihre historische Auswertung (stuttgart: steiner 1996). Büttner, g., scheunpflug, a., and elsenbast, V. (eds.), Zwischen Erziehung und Religion. Religionspädagogische Perspektiven nach Niklas Luhmann (Berlin: liT 2007). Brumlik, m. and merkens, h. (eds.), bildung macht gesellschaft. Beiträge zum 20. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (opladen/Farmington hills: Barbara Budrich 2007). capbosq, a.c., Aspekte der Paideia bei Gregor dem Wundertäter, in Prostmeier 2007, 279–91. chin, c., Grammar and Christianity in the Late Roman World (Philadelphia: u Pennsylvania Press 2008). christes, J., Klein, r. and lüth, ch. (eds.), Handbuch der Bildung und Erziehung in der Antike (darmstadt: wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2006). culianu, i.P., Out of This World. Otherworldly Journeys from Gilgamesh to Einstein (Boston et al.: shambhala 1990). curtius, e.r., Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter (9th ed. Bern/munich: Francke, a., 1978). dihle, a., Philosophie als Lebenskunst (opladen: westdeutscher Verlag 1990). döbler, m., “Bernhard von clairvaux und seine apologia an abt wilhelm zwischen innerchristlichem Pluralismus und religionskritik” in Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 15 (2007), 35–51. durkheim, É., Die elementaren Formen des religiösen Lebens, trans. schmidts l. (Paris: 1912; repr. Frankfurt a. m.: suhrkamp 1984). dzielska, m., Hypatia of Alexandria (cambridge, ma/london: harvard u Press 1995). ego, B., and merkel, h., (eds.), Religiöses Lernen in der biblischen, frühjüdischen und frühchristlichen Überlieferung (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2005). ellard, P., The Sacred Cosmos, Theological, Philosophical, and Scientific Conversations in the Twelfth Century School of Chartres (scranton, Pa: univ. of scranton Press 2008). Follack, a., Der ‘Aufblick zur Idee’. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Platonischen Pädagogik bei Friedrich Schleiermacher, Paul Natorp und Werner Jaeger (göttingen: Vandenhoeck & ruprecht 2005).

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Fonrobert, ch.e. and Jaffee, m.s., The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature (cambridge, uK: cambridge u Press 2007). Frank, d. and goldish, m., “rabbinic culture and dissent. an overview” in: id. (eds.), Rabbinic Culture and Its Critics. Jewish Authority, Dissent and Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Times (detroit: wayne state u Press 2008), 1–53. Frank, K., Schulischer Religionsunterricht. Eine religionswissenschaftlich-soziologische Untersuchung (stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2010). —— and Bochinger, chr., “religious education in switzerland as a Field of work for the study of religions: empirical results and Theoretical reflections”, in Numen 55.2 (2008), 183–217. Frateantonio, ch. and Krasser, h. (eds.), Religion und Bildung. Medien und Funktionen religiösen Wissens in der Kaiserzeit (stuttgart: steiner 2010). Frazer, J., The Golden Bough (london: 1890; repr. new york: avenel 1981). Früchtel, e., “Philon und die Vorbereitung der christlichen Paideia und seelenleitung”, in Prostmeier 2007, 19–33. Fürst, a., Christentum als Intellektuellen-Religion: die Anfänge des Christentums in Alexandria (stuttgart: Kath. Bibelwerk 2007). ——, “der junge origenes im Bildungsmilieu alexandrias” in Prostmeier 2007, 249–77. Fumagalli, m., “heloise, die intellektuelle”, in Bertini, F. (ed.), Heloise und ihre Schwestern (munich: 1991), 164–91. gärtner, m., Die Familienerziehung in der Alten Kirche (cologne/Vienna: Böhlau 1985). gemeinhardt, P., Das lateinische Christentum und die pagane Bildung (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2007). winch, ch. and gingell, J., Philosophy of Education: The Key Concepts (2nd ed. london: routledge 2008). gladigow, B., “mythenzensur und symbolkontrolle”, in a. and J. assmann (eds.), Kanon und Zensur. Archäologie der literarischen Kommunikation ii (munich: Fink, w. 1987), 158–68. goodblatt, r., Rabbinic Instruction in Sassanian Babylonia (leiden: Brill 1975). günzel, u., Die mystagogischen Katechesen des Ambrosius von Mailand. Ein Beitrag zur Pädagogik und Andragogik der christlichen Antike, Phd dissertation, Bonn 1989. hadot, P., Exercices spirituels et la philosophie antique (2nd ed. Paris: Études augustiniennes 1987). ―—, La philosophie comme manière de vivre (Paris: michel 2000). hager, F., Plato Paedagogus. Aufsätze zur Geschichte und Aktualität des pädagogischen Platonismus (Bern/stuttgart: Paul haupt 1981). hager, P., and halliday, J., Recovering Informal Learning. Wisdom, Judgement and Community (dordrecht: springer 2006). hardwick, l., Reception Studies (oxford: ouP 2003). hennessy, c., Images of Children in Byzantium (Farnham: ashgate 2008). hérault, l., “learning Faith. young christians and catechism”, in Berliner/sarró (eds.) 2007, 161–176. hezser, ch. The Social Structure of the Rabbinic Movement (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 1997). ―— (ed.), Rabbinic Law in Its Roman and Near Eastern Context (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2003). ―—, “roman law and rabbinic legal composition” in Fonrobert/Jaffee 2007, 144–45. van den hoek, a., “mistress and servant. an allegorical Theme in Philo, clement and origen” in lies, l. (ed.), Origeniana quarta (innsbruck: Tyrolia 1987), 344–48. hofmann, J., “Vibia Perpetua liberaliter instituta. Zum Bildungsstand einer karthagischen christin an der wende des zweiten Jahrhunderts,” in Prostmeier 2007, 75–94. horn, c.B. and Phenix, r. (eds.), Children in Late Antique Christianity (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2009).

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horn, c.B., “raising martyrs and ascetics: a diachronic comparison of educational rolemodels for early christian children”, in horn/Phenix 2009, 293–316. hörner, w., drinck, B. and Jobst, s., Bildung, Erziehung und Sozialisation. Grundbegriffe der Erziehungswissenschaft (opladen/Farmington hills: Barbara Budrich 2008). hufer, K.-P. Erwachsenenbildung. Eine Einführung, (schwalbach: wochenschau 2009). inglis, F. and aers, i., Key Concepts in Education (los angeles et al.: sage 2008). Jahnel, c., Religion lernen. Die Bedeutung von Religion in der schulischen Bildung in den USA—Impulse für die Diskussion in Deutschland (neuendettelsau: erlanger Verlag für mission und Ökumene 2007). Jauß, h.-r., Die Theorie der Rezeption—Rückschau auf ihre unerkannte Vorgeschichte (constance: universitätsverlag Konstanz 1987), 5–39. Jensen, T., “religion and religious education in a europe of conflicting Trends”, in Tidmann, n.-a. (ed.), Into the Third Millenium (malmö: Föreningen lärare i religionskunskap 1999), 142–59. ―—, “religious education in Public schools—a must for a secular state: a danish Perspective”, in CSSR Bulletin 31.4 (2002), 83–89. ―—, “european and danish religious education: human rights, the secular state, and rethinking religious education and Plurality,” Journal of Religion & Education 32.1 (2005), 60–78. ―—, “rs based re in Public schools: a must for a secular state”, in Numen 55.2 (2008), 123–50. ―—, review of alberts 2007, in Religion 40 (2010), 63–66. Kaldellis, a., “The religion of ioannes lydos”, in Phoenix 57 (2003), 300–16. ―—, “Things are not what They are: agathias ‘mythistoricus’ and the last laugh of classical culture”, in Classical Quarterly, n.s., 53 (2003), 295–300. ―—, “The works and days of hesychios the illoustrios of miletos”, in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 45 (2005), 381–403. Kalmin, r., The Sage in Jewish Society of Late Antiquity (london/new york: routledge 1999). Kellner, m., “maimonides’ critique of the rabbinic culture of his day”, in Frank/goldish 2008, 83–116. Kippenberg, h.g. and von stuckrad, K., Einführung in die Religionswissenschaft (munich: Beck, c.h. 2003). Knowles, m.s., holton, e.F. and swanson, r.a., Lebenslanges Lernen: Andragogik und Erwachsenenbildung, trans. hornung, c. (6th ed. munich: spektrum 2007). Koch, l., “natürliche religion. ein pluralismustaugliches unterrichtsfach?” in Ziebertz, h.-g. and g.r. schmidt (eds.), Religion in der Allgemeinen Pädagogik. Von der Religion als Grundlegung bis zu ihrer Bestreitung (Freiburg i. Br.,/Basel/Vienna: ch. Kaiser gütersloher Verlagshaus/herder 2007), 150–62. Kovacs, J., “divine Pedagogy and the gnostic Teacher according to clement of alexandria”, in Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 (2001), 3–25. Kranemann, B., makrides, V.n. and schulte, a., (eds.), Religion—Kultur—Bildung. Religiöse Kulturen im Spannungsfeld von Ideen und Prozessen der Bildung (münster: aschendorff 2008). Kunstmann, J., Religion und Bildung. Zur ästhetischen Signatur religiöser Bildungsprozesse (gütersloh/Freiburg i. Br.: gütersloher Verlagshaus/herder 2003). lauer, g., “die Bildung des menschen. Zur ideengeschichte eines unwahrscheinlichen Begriffs”, in d. lemmermöhle and m. hasselhorn (eds.), Bildung—Lernen. Humanistische Ideale, gesellschaftliche Notwendigkeiten, wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse (göttingen: wallstein 2007), 59–78. levine, d., “holy men and rabbis in Talmudic antiquity”, in m. Poorthuis and J. schwartz (eds.), Saints and Role Models in Judaism and Christianity (leiden/Boston: Brill 2004), 45–57.

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lössl, J., “Bildung? welche Bildung? Zur Bedeutung der ausdrücke ‘griechen’ und ‘Barbaren’ in Tatians ‘rede an die griechen’ ”, in Prostmeier 2007, 127–53. luomanen, P., Pyssiäinen, i. and uro, r. (eds.), Explaining Christian Origins and Early Judaism. Contributions from Cognitive and Social Science (leiden/Boston: Brill 2007). marotzki, w., and wigger, l., (eds.), Erziehungsdiskurse (Bad heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt 2008). martin, l. and whitehouse, h. (eds.), Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, and Cognition (walnut creek et al.: altamira 2004). merriam, sh.B., caffarella, r.s. and Baumgartner, l.m., Learning in Adulthood. A Comprehensive Guide (3rd ed. san Francisco: John wiley 2007). mews, c.J. (ed.), Listen, Daughter. The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages (new york/Basingstoke: Palgrave 2001). metz-göckel, s., “welche Bildung für wen? sozialstrukturelle und geschlechtliche ungleichheit im Prozeß der Bildungsexpansion oder der lange atem von Visionen”, in wigger 2009, 82–102. michaels, a., “nachwort: die Phänomenologie ist tot—es lebe die Phänomenologie”, in id., d. Pezzoli-olgiati and F. stolz (eds.), Noch eine Chance für die Religionsphänomenologie? (Bern et al.: Peter lang 2001), 487–92. michel, P., “ ‘ignorantia exsilium hominis’. Zu einem enzyklopädischen Traktat des honorius augustodunensis” in m.h. graf and ch. moser (eds.), Strenarum lanx: Beiträge zur Philologie und Geschichte des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit (Zug: achius-Verlag 2003), 117–43. nongbri, B., “dislodging ‘embedded’ religion: a Brief note on a scholarly Trope”, in Numen 55 (2008), 440–60. orme, n., Medieval Children (3rd ed. new haven et al.: yale u Press 2003). osborn, e., Clement of Alexandria (cambridge, uK: cambridge uP 2005). Paul, e., Geschichte der christlichen Erziehung, vol. 1: Antike und Mittelalter (Freiburg/Basel/ Vienna: herder 1993). Peters, r.s., “what is an educational Process?” in: id. (ed.), The Concept of Education (london: routledge & Kegan Paul 1967), 1–23. Platvoet, J.g., “To define or not to define. The Problem of the definition of religion”, in id. and a.l. molendijk (eds.), The Pragmatics of Defining Religion. Contexts, Concepts and Contests (leiden/Boston/cologne: Brill 1999), 245–65. Prange, K., Schlüsselwerke der Pädagogik, vol. 1: Von Plato bis Hegel, vol. 2: Von Fröbel bis Luhmann (stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2008/2009). von Prondczynsky, a. “Bildungstheorie—Bildungskritik—Bildungsforschung. Zum wandel der Bildungssemantik”, in: wigger 2009, 15–33. Prostmeier, F.r. (ed.), Frühchristentum und Kultur (Freiburg/Basel/Vienna: herder 2007), 279–91. Prüwer, T., Humboldt reloaded. Kritische Bildungstheorie heute (marburg: Tectum 2009), 13–22. Pyysiäinen, i., How Religion Works. Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion (leiden et al.: Brill 2001). raithel, J., dollinger, B. and hörmann, g., Einführung Pädagogik. Begriffe—Strömungen— Klassiker—Fachrichtungen (3rd ed. wiesbaden: Vs Verlag für sozialwissenschaften 2009). reichenbach, r., Philosophie der Bildung und Erziehung. Eine Einführung (stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2007). reil, e., Aurelius Augustinus De catechizandis rudibus. Ein religionsdidaktisches Konzept (st. ottilien: eos 1989). ricken, n., Die Ordnung der Bildung. Beiträge zu einer Genealogie der Bildung (wiesbaden: Vs Verlag für sozialwissenschaften 2006). rubenstein, J.l., The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud (Baltimore/london: John hopkins university Press 2003).

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rüpke, J., Historische Religionswissenschaft: eine Einführung (stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2007). rury, J.l., Education and Social Change: Themes in the History of American Schooling (2nd ed. mahwah, nJ: l. erlbaum 2005). sandnes, K.o., The Challenge of Homer. School, Pagan Poets and Early Christianity (london/ new york: T&T clark 2009). scheunpflug, a., “gene—gehirne—gesellschaft. erkenntnisse der Biowissenschaften bildungstheoretisch kommentiert”, in Brumlik/merkens 2007, 95–105. ―—, “Bildung in einer natürlich determinierten welt. Über biowissenschaftliche Voraussetzungen von Bildung”, in: wigger 2009, 168–84. schluß, h., Religiöse Bildung im öffentlichen Interesse. Analysen zum Verhältnis von Pädagogik und Religion (wiesbaden: Vs Verlag für sozialwissenschaften 2010). schnegg-Köhler, B., Die augusteischen Säkularspiele (Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 4) (munich/leipzig: saur 2002). schofer, J.w., “rabbinical ethical Formation and the Formation of rabbinic ethical compilations”, in Fonrobert/Jaffee 2007, 313–35. schroeder, c., “children and egyptian monasticism”, in horn/Phenix 2009, 317–38. seveso, g., “Ti ho dato ali per volare”. Maestri, allievi, maestre e allieve nei testi della Grecia antica (Pisa: eTs 2007). smith, w.c., The Meaning and End of Religion: A New Approach to the Religious Traditions of Mankind (new york: macmillan 1963). snyder, h.g., Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World. Philosophers, Jews and Christians (london/new york: routledge 2000). spencer, h., Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (new york: d. appleton 1866). sperber, d., Explaining Culture: A Naturalistic Approach (oxford/malden, ma: Blackwell 1996). stark, r. and Bainbridge, w.s., The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation (Berkeley, ca: u california Press 1985). stemberger, g., Das klassische Judentum: Kultur und Geschichte der rabbinischen Zeit (70 n. Chr. bis 1040 n. Chr.) (munich: Beck 1979). ―—, “schaff dir einen lehrer, erwirb dir einen Kollegen (mav 1,6)—lernen als Tradition und gemeinschaft”, in ego/merkel 2005, 141–55. steudel, a., “ ‘Bereitet den weg des herrn’. religiöses lernen in Qumran”, in ego/merkel 2005, 99–116. stolz, F., “einführung”, in id., a. michaels and d. Pezzoli-olgiati (eds.), Noch eine Chance für die Religionsphänomenologie? (Bern et al.: Peter lang 2001), 9–18. sünkel, w., “Protopädie und Pädeutik. Über eine notwendige differenzierung des erziehungsbegriffs”, in marotzki/wigger 2008, 15–28. Tanaseanu-döbler, i., Konversion zur Philosophie in der Spätantike. Kaiser Julian und Synesios von Kyrene (stuttgart: steiner 2008). Tippelt, r., “lebenslanges lernen im Prozeß vertikaler und horizontaler differenzierung”, in Brumlik/merkens 2007, 109–27. Tloka, J., Griechische Christen—Christliche Griechen. Plausibilisierungsstrategien des antiken Christentums bei Origenes und Johannes Chrysostomos (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2005). Torjesen, K.J., When Women Were Priests. Women’s Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity (new york: harpercollins 1993). wach, J., Religionswissenschaft: Prolegomena zu ihrer wissenschaftstheoretischen Grundlegung (leipzig: hinrichs 1924). waithe, m.e., “heloise”, in ead. (ed.), A History of Women Philosophers, vol. 2: Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500–1600 (dordrecht et al.: Kluwer 1989), 67–83. weber, g., Kaiser, Träume und Visionen in Prinzipat und Spätantike (stuttgart: steiner 2000).

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weber, m., Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Die Wirtschaft und die gesellschaftlichen Ordnungen und Mächte. Nachlaß, Max Weber Gesamtausgabe, vol. 22, 4: Herrschaft, ed. e. hanke (Tübingen: mohr siebeck 2005). whitehouse, h., Modes of Religiosity. A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission (walnut creek et al.: altamira Press 2004). ―—, “cognitive historiography: when science meets art”, in Historical Reflections 31 (2005), 307–18. ―—, “The evolution and history of religion” in d. Parkin and, s. ulijaszek (eds.), Holistic Anthropology: Emergence and Convergence (oxford: Berghahn Books 2007), 212–33. wiebe, d., “critical reflections on the modes of religiosity argument”, in martin/ whitehouse 2004, 197–213. wigger, l. (ed.), Wie ist Bildung möglich? (Bad heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt 2009). williams, hale m., “lessons from Jerome’s Jewish Teachers: exegesis and cultural interaction in late antique Palestine”, in n.B. dohrmann and d. stern (eds.), Jewish Biblical Interpretation and Cultural Exchange. Comparative Exegesis in Context (Philadelphia: u Pennsylvania Press 2008), 66–86. wyrwa, d. “religiöses lernen im zweiten Jahrhundert und die anfänge der alexandrinischen Katechetenschule”, in ego/merkel 2005, 271–305.

Religious education in classical gReece christoph auffarth For Herwig görgemanns, my Heidelberg teacher, to whom i am deeply indebted for an equally broad and profound view of greek culture

1. “Classical” Education as a German Ideal* in order to approach the topic of religious education in classical greece, i shall begin by highlighting certain concepts developed in german Bildung in contradistinction to ‘French’ rhetoric, which was perceived as highly formal, a set of rules on how to state one’s position, but not concerned with the profound truth of what should be said, known or believed. the german concept of education that dominated the perspective on religious education in antiquity refers to the ancient debates about rhetoric or idealistic truth, developed and conducted around Plato’s idea of education; it sides with deeper, inner truth against the acquisition of more formal competences. the educational programme of the new humanist gymnasium that developed in Prussia since 1810, adopts Plato’s position to a great extent, not least through the dissemination and impact of schleiermacher’s translation of Plato. With the exile of Werner Jaeger, the paideia model is transported to the u.s., where it encounters a conception of antiquity oriented more towards the Roman idea of the res publica. these debates have focused the perception of education in antiquity on the issue of truth, leading scholars to inquire whether the greeks believed in their myths, whether the gods of greece represent a deeper truth and thus superate the christian claim to possess truth as a whole. But this approach places the question of religious education in ancient greece in categories that were not to become widespread until much later. in the second half of this paper, i shall present an alternative way of perceiving and understanding greek religious education, starting from a close analysis of the sources. * i thank ilinca tanaseanu-döbler for rendering my thoughts into english much better than i would have been able to do.

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until recently, the particular german term Bildung was thought to derive from german mysticism,1 drawing on the famous picture sketched by Meister eckhart: the pious man should immerse himself in christ so that christ may eventually become the inner form (Bild), the in-formed (ein-gebildete) interior of man. However, this term most likely did not gain its popularity until the age of enlightenment. in this era, education, Bildung, is accorded the highest significance, as evil is equated with not grasping, not knowing the good. through education, man can work his way out of his self-incurred immaturity: “sapere aude! Wag es deinen Verstand zu gebrauchen.” in this concept of education, cognitive knowledge is not assigned the main role. Rather, men must not allow their abilities—or, in biblical terms: their “talents”—to lay fallow. on the contrary, to develop them is a religious duty. this means precisely not amassing theoretical knowledge. instead, science builds upon knowledge slowly developing from everyday experience. For Pestalozzi, gertrud, the mother from a poor swiss mountain village, represents the ideal teacher, who instills this knowledge into her children, and so imparts to them a true education of the heart. the compulsory elementary schooling will develop further their “talents” and enlighten them, so that they may become good citizens. He who does not put his “talents” to work, i.e., who does not work with them, expand them, and derive profit from them, is sure to lose them. the parable from Mtt. 25:14–30; luk 19:12–27, the flinty banker parable, becomes the model for the divinely willed duty to educate oneself. Pestalozzi develops the pedagogy of popular education through the elementarisation of knowledge. state after state in europe introduces compulsory school attendance. Behind this educational concept stands the pedagogy of pietism that aims to form interiority by first enforcing external discipline, later to be gradually replaced by self-control. Bildungsromane like Robinson crusoe or the new Heloise describe how even someone like the uneducated savage called “Friday” can quickly conquer his fear of nature through knowledge, and thereby advance to the state of an enlightened human being. While in the enlightenment education is still understood as a christian value, in perfect harmony with the pride of knowledge, as a divinely willed developmental phase of every individual, in the course of the 19th century it gradually comes in opposition to religion through the controversies and attacks from the natural sciences and their omni-explanatory claim. theologians counter with the accusation that this claim would suggest the illusion that man is the measure of all

1 good counterarguments can be found in staats 2004, 193–212.

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things, and therefore create an illusion of autonomy instead of a link (religio) with theonomy.2 in this process, education, which promotes this autonomy, also becomes a target of criticism. in the great educational reform since 1810—after the Prussian defeat against napoleon—Wilhelm von Humboldt develops the concept of the neo-humanistic gymnasium, which in focusing on classical antiquity, develops an education positing—from antigone and iphigenia up to german idealism—human values that possess universal validity, without any reference to tenets of christian religion. even the professional representatives of christian religion receive this type of classical education first, before studying theology at the university.3 one paradigmatic example is the theologian Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), as manifest in his articles for the theological dictionary of the new testament: latin language and literature are the foundation upon which the higher, greek, education builds. the advisor to the emperor on science and education, the professor for classical philology in Berlin, ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, exuberantly extols the exalted mission of greek culture for the development of humanity.4 a culminating point in these developments is represented by Werner Jaeger (*30 July 1888 in lobberich; †19 october 1961 in cambridge, Ma).5 at the early age of twenty-six he became full professor in Basel, then went to Kiel, and finally, as the crowning moment of his still young career (he was then only thirty-three years old) he took up the chair in Berlin, as successor of his famous teacher Wilamowitz.6 He was banished from his chair in Berlin in 1936, escaped to chicago and taught from 1939 onwards at Harvard university. already in 1928, the classical philologists assembled at the naumburg conference discussed Das Problem des Klassischen und die Antike.7 Jaeger’s programme of a “third Humanism”8

2 this is not meant as a general critique. i refer to a—representative—book: ochel 2001, esp. 42–43. 3 cf. auffarth 2007c. 4 Wilamowitz, 1909 in the postface to Griechisches Lesebuch ii.2, 270 “getragen von dem Vertrauen in die welterziehende Mission des Hellenismus.” 5 For the biography of the Protestant, educated in a catholic gymnasium, see Wessling 2001 (rich in material, some mistakes, and little context). götte 1993; Follak 2005; calder 1992. 6 For the Berlin classics and the educational landscape of the 19th century see auffarth 2006. 7 Jaeger 1931. 8 third after the (second) neo-humanism and the humanism of the Renaissance. For humanism as a concept of neo-humanism—the Bavarian gymnasium professor niethammer—see cancik 1992.

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was just as provoking to his colleagues as the utopian national-socialist educational concepts of the “political man” (“Politischer Mensch”) were. after a programmatic discussion with the Prussian minister of education Walter Wüst (nsdaP) in July 1933, Jaeger published, together with emil Kroymann, “leitsätze über die gegenwartsbedeutung des deutschen gymnasiums.” this prompted attacks by those who accused the valueorientation of the new “third Humanism” of being insufficiently nationalist.9 in the journal, which served to establish guidelines for education in the nationalistic state, Werner Jaeger published Die Erziehung des politischen Menschen und die Antike (1933); the “national-Pädagoge” ernst Krieck responded. Werner Jaeger regarded education in the ancient classical values as being the very foundation of humanity, trans-national, and independent in relation to state and government. His pedagogical concept was the fruit of the Lebenswerk he was writing at that time: Paideia. the first volume appeared in 1934. later (1961 in german translation) he added to the three volumes written in exile, a fourth volume discussing the problem of early christianity’s relationship to classical education and culture (Bildung). in doing so, he emphasized that the christians generally went to great efforts to acquire classical education and culture.10 according to Werner Jaeger, the greeks differed from all other cultures of antiquity in that they achieved an “aufbruch einer neuen schätzung des Menschen,” a thought they passed on to other cultures. While other cultures only rudimentarily assimilated this new appraisal of man, christianity took up the “gedanke(n) des unendlichen Wertes der einzelnen Menschenseele” and independently developed it further.11 However, the expectation that a classical humanistic education could guard against or even provide immunity to the infringement of human rights, e.g. through national socialism, becomes problematic: the most striking example is that of ss ideologist and Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, who was the son of a classical philologist.12  9   the end of these attacks is represented by drexler 1942. see also irmscher 1965; losemann 1977. 10  For the rarely drawn sharp demarcation that greek culture must not be transmitted by christians, as decreed by the emperor Julian, see tanaseanu in this volume. Jaeger 1934; Jaeger 1963; gemeinhardt 2007. 11   this must refer to the famous lecture of the Berlin doyen among the theologians, adolf von Harnack, who emphasises this idea for christianity in Das Wesen des Christentums 1899/1900. 12  alfred andersch, Der Vater eines Mörders (1980) describes a class of greek at the Wittelsbacher gymnasium in Munich in May 1928, in which the main figure, a professor of greek, is modelled on Himmler’s father.

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2. Classical Education, Education in the Greek Classical Age Having first discussed, by necessity, the highly charged concept of “classical education,” i shall now turn to the historical evidence for education in classical greece, that is, the period between the Persian wars in 480 B.c. and 330 B.c., culminating the Pentecontaety and the programmatic speech put, by thucydides, into the mouth of the athenian politician and general Pericles. this speech praises athenian values, which at first are presented like a balance record, making the labours of war appear legitimate and eventually confirming them in the face of the losses of the first year of war. in this period, the three major classical dramatic poets, aeschylus, sophocles and euripides, stage their plays; Herodotus writes about his examinations of foreign cultures and about greek culture, analysing how it prevailed over an overwhelming enemy—the Persians—, that is, how it actually came into being.13 Pericles calls athens, and all the ideals of athens for which the athenians go to battle, παίδευσις τῆς Ἑλλάδος.14 in order to first generally characterise the classical greek concept of education, we will start from those two fundamental terms that modern languages have selected from greek to designate their educational institutions: (1) “school” and (2) “gymnasium.” (1) the term “school” is the greek word σχολή, mediated through the latin schola. Σχολή may be translated: “having spare time,” “leisure,” or “We can afford not to work ourselves.” even today, one can observe in the Mediterranean regions that people let one of their fingernails grow long, in order to proudly demonstrate: “i do not need to work”—manual labour would have long caused the nail to break. this must not lead to the one-sided conclusion that school education was only affordable for the children of the upper, “leisure” class, people who entrusted the heavy everyday work to their slaves and were thus at leisure to pursue their hobbies—horse races, greatly popular among the nobility, partying with other young noblemen, performing risky practical jokes, like alcibiades, or again, taking leisurely strolls on the agora, conversing with provocative old men like socrates. Behind this, a deeper-lying question emerges, 13 after the severe criticism of the concept of the ‘classical age’ by the 1968 generation, egidius schmalzriedt 1971, and the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft still unperturbedly reprinted the proceedings of the naumburg conference, a fresh discussion was stimulated by two conferences (gauer/Pöhlmann 1994) as well as the exhibition “die griechische Klassik” (Heilmeyer 2002). 14 thuc. 2, 41,1. gomme in his commentary (1956) also points to Hippias of elis, who calls athens in Plato’s Protagoras τὸ πρυτανεῖον τῆς σοφίας.

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difficult to resolve: the French cultural historian Philippe ariès has attempted to argue that childhood as a distinct, carefree stage of life did not appear as an ideal until the 19th century, re-emerging in the 20th century. in pre-modern times, conversely, children were treated as young adults and behaved accordingly.15 in a similar vein, the French philosopher of culture elisabeth Badinter was able to show that the term “motherly love” was coined to label a particular re-orientation of society, resulting from the separation of the husband’s workplace and the wife’s and family’s dwelling place, and the subsequent dissolution of the “house as a whole”16 around 1800. in greek culture, one can distinguish, on the one hand, at the very least different terms for “child” and, on the other hand, recognise childhood as an iconographic sujet17 in its different stages: certainly the infant, which still carries its baby fat, but also the youth, before entering adulthood, as a type of its own. (2) the second term, that emerged in the period of humanism, i.e. early modern times, to designate the education system for noblemen not destined for an ecclesiastical career, the gymnasium (illustre), is derived from the greek gymnasion (γυμνάσιον). in ancient greece this was the place for sports, the gymnastics hall, where—exclusively—male adolescents primarily practiced sports. gymnasia also served as educational institutions. the most famous was the gymnasium of the local phyle hero academus, which Plato used for his philosophical school, “the academy” (ἀκαδημία). Plato furnished this gymnasion with altars for gods and heroes.18 education in classical antiquity was divided into the following areas:19 • athletic training (also with the aim of military competence) • learning to write (basic cultural competences) • musical training 2.1. Learning Letters and Written Cult Laws “learning letters” (παῖδες γράμματα διδασκόμενοι) represents a competence the greeks of the 5th century did not regard as an essential prerequisite,

15 ariès 1973. 16 “das ganze Haus” denotes the house and its inhabitants, where dwelling place and workplace are identical (see Brunner 1968). 17 Rühfel 1984a; Rühfel 1984b. see also Kassel 1954. images of school-scenes Mommsen 2000; schulze 2000. 18 nilsson ggR 2(1955), 59–67; delorme 1960, 337–38. 19 Reichert 1996.

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but as a profitable skill, nonetheless. our information about schools is drawn from rather chance accounts of catastrophes and crimes. in 494 B.c. on chios, the roof of a school collapsed and buried 119 pupils, boys “who were learning letters.”20 Φιλέει δέ κως προσημαίνειν, εὖτ’ ἄν μέλλῃ μεγάλα κακὰ ἢ πόλει ἢ ἐθνει ἔσεσθαι. καὶ γὰρ Χίοισι πρὸ τούτων21 σημήια μεγάλα ἐγένετο. Τοῦτο μέν σφι πέμψασι ἐς Δελφοὺς χορέων νεηνιέων ἑκατὸν δύο μοῦνοι τούτων ἀπενόστησαν, τοὺς δὲ ὀκτώ τε καὶ ἐνενήκοντα αὐτῶν λοιμὸς ὑπολαβὼν ἀπήνεικε· τοῦτο δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει τὸν αὐτὸν τοῦτον χρόνον, ὀλίγον πρὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας, παισὶ γράμματα διδασκομένοισι ἐνέπεσε ἡ στέγη, ὥστε ἀπ’ ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι εἷς μοῦνος ἀπέφυγε. Τοιαῦτα μέν σφι σημήια ὁ θεὸς προέδεξε.

ever is some warning given by heaven, when great ills threaten cities or nations. For before all this plain signs had been sent to the chians. of a band of a hundred youths whom they had sent to delphi two only returned, ninety-eight being caught and carried off by pestilence. Moreover, at about this same time, a little before the sea-fight, the roof fell in on boys at school, insomuch that of a hundred and twenty of them one alone escaped. these signs had been shown to them by heaven.22

an athlete who was denied the first rank after a competition, because he had hurt his opponent so badly during the fight that the man later died from the injuries, goes mad, and in his rampage tore down the support column of a school, so that sixty children were killed by the collapsing roof.23 in the Peloponnesian War 423 B.c., as thucydides relates,24 disbanded thracian soldiers pillaged the small Boeotian town of Mycalessus, gained access to the “largest” school of the town and perpetrated a bloodbath among the pupils. all these accounts show that instruction in the ability to read and write had reached in greek poleis—that is, not only in athens or corinth—a form that was organised by the polis, was provided for children, and was considered worth the costs for teachers and buildings. More importantly—if one contrasts the role of writing in the older and in the contemporary cultures of the ancient orient, as well as the

20 Herodotus 6, 27. 21  Before that, Herodotus narrates the catastrophic defeat of the chians against Histiaeus of Miletus (6, 26). defeats, thus Herodotus, were announced by smaller catastrophes like the following. 22 translation by a.d. godley (loeb 1922). 23 cleomenes of astypalea, related in Paus. 6, 9, 6. 24 thuk 7, 29. διδασκαλεῖον παίδων.

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decline in literacy with its impact on the training of clerics in the Middle ages—, the invention of the alphabetic script represents an enormous achievement in the democratization process. since in egypt the scribes represented the memory of the king, there was a pronounced interest in restricting this cultural craft to a few professional scribes. the god of writing, the ibis-headed thot (with his wife seshat),25 was regarded in egyptian antiquity as the god who preserved knowledge, even knowledge no longer consciously present to the contemporaries. in particular, this applied to religious knowledge accessible only to the king and priests. this religious knowledge had the function of insuring, during performances of the cult, that the correct sequence of rituals was observed, necessary to preserve the world. thot is translated by Herodotus as the greek god Hermes. in the Roman empire, under the name of Hermes Trismegistos, he is a symbol for a religious movement and “secret” revelation literature. When Marsilio Ficino translated this literature in the 1450s, his publication at the dawn of modernity sparked the development of a “history of european religion,” i.e. a pluralistic situation of religious alternatives in the modern Western world.26 We can assess the role of writing in the cultures of the ancient orient similarly. the archives with the cuneiform script tablets were meant for internal use only, primarily for royal priests. libraries and archives were not accessible to the public; not even when rulers wrote themselves “heavenly letters,” legitimising their deeds and their politics ex post as divinely decreed measures.27 even the statements at the borders of the realm, that fixed the claim in writing, threatening trespassers of the order and its borders with violence, were placed where they could not possibly be read, as they were inaccessible.28 a corresponding oral propagation must have therefore followed the written message; pictures said more than writing. seen against this background, the greek learning of letters represents an enormous change. Reading was still connected with reading aloud; the challenge was not to vocally insert the missing vowels of semitic script, but to recognize the inexistent word separations by reading aloud. a greek inscription in boustrophedon (in zig-zag, “as the bull ploughs the field”) or in stoichedon (each letter of a word in a row with the letters of the word

25 Van lieven 2002. 26 auffarth 2007a, 391–95, based on the seminal article by gladigow 1995; gladigow 2006. 27 Pongratz-leisten 1999. 28 Pongratz-leisten 2007.

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above and below—comparable with the courier font; the words at the end of a line cut at the letter of a word, which forms by chance the last one) can only be comprehended when read out loud. two deductions are important. (1) the alphabetic script and the ability to read consequently led to a commitment to the written and published word, which could be read out in cases of doubt—e.g. in forensic orations. significantly, these were not fully written out in the orations themselves, where only placeholders were inserted.29 the corresponding laws or decrees of the political organs were displayed in a publicly accessible place and were thus verifiable by anyone. if in the course of a court procedure they were read by somebody else than the speaker (λέγε “Read it out!”), then copies must have existed that could be taken into the courthouse. (2) literacy, however, did not form the decisive basis for any type of more advanced education in classical athens.30 in comparison, orality was far more important. 3. Religion and Religious Knowledge in Classical Greece 3.1. Religious Knowledge Belongs to no Profession Via the question of literacy, we approach one complex of religious education.31 in order to reach it, we must first enquire if, in fact, a corpus of religious knowledge existed and, if so, how such a thesaurus was transmitted, archived, and thus documented in written form. as already pointed out in connection with the alphabetical script, greek religion, too, is not a form of knowledge belonging to a few professional experts, inaccessible to all others. greek religion is surprisingly democratised and non-professional. even knowledge of the mysteries was quite familiar to many athenians, and practically any outsider could be initiated, so that the secret of the mysteries was actually no secret at all.32 the absence of a thesaurus of religious knowledge, of doorkeepers, hereditary priests and preservers of meaning has different causes:

29 thomas 1989. an example would be demosthenes, De corona § 29; 84 and passim; with the commentaries (Wankel 1976, 79 ff ). 30 cf. Morgan 1998. 31 Reflections on this topic are rarely found in scholarly literature. one attempt is Mehl 1994. 32 auffarth 1995; Kippenberg/stroumsa 1995.

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(1) greek religion is practically a priestless religion.33 Priests certainly existed, but most of them were “spare time” or “hobby” priests (“Freizeitpriester”).34 they exercised this function without special training, without specific knowledge as part of their public offices. Priestly offices for life, or hereditary priesthoods within a family, were a rare exception. euripides’ tragedy Ion shows how religious knowledge was transmitted in spite of this non-professionalised tradition. in the tragedy, on the periphery of a classical sacrifice with priests and other specialists needed for such a service35—the one who leads the animal to the altar, the one who stuns it, the third, who quickly and cleanly slits its throat, the one who knows how to read the liver—, there appears yet another person. someone who cleans up, who remains in the background, but one who not only knows all the details, but is also able to explain them. as a foundling, he had been placed before the sanctuary and therefore remained the property of the god. others there raised him, and he is a child of the god, of the delphic god. in the tale’s first twist, this turns out to be more than just a name, but reality. ion, the son of the god, becomes the ancestor and founder of the ionians, in particular the athenians. But precisely persons such as this, who transmitted the tradition without ever being priests, must have probably been the “teachers of religion” of classical greece. (2) What about the written prescriptions that could be found inscribed on the walls of many sanctuaries, the so-called leges sacrae, that have been collected and edited in modern corpora?36 aside from the very different genres that were incorporated under this heading, the inscriptions are not prescriptions for the cult, but rather interdictions, specifying what must not be done in the sanctuary. that means that one cannot learn from them what to do in the cult; they define exceptions, not the normal performance. the actual proper cultic behaviour had to be learned from other sources, by listening and watching how father and mother behave (the famous learning by doing).37

33 Burkert gR 1977, 157 = gRe 1985, 95: “greek religion might almost be called a religion without priests.” 34 For Rome now fundamentally Rüpke 2005. 35 Van straten 1995. 36 after Hans von Prott/ludwig Ziehen and Rudolf Herzog 1896–1906 we now have the collections of Franciszek sokolowski (1955–1969); most recently lupu 2005, esp. the introduction 3–112; reviewed by auffarth, numen 56 (2009), 120–21. the general problem is described by Parker 2004. 37 Bremmer 1995.

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(3) an example can serve to take this observation one step further. How is one to sacrifice correctly without instruction?38 in scholarly reference books on greek sacrifice, the distinction between “chthonian” and “olympian” is fundamental.39 a closer look shows that this distinction was frequently used, but was not delimited ritually in the same manner everywhere. this can be illustrated by a satyr play, the Cyclops, in which euripides constructs the twist of his drama precisely on this distinction: as with any theatre production, the day had begun with an olympian sacrifice at the altar in the center of the orchestra, a central point in the theatre. the director now uses this altar to demonstrate the contempt in which the olympian gods are held by the Cyclops. the killing of odysseus’ companions is performed as a ritual slaughter precisely not on this altar (βωμός, the olympian altar of dionysus in the middle of the orchestra), but averted from it: ἀποβώμιος v. 365. thus, we have a chthonian sacrifice. as i have shown in a previous study,40 the poet could rely on a certain knowledge of religious traditions among his audience, which they had • either acquired by participating in the festivals of the polis, and which was therefore regularly recalled, • or which had just been represented in a play that had just been staged immediately before the one in question and which provided the audience with a particular interpretation. through both forms of evoking religious topics—besides intertextuality, interrituality may be found—, the poet and director can count on specific expectations within his audience and either satisfy these, or deliberately breach them, thereby producing surprise or paradox. in euripides’ Cyclops, beside the real sacrifice at the beginning of the day, two sacrifices are contrasted: the chthonian one, averted from the altar, and the other as a triumph of the olympian religion:

38 this section is based on auffarth 2005, 11–21. 39 stengel 1910, 126–45. (stengel was a gymnasial professor, and his systematisation has something of the precision of a school statute. schlesier 1991/1994; scullion 1994. the conference organised by Robin Hägg: Greek sacrificial ritual 1997, published by Hägg/alroth 2005. 40 auffarth 2007b.

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christoph auffarth the two sacrifices in euripides’ Cyclops expected rite

specific vocabulary 1 2

adorning the victim Pompé

3

Preparatiοns

4 5

Victim agrees the sacrifice proper 5a prayer 5b silence 5c φυλλοβολία

6 7 8 9

5d libation with unmixed wine assistants the deadly stroke ὀλολυγή Partition of the victim

10

god’s portion

Human sacrifice— chthonian style vv. 375–406 371 ἐκθύει 369 ἀποβώμιος 517 f the wreath 345 ἕρπετ’ εἴσω ἀμφὶ βωμὸν στάντες not! 350–355 the victim prays εὐωχῆτέ με 386 φύλλων ἐλατίνων

sacrificing the sacrificer—olympian style vv. 469–664 471 φόνου κοινωνεῖν 543/5–591 469–471 torch into χέρνιψ 545 ἰδού 599–607 624–629 614f revealing the weapon

369 ἐσχέας to himself! 405 odysseus ἐδιακόνουν 395–398 402–404 odysseus refuses to take part 314 tongue; 334 no portion for god, but to ‘god’ stomach 361–69. 396 f one part to θεοστυγεῖ Ἅιδου μαγείρῳ.

630 ἄγε νῦν, ἅψεσθε 651–653 656–664 παιάν (the ‘victim’ is blinded, not slaughtered)

the following conclusion may be drawn from the rather vague ritual definition of this essential distinction of greek sacrifice: in greek religion, not even rituals are designed to be repeated as accurately as possible. if a ritual does not lead to the desired result, then a Roman knows that he has made a ritual mistake and that he, or rather the ritual specialist, needs to perform it again, and this time correctly. in greek religion, a great division of religious duties may be discerned, especially in sacrificial ritual, but however, there are only very few specialists, such as the interpreter of the victim’s liver.41 But there is no disciplina Etrusca! a greek will not 41 For the oriental specialised knowledge of a sacrificial diviner see Burkert 1984, 48–54.

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keep repeating the same ritual until it eventually works. Rather, it can be observed that—in the case of oracles—he just betakes himself to another oracle and lays the question before another god, until he finds a suitable answer.42 3.2. The Chorus as a Social Institution of Religious Learning an outstanding role for the question of education in general, and religious education in particular, is played by the chorus (χορός).43 in the course of the year in athens, numerous performances of drama took place. in addition, international choral contests might be held, as in the case of the chorus from chios mentioned above.44 While the three roles in a tragedy were usually played by professional actors, the chorus was formed by the people from the individual phylai, that would take turns. the wealthiest family of the respective phyle had the duty of choregy (χορηγία): it was their responsibility to provide, from their private funds, for the chorus, to pay its director, and not least the tragedian. on each of the following festivals (the enumeration refers to athens), three poets would compete: the city dionysia, lenaea, anthesteria (all of those for dionysus) and the Panathenaea. the number of chorus dancers (not counting the certainly necessary substitute dancers and singers) was initially twelve, since sophocles fifteen; in comedy, there were twenty-four participants; there were additional performances for the dithyramb, which featured fifty choreuts, albeit perhaps not as regularly.45 it is difficult to ascertain whether a categorical difference existed between the tragic chorus and the chorus of a comedy. For the latter, anton Bierl has documented the correlation between a particular phase in youth and the stage appearance; that is, the institution of the age group preparing for admittance to the body of adult citizens was displayed in the theatre.46 comparable conclusions may be drawn for girl choruses, but that pertains exclusively to the archaic period, and not to athens.47 this opens up the question of the so-called ‘initiation.’ applying a term that has been re-imported to classics from anthropology, the institution

42 gladigow 1990. 43  nilsson 1955, 70–71; Marrou 1957, 200–01. 44 Further evidence for choral contests Wilson 2000, 309–10. 45 Wilson 2000, 11–49. the literary sources are easily accessible in Pickard-cambridge, 2nd ed. 1962. Wilson also includes inscriptions. For the anthesteria see auffarth 1991, 202–76. 46 Bierl 2001. 47 calame 1977.

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of age groups has been discussed for greece. in these, young adolescents turning eighteen before a certain annual festival in the civic calendar would be admitted as adults; analogous institutions for girls existed in part.48 Bierl concludes: “der komische chor ist nicht nur aus dem Ritual hervorgegangen, sondern er ist zu weiten teilen ein Ritual.”49 or: the performance of a ritual. For the selection, funding, and rehearsal of the often intricate dance steps (metres) and the choral songs under a chorus director, responsibility lay with the choregoi. these were appointed—if necessary, compulsorily— by the archon basileus from among the wealthiest citizens of athens. a court speech gives testimony of one case in particular, pertaining to the death of a boy who had during rehearsal received some medicine that had proven to be fatal. the choregos in charge is accused by the boy’s relative before the court of the areopagus under the presidency of the archon basileus, and the orator antiphon defends him.50 as a chorus, the choreuts did not just learn how to dance and sing, to move as a group and to reproduce by heart whatever tragedy, comedy, paean, dithyramb, hymn, or other piece they had to perform. they also learnt the myth they were presenting, and also that of their competitors. and they learnt this myth in the dramatic form, which differs from the narrative form insofar as the different actors contemplate and comment on the plot of the myth from different perspectives. that is, learning religion takes place in a reflected form, always respecting different opinions. and it is precisely the chorus’ role in the tragedies to discuss an action in its full scope, to warn, or in hymns to praise the gods and exalt their theology.51 this, however, implies an appropriation of religion which is, from the outset, not bound to any holy scripture, and which is neither developed nor controlled by a central institution. the tragedians are not teachers of religion transmitting a religious canon and religious knowledge. there is no ‘original,’ ‘correct’ form of the myth. there is only the

48 Following angelo Brelich’s discussion of the model in 1969, it was further developed in particular by Walter Burkert 1972, later Vidal-naquet (The Black Hunter, French ed. 1981), Fritz graf, Jan Bremmer, claude calame et al. auffarth 1991, 388–460 differentiates between the ‘savage,’ but only remembered initiation and the education of the contemporary generation in the models of odysseus and telemachus. a book by Jan Bremmer on initiation in the context of transition rituals in the life cycle awaits completion. 49 Bierl 2001, 302. 50 antiphon, or. 6. § 1–51, ed. Friedrich Blass (Bt 1908). gagarin 2002; Heitsch 1984, 90–109. 51 For theology in ancient greece see gladigow 1986.

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interpretation, which creates a new version of the myth every time, and that other poets on occasion will tell, accentuate and interpret in a yet another way, in the intertextual dialogue with the interpretation of yet another poet. therefore, there can be no “belief ” in the myth.52 Myths are rather thought experiments, rethinking the experienced world of everyday life in new ways and thus testing alternatives to the apparent reality.53 even in the realm of writings and belief, a broad, deliberate multiplicity and openness of interpretation may be observed, pointing to the absence of any form of canonisation. 3.3. Greek Religion as Guarantor of Ethics Finally, we need to consider the field of ethics, the rules for good behaviour, which every citizen had to first learn and then internalise, to allow the society of the greek polis (a society with much politics but yet little state) to set the boundaries for the self-willed and self-determinate actions of its individuals. the subject is so complex that it cannot be treated extensively in this paper. i will only be able to sketch to what extent religion could offer a firm basis for the ultimate justification of ethics, something which other utilitarian or functionalist arguments could not provide, such as the golden Rule, which draws the boundary of action at the point of (imagined) reciprocity. the sophists knew how to level enough scathing critique at any convention, so that no societal agreement or habit could continue to claim to represent normality. First, it is necessary to recall the discussion of the development which eric Robertson dodds described in a legendary chapter in 1951 as proceeding “From Shame Culture to Guilt Culture.”54 He had found his model in Ruth Benedict’s Patterns of Culture.55 While in Homer the hero still only fears shame, i.e. loss of honour, he also appears completely dependent on acknowledgement by his peers. as early as the Odyssey, dodds sees

52 Veyne 1983. 53 gladigow 1985; gladigow 1987; auffarth 1991, 1–35. 54 dodds 1951, ch. 2 (gt 1970, 37), further developed in Williams 1993. 55 Boston 1934. she also fundamentally employs this distinction in her book on Japan Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946), which she wrote against the war enemies commissioned by the u.s. government, where she also perceives the Japanese as an externally controlled shame culture. this must have provoked notable discussions, for the British sociologist geoffrey gorer (The Americans 1948) subsequently asserts exactly this external control for the americans. this was the context in which dodds conceived his lecture in 1951.

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the “guilt culture” entering greek culture and replacing the older attitude. From this period on, he views guilt culture associated with the fear of defilement and impurity, for which religion now provided rituals of purification. later, rationality emerges as well (linked, for dodds, in a psychoanalytical, ambivalent manner with irrationality). it soon became clear that this concept, which can already be found in erwin Rohde’s Psyche (1893/94), for example, where he refuted for greece the evolutionary concept of animism, finding nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch already mirrored in the period of epos and heroes,56 proved inadequate for solving the problem which dodds perceived in terms of a successive evolution. Hugh lloyd-Jones has pointed to the coexistence of both concepts over long phases of greek culture.57 an evolutionary model was proven entirely impossible, however, by Robert Parker’s study, in which he demonstrated that miasma, defilement, was by no means an archaic concept, but rather one from the later classical period, not to be found in any earlier source material.58 on the classical stage, this concept is projected upon the myth, but it is more indicative, however, of this epoch than of the archaic period. in anthropology, Benedict’s concept had in the meantime yielded to a new paradigm. Mary douglas proved the simultaneity of the non-simultaneous instead of evolution, the existence of forms of tribal culture within industrial society, such as the Bog irishmen in the harbour quarters of london.59 in this light, the sequence “from shame culture to guilt culture” is no longer tenable, yielding to the idea of cultures that tend to view shame as a concept shaping their rules for society in the midst of cultures that conform to the principles of guilt and atonement. starting from this premise, Williams developed the ethical discourse of shame and necessity.60 Martha c. nussbaum, on the other hand, explored the discourse of justice and the good life, in view of current debates on justice.61 Besides the internalisation of moral norms, a further, albeit related question must be raised: is there an authority for legal norms? the evolutionary view holds: legal norms were at first protected and justified by religion, and only later founded on rational and social grounds. the concept

56 cancik 1985. 57 lloyd Jones 1971. 58 Parker 1983; Flaig 1998. 59 douglas, Purity and Danger, 1966, and douglas 1970, 2nd ed. 1973. 60 Williams 1993. 61  nussbaum 1986.

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of “holy law” has also proven to be inappropriate.62 the thesis maintained that the oldest legal statutes claimed authority as the “law of god,” and their implementation therefore similarly referred to the punishment of god.63 Rudiments of a legislation not based on the client relationship to a—to my own—god are discernable in the very first expressions of greek law, for example in the figure of Zeus Xenios (Zeus as protector of the strangers) or Zeus Horkios (Zeus as avenger of perjury). But they remain mere attempts at developing a “justice of Zeus” into a universally valid system of law.64 Rational or at least political justifications for law are older than religious ones; they are generally perceived as a form of contract. the ambiguity regarding what qualifies as religion, its lack of normative function for social coexistence (notwithstanding the fact that religion certainly functions a strong identifier), the absence of religious knowledge and fostering of religious meaning are all manifest in socrates’ questions to an athenian, an athenian who should know what is holy (περὶ ὁσίου), because he indicts his own father before the archon basileus, who was responsible for religious cases. socrates, who is about to face the charge of infringement of his religious duties (ἀσέβεια) and the introduction of new gods, enquires of euthyphron what the basis for and meaning of these notions are. typical of the early “socratic” dialogues: this does not lead to a new definition, but only refutes what the normal athenian knows about it; it leads to an aporia. at the end, however, it becomes clear that piety must also include loyalty towards one’s parents, and that a sacrality contemptuous of humans cannot be the essence of religion and the holy. Plato, who composed this dialogue, already hints here that for him, religion is something radically different from what average greeks understood and practiced. Besides this critique of ordinary religion and a thoroughly non-religious argument, we find two further aspects in Plato. on the one hand, he employs metaphors for cognition that originate in religion, more precisely, in the particular form of religion celebrated as the eleusinian mysteries. Telete and epopteia are the images he uses for cognition, to describe the gradual process of a small group of elite approaching wisdom—the philosophers.65 Whether or not Plato taught his students at

62 latte 1920. 63 the concept can be discussed particularly with reference to the case of right of asylum, see auffarth 1992. the ‘historical’ paradigm behind this is the gift of the ten commandments (the decalogue) to israel. 64 lloyd-Jones 1971. 65 Riedweg 1987.

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the academy a positive doctrine that was not recorded in writing, Plato’s oral doctrine remains a possibility. on the other hand, the gods of greek religion play no role. He accuses the poets of having drawn a false image of the divine in their myths, an anthropomorphisation. under the conditions of human society, they would have to be punished as lawbreakers and wrongdoers to protect society from them. For the personal anthropomorphic gods with their emotions, sexuality and capricious despotism, Plato substitutes a neuter, “the divine” (τὸ θεῖον) and identifies it with an absolute value, “the good” (τὸ ἀγαθόν), so that henceforth only good things come from the divine, no longer adversity or illness.66 to ensure this, he constructs two other worlds, the metaphysical world of the Beyond and the internal world, both conjoined by the divine soul and its faculty of cognition. Plato’s theories, however, had little in common with everyday greek religion, and his concept was to develop a greater influence only much later, with the Platonisation of christianity. in contrast, aristotle’s ethics are far more specific and address actual issues of human coexistence, stressing the necessity for just distribution and the fragility of goodness. the aristotelian ethics still provide a good starting point for the ethical theories of today.67 leaving Plato aside as a special case, for whom teaching and learning signified adapting to, forcing the subject into a defined order, combined with the claim to exclusive rights of defining the Beyond, greek religion, precisely because it was loosely defined and not subject to the control or definition of a central institution, was a highly changeable matter of public discourse that took place especially in the theatre, including criticism of the gods, blasphemy, performance of rituals, as well as their parody. Religious education in classical greece meant, therefore, participation, imitation, hearing stories and telling them to others, joining in hymns and prayers, observing and discussing the drama of the conflict between necessity and intent unfolding on stage. and in its midst, the chorus that had rehearsed it all for weeks. Present as well was the author, who continued to polish his drama, as a partner in the ongoing conversation.

66 For this development that can also be observed e.g. for asclepius, see auffarth 1995. 67 Martha c. nussbaum worked as a collaborator with the World institute for development economics Research at the united nations. in her work, she makes repeated reference to aristotle, because he takes into account the “human nature” the foundation of any ethics. cf. nussbaum 1986; nussbaum 1999.

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gorer, g., The Americans. A Study in National Character (london: cresset Press 1948). götte, J., “Werner Jaeger (1888–1961),” in Eikasmós 4 (1993), 217–28. Hägg, R. and alroth, B. (eds.), Greek Sacrificial Ritual: Olympian and Chthonian. Proceedings of the Sixth International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organized by the Department of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Göteborg University, 25–27 April 1997 (Skrifter utgivna av svenska Institutet i Athen, 8°: 18) (stockholm: Ǻström 2005). Heilmeyer, W.-d. (ed.), Die griechische Klassik: Idee oder Wirklichkeit [exhibition: Berlin/ Bonn] (Mainz: von Zabern 2002). Heitsch, e., Antiphon aus Rhamnus (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz. Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 1984, 3) (Wiesbaden: steiner 1984). irmscher, J., “altsprachlicher unterricht im faschistischen deutschland” in Jahrbuch für Erziehungs- und Schulgeschichte 5/6 (1965), 225–71. Jaeger, W., Humanismus und Jugendbildung (Berlin: Weidmann 1921). Vortr., gehalten in der Versammlung der Vereinigung der Freunde des humanistischen gymnasiums in Berlin u. in der Prov. Brandenburg am 27. november 1920; repr. in Werner Jaeger, Humanistische Reden und Vorträge (Berlin/leipzig: de gruyter 1937), 43–71, (2nd ed. ²1960, 41–67). ―—, et al., Das Problem des Klassischen und die Antike (leipzig: teubner 1931, repr. darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft 1972). ―—, “die erziehung des politischen Menschen und die antike,” in Volk im Werden 1 (1933), 3, 43–49. ―—, Paideia. Die Formung des griechischen Menschen (Berlin: de gruyter 1934–1947), vol. 1 1934, 2nd ed. 1936; vol. 2, 1944; vol. 3, 1947. ―—, Das frühe Christentum und die griechische Bildung (Berlin: de gruyter 1963). Kassel, R., Quomodo quibus locis apud veteres scriptores Graecos infantes atque parvuli pueri inducantur describantur commemorentur, diss. Würzburg 1954. Kippenberg, H.g. and stroumsa, g.g. (eds.), Secrecy and Concealment (sHR 65) (leiden: Brill 1995). Koller, H., “ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία,” in Glotta 34 (1955), 174–89; repr. in H.-th. Johann (ed.), Erziehung und Ausbildung in der heidnischen und christlichen Antike (darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft 1976), 3–21. Krieck, e., [response to Jaeger 1933], in Volk im Werden 1 (1933), 5, 77–78. Kühnert, F., Bildung und Redekunst in der Antike. Kleine Schriften, ed. Volker Riedel (Jena: Friedrich-schiller-univ., inst. für altertumswiss. 1994). latte, K., Heiliges Recht. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der sakralen Rechtsformen in Griechenland (tübingen: Mohr 1920, repr. 1964). van lieven, a., “thot,” in Der Neue Pauly 12/1 (2002), 476–77. lloyd-Jones, H., The Justice of Zeus (Sather Classical Lectures 41) (Berkeley: university of california Press 1971, 2nd ed. 1983). losemann, V., Nationalsozialismus und Antike (Historische Perspektiven 7) (Hamburg: Hoffmann und campe 1977). lupu, e., (ed.), Greek Sacred Law. A Collection of New Documents [ngsl] (RgRW 152) (leiden: Brill 2005). Marrou, H.-i., Geschichte der Erziehung im klassischen Altertum, ed. Richard Harder (Freiburg: alber 1957, Munich: dtv 1977); orig. Fr., Histoire de l’éducation dans l’Antiquité (Paris: le seuil 1948, 3rd ed. 1956, 7th ed. 1976). Mehl, a., “Religiöse erziehung und unterweisung in der griechischen antike,” in M. liedtke (ed.), Religiöse Erziehung und Religionsunterricht (Schriftenreihe zum Bayerischen Schulmuseum Ichenhausen 13) (Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt 1994), 67–86. Mommsen, P., “erziehung im geist der antike. schulszenen auf griechischen Vasen und in lehrerkarikaturen,” in Humanistische Bildung 21: Kindheit und Jugend (2000). Morgan, t., Literate Education in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds (cambridge, uK: cambridge uP 1998).

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ETRUSCA DISCIPLINA: How was It PossIble to learn about etruscan relIgIon In ancIent rome? charles guittard roman education is based on the teaching of grammar, rhetoric and philosophy, on the study of greek and latin poets, not on religion, or religious subjects, and not at all on theology; roman religion does not rest on belief or on a system of the world. thus, the relationship between “education” and “religion” is quite a different issue in antiquity, in ancient rome, and in our contemporary world. classical studies dealing with education in ancient rome are generally not concerned with religious facts. the concept of “religious education” is not a latin concept, except perhaps in the expression Etrusca disciplina. strictly speaking, religion was not taught in rome: there were no schools where religion was taught. etruscan religion, on the contrary, is based on a revelation by prophets like tages or Vegoia; it is a kind of revealed religion, written down in sacred books, which were not easily accessible and understandable. etruscan and roman religion are based on practice, not on theological doctrines that could be taught. an impetus for orthopraxy can be found both in rome and in the Etrusca disciplina. the contents of roman religion are also recorded in books: acta, libri, commentarii, and each college had its own books. but these books concerned practice, they were not specifically theological. roman religion is based on practice, not on learning—but this practice needed some learning. For instance, a prayer is read and never learned by heart. the practice of ritual is more important than the theory: it is not necessary to believe in something, the issue at stake is to preserve the pax deorum in the city. the etruscan science of divination, related to the roman augural college, was an important part of etruscan religious education. such learning was based on writing, the most important medium for the transmission of religious tradition. the discipline was codified in specific books, libri haruspicini, fulgurales, rituales. both etruria and rome codified their practice in sacred books. the young roman practiced the familial cult at his father’s side, within the framework of family education, and learned the ritual rules; the priests and the magistrates were educated in the colleges of priests: there was no

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specific place for the teaching of religion. there was no theory, nothing to learn. ritual practice is fundamental and only the written texts have an authentic value. so, in ancient rome, it was not necessary to be educated in religious matters. there was no specific education, no particular texts to study or to learn.1 one of the most important questions concerning roman religion is the influence of etruscan religion, especially on augury and divination. It was necessary for roman priests and magistrates to be able to consult the etruscan haruspices, to understand the etruscan language, and perhaps to read etruscan books. these books had to be translated. adaptations and translations became necessary at the end of the republic, which led to the survival of the libri Etrusci as an important “bildungsinhalt,” an item of education and culture. even as late as the 6th century, an author like John lydus still continued to use and translate these books. religion became a matter of antiquarianism. when the romans asked the opinion of etruscan priests on a prodigy, the haruspicum responsa were often not understood. How was the religious science of the etruscans introduced and understood in rome? this is a question of adaptation and understanding. 1. etrusca Disciplina, Learning and Science Etrusca disciplina and the libri Etrusci were in general a type of material difficult to understand for a roman, even an educated roman, or a roman pontiff. we must first consider the meaning of the latin word disciplina, compared with educatio, to comprehend the meaning and principles of Etrusca disciplina. to denote ‘education’, we can use the latin word institutio, especially in rhetoric, or rather educatio. the word educatio passed into the Indo-european languages, where it applies to the formation of the mind, to culture, and to the educational system itself. the word educatio became widespread and dominant in the Indo-european languages. but we must keep in mind that latin educatio is a general term, concerning not only education of human beings but also the breeding of animals, stock farming, and the cultivation of plants; for human beings, the usual word is rather disciplina.

1 Heurgon 1964; scullard 1967; Harris 1971; Dumézil 1996.

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the classical latin word for education is disciplina, which could also mean ‘teaching, instruction’. Disciplina has various meanings in latin, especially in a political or a philosophical sense. It has a broader meaning and a specifically religious connotation in the expression Etrusca disciplina. what do we understand by Etrusca disciplina? It is a set of rules, but also a science, a whole conception of the world and of the universe, and it implies education and learning. the adjective Etruscus has an ethnic value, but the expression Etrusca disciplina has a religious connotation. even though in time Etrusca disciplina and the presence of etruscan priests in rome became quite familiar, it was still necessary to translate the responses, or responsa, of etruscan priests and scholars into latin. 2. romans Educated in Etruria: livy, cicero and Valerius Maximus How did such a translation become possible? some literary testimonies allow us to understand the transmission of the etruscan religious science into latin. these texts are related to the learning of etruscan religious science by the romans. the historically most significant are those of livy and cicero; it is necessary to include in this corpus also a text by Valerius maximus. they demonstrate how etruscan culture and religion were preserved. a famous text concerning the education of young romans in an etruscan context can be found in a passage in livy about the expedition of Fabius in 309 b.c. thanks to livy, we know that young romans were sent to etruscan families to be educated: so, at the end of the fourth century, it was possible for young romans to be educated in etruscan families. livy2 confirms these cultural exchanges between rome and etruria. During one of the last great wars between romans and etruscans, the roman legions prepare to cross the great mountain range called cimini montes to face the etruscan armies: this obstacle appears insurmountable. marcus Fabius (or caeso Fabius, or caius claudius) offers to explore and return in a short while with definite information about the situation. livy says he had been

2 liv. 9, 36, 3: caere educatus apud hospites, Etruscis inde litteris eruditus erat linguamque Etruscam probe nouerat. Habeo auctores uolgo tum romanos pueros, sicut nunc Graecis, ita Etruscis litteris erudiri solitos; sed propius est uero praecipuum aliquid fuisse in eo qui se tam audaci simulatione hostibus immiscuerit. seruus ei dicitur comes unus fuisse nutritus una eoque haud ignarus linguae eiusdem; nec quicquam aliud, proficiscentes, quam summatim regionis quae intranda erat naturam ac nomina principum in populis accepere, ne qua inter colloquia insigni nota haesitantes deprehendi possent. cf. oakley 2003, 470–71.

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educated at caere in the house of family friends and so was learned in etruscan writings and knew the etruscan language well. He had a companion, a slave brought up with him and hence like his master acquainted with the etruscan language. livy then makes an interesting comparison with education in the following centuries, when the basis of education became greek literature. “I have authority,” he says, “for believing that in that age roman boys were regularly wont to be schooled in etruscan literature as nowadays they are trained in greek.”3 this is a historical fact. religious testimonies have survived as well. the necessity of preserving this tradition of etruscan culture and religion is confirmed by cicero in his treatises De diuinatione and De legibus. among the religious laws dealing with the priests in the city, cicero stresses the importance of Etrusca disciplina, which has to be taught to the leading citizens: Prodigies and portents shall be referred to the etruscan soothsayers, if the senate so decree. etruria shall instruct her leading men in this art. they shall make expiatory offerings to whatever god they decide upon and shall perform expiations for flashes of lightning and for whatever shall be struck by lightning.4

In the first book of De diuinatione, Quintus, cicero’s brother, also emphasises the importance of the Etrusca disciplina: the etruscans were very skilful in observing thunderbolts and in interpreting their meaning and also the meaning of every sign and portent. that is why, in former times, it was well decreed by the senate that, of the sons of the chief men, ten should be handed over to each of the etruscan peoples for the study of divination, in order that so important a profession should not, on account of the poverty of its members, be withdrawn from the influence of religion and converted into a means of mercenary gain.5

3 liv. 9, 36, 3: Habeo auctores uolgo tum romanos pueros, sicut nunc Graecis, ita Etruscis litteris erudiri solitos. 4 cic., de leg. 1, 21: prodigia portenta ad Etruscos haruspices, si senatus iussit, deferunto, Etruriaque principes disciplinam doceto. Quibus diuis creuerint, procuranto idemque fulgura atque obstita pianto. 5 cic., diu. I, 92: Etruria autem de caelo tacta scientissume animaduertit eademque interpretatur quid quibusque ostendatur monstris atque portentis. Quocirca bene apud maiores nostros senatus tum cum florebat imperium decreuit ut de principum filiis X ex singulis Etruriae populis in disciplinam traderentur, ne ars tanta propter tenuitatem hominum a religionis auctoritate abduceretur ad mercedem atque quaestum.

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these facts and data also appear at the beginning of the work of Valerius maximus, in a very important chapter de religione, very likely based on cicero’s writing: such was the zeal of the ancients not only for the observance but for the expansion of religion that when rome was highly flourishing and wealthy, ten sons of leading men were handed over to each of the peoples of etruria by decree of the senate to learn sacred lore.6

both passages are problematical indeed. the date to which cicero refers is thought to be the second century b.c. this passage can be connected with livy’s reference to the end of the third century, before the conquest of etruria, in the passage quoted above.7 the number of filii is not established and is debated in the sources; according to Valerius maximus, the filii principes were ten, but the manuscripts of cicero agree in the reading sex, which has found little favour among editors. the number of principal etruscan cities being twelve,8 the question concerns the number of boys by which this number is to be multiplied. since we know of an ordo lX haruspicum,9 many scholars tried to emend the passage with some reference to the number.10 opinion is also divided as to whether cicero was referring to the sons of etruscans or of romans. scholars disagree about the identity of the young men, etruscans or romans, belonging to the aristocracy. more likely, these were etruscans,11 not romans, but in the empire, etruscan birth was no longer essential and there were links between the two aristocracies.

 6 Val. max. 1, 1, 1b: tantum autem studium antiquis non solum seruandae sed etiam amplificandae religionis fuit ut florentissima tum et opulentissima ciuitate decem principum filii senatus consulto singulis Etruriae populis percipiendae sacrorum disciplinae gratia traderentur. see mueller 2002. 7 liu. 9, 36, 3–4: habeo auctores uolgo tum romanos pueros sicut nunc Graecis ita Etruscis litteris erudiri solitos, sed propius est uero praecipuum aliquid fuisse in eo (scil. M. Fabio) qui se tam audaci simulatione hostibus immiscuerit. Pease (259–60) rejected the connection with livy’s story on the grounds that “litteris is hardly an appropriate term for the etruscan disciplin.” see a.s. Pease (ed.), M. tulli ciceronis de diuinatione (university of illinois studies in language and literature), vols. 6 and 8 (urbana: 1920–1923). 8 Fest. 492, 4l: tages nomine, geni filius, nepos iouis, puer dicitur disciplinam haruspicii dedisse duodecim populis Etruriae; cf. comm. bern. luc. 1, 636: his duodecim principum pueris disciplinam aruspicinae dictauit. 9 First mentioned in cIl VI, 32439 (end of the republic or beginning of the empire). 10 see a.s. Pease, M. tulli ciceronis de diuinatione, 259–60; thulin 1909, 143, n. 2. 11 tac., ann. 11, 15: primoresque Etruriae sponte aut patrum romanorum impulsu retinuisse scientiam et in familias propagasse; cf. cic., ad fam. 6, 6, 3: ratio quaedam tuscae disciplinae quam a patre, nobilissimo atque optimo uiro, acceperas; cic., de leg. 2, 21: Etruria principes disciplinam doceto.

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charles guittard 3. Etruscan Priests in Roman Public Life; Haruspicum responsa

some documents, like the Piacenza liver, could be used for learning or teaching Etrusca disciplina:12 it is considered as a model, a guide for the investigation of livers, and it displays the entire knowledge of the haruspices in a condensed form. but, generally speaking, we may discern two ways of transmission for the Etrusca disciplina in rome: the responsa and the translation of etruscan material. one of the main areas of haruspicial expertise was the interpretation of prodigies and portents, especially strokes of lightning and monstrous births. During the first centuries of the republic, rome seldom had recourse to the service of etruscan priests; during the long confrontation between the roman republic and the etruscan cities, not one consultation is mentioned throughout the fifth century. according to the annalistic tradition, rome had recourse only three times to the services of haruspices until the second Punic war, and we shall see that on one of these occasions she had reason for dissatisfaction with them. the situation is quite different at the beginning of the second century: livy’s record accords etruscan priests a growing role in the city, reports of their activity become more regular and frequent. livy’s books of the fourth decade contain some examples of haruspicum responsa, translated into good latin, pertaining especially to the time before the wars against Philippus, antiochus and Perseus:13 all these answers encourage roman politics and roman expansionism. aulus gellius,14 following the annals of the pontiffs, tells us that the statue of Horatius cocles, standing on the comitium, was struck by lightning; haruspices, summoned from etruria, said the statue should be moved to a less elevated place so that the surrounding houses would block the rays of the sun. later, they had to confess that it was not the right procuratio: the statue was in fact to be placed on a more elevated location, on the area Volcani. this took place during the first half of the third century b.c. In fact, we may assume that the romans did not understand the words of the etruscan priests. at the end of the republic, the situation is different. the most famous of these responsa are in cicero’s speech de haruspicum responsis. In 56 b.c. the haruspices offered an interpretation of a strange rumbling noise that had been heard outside rome, and cicero devoted a 12 thulin 1906a and 1906b; grenier 1946; Pallottino 1956; Van der meer 1979; maggiani 1982; see also maggiani/simon 1984. 13 liu. 31, 5, 7; 36, 1, 3; 42, 20, 4; 41, 30, 9. see guittard 1997. 14 gell., noct. Att. 4, 5.

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whole speech to interpreting their interpretation, arguing that they were referring to the crimes of clodius. the exact words of the responsa can be reconstructed from cicero’s speech. the first two clauses specify the religious action required; the next five explain the religious offences that have broken the pax deorum, and the last four list the public danger that needs to be averted.15 4. roman scholars: aulus caecina, nigidius Figulus and tarquitius priscus the libri from which roman writers translated or paraphrased fragments date in fact from a kind of etruscan renaissance, representing, as it were, a testament, which can be dated to the first century b.c., to the end of the republic. so, there is a long tradition reaching from cicero to John lydus. we can identify a number of scholars who, in the late republic, published works concerning divination, in some cases probably translating material from the etruscan. the highly famed aulus caecina, tarquitius Priscus and nigidius Figulus were most likely of etruscan origin. other works were written by shadowy figures like Fonteius capito, Julius aquila, umbricius melior and caesius. It was difficult for all these scholars to publish works about the disciplina without showing regard for the roman conditions. while there was an appearance of authenticity, the great number of surviving etruscan texts about divination had been adapted to suit a roman audience. How did these scholars work? to what kind of etruscan thought do they introduce us? what liberties did they take in the organization and in the elaboration of the whole? the extreme difficulty of such an inquiry is obvious. one of the most famous etruscan authors is a. caecina,16 the friend of cicero and a native of Volaterra, a talented orator and a kind of prophet, who was trained by his father in the Etrusca disciplina. caecina is responsible for the theory of thunderbolts of which seneca17 and Pliny the elder18

15 cic., de haruspicum responsis 20, 24, 29, 34, 36, 37. see guittard 2007, 331–41. 16 on caecina see guillaumont 1986, 123; capdeville 1993; rawson 1985, 304–05; id. 1978, esp. 137–38. cicero’s correspondent is the son of the man cicero defended (see beaujeu 1980, 75) and not this client himself, as assumed by boulanger 1950, 59–61, nicolet 1966, 812–14 and Hohti 1975, 405–33. 17 sen., Quaest. nat. II, 31–41, 47–51. 18 Plin., Hist. nat. II, 137–46.

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recorded long fragments. but the most celebrated scholars of Etrusca disciplina, excepting Varro, who represents a special case, are nigidius Figulus and tarquitius Priscus. Publius nigidius Figulus, cicero’s friend exiled by caesar, was a scholar of astronomy, physics and natural sciences. as author of such works entitled De extis and De diis, how could he have neglected the etruscan sources? He is responsible for a brontoscopic calendar, which has provided useful material for contemporary criticism.19 the calendar, translated by nigidius Figulus into latin, was translated into greek in the sixth century by John lydus.20 only the greek version survives. It certainly remains the most extensive of the surviving texts attributed to one of the writers treating the disciplina. In this calendar, the names of the months are in fact those of the imperial roman calendar and some scholars have detected many references to personalities of nigidius’ lifetime, especially caesar and Pompey;21 the same may be true of the liber fulguralis preserved in lydus which may also be the work of nigidius. It has been supposed— with some good argument—22 that the De ostentis by lydus was compiled by a man who had access to at least one of the libri Etrusci. J.r. wood concludes that—from lucretius to lydus, and perhaps to Isidore himself— the books of the etruscan haruspices included a unique etrusco-latin bilingual which contained, alternating paragraph by paragraph with an etruscan text, an exegesis of tagetic lore in latin verse. the author of lydus’ tagetic bilingual version was, according to J.r. wood, surely tarquitius himself. 5. Translations of the ostentaria one of the most frequently cited etruscan authors was tarquitius Priscus, who was very probably a contemporary of cicero and a native of tarquinia, the town which is considered to have been the birthplace of haruspicy. macrobius quotes two passages of what are called his “translations”: from an Ostentarium Tuscum and from an Ostentarium arborarium. In later times, he was regarded in etruria as an ornament of the nation and

19 Piganiol 1951; id. 1953; weinstock 1951, particularly 138–42; della casa 1962. 20 ed. wachsmuth 1897 (1st edition 1863); for a criticism of wachsmuth, see swoboda 1889. 21 weinstock 1951. 22 wood 1981.

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held in high regard in the elogia, which were engraved and set up by the town of tarquinia in the early days of the empire, in honour of her great men. macrobius and servius focus on two verses of the famous fourth eclogue of Vergil about a prodigy foretelling a new golden age, two verses explained by macrobius by drawing on a quotation of a latin translation of an Ostentarium tuscum by tarquitius Priscus.23 the Ostentarium tuscum stated that if the fleece of a ram or a sheep is spattered with gold or purple, it portends good fortune to the leader. another fragment of tarquitius, taken from an Ostentarium arborarium, gives the definition of the infelices trees in a classification:24 the trees which are under the protection of the infernal gods, gods who ward off danger, are called infelices: they are the buckthorn, the blood-root, the fern, the black fig, all the trees whose berries or fruits are black, the service tree, the wild pear tree, the holly, the blackberry bush, and the thorny shrubs. these must be used to burn evil monsters and prodigies.

these only two extant quotations from the latin translation found in macrobius’ saturnalia are precise direct quotations. Did tarquitius translate word for word? He wanted to offer a kind of carmen, of prophecy in a ritualistic language. with lydus, the risks are less; he copies and compiles and he has scarcely any ideas of his own. but to compile well requires a greater degree of discernment than this poor monk possessed.

23 macrob., sat. 3, 7, 1: ea quoque quae incuriose transmittuntur a legentium plebe non carent profunditate. nam cum loqueretur de filio pollionis, id quod ad principem suum spectaret adiecit: ipse sed in pratis aries iam suaue rubenti / Murice, iam croceo mutabit uellera luto. traditur autem in libris Etruscorum, si hoc animal insolito colore fuerit inductum, portendi imperatori rerum omnium felicitatem. Est super hoc liber tarquitii transcriptus ex Ostentario tusco. ibi reperitur: purpureo aureoue colore ouis ariesue si aspergetur, principi ordinis et generis summa cum felicitate largitatem auget, genus progeniem propagat in claritate laetioremque efficit. Huius modo igitur statum in transitu uaticinatur. on tarquitius see cIl XI, 3370 and 7566; Heurgon 1953; torelli 1975, 105–35; Kroll 1931. 24 macr., sat. 3, 20, 3: tarquitius autem priscus in Ostentario arborario: arbores quae inferum deorum auertentiumque in tutela sunt, eas infelices nominant: alaternum, sanguinem, filicem, ficum atram, quaeque bacam nigram nigrosque fructus ferunt; itemque acrifolium, pirum siluaticum, pruscum, rubum sentesque quibus portenta prodigiaque mala comburi iubere oportet. see guittard 2007, 305–19.

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charles guittard 6. Vegoia’s Prophecy in Latin Language

one of the most famous translations is anonymous: it is the latin translation of Vegoia’s prophecy,25 contained in the libri Vegonei or Vegonici.26 Vegoia is, like tages,27 one of the great prophets of the Etrusca Disciplina. the date of the prophecy is disputed, being variously placed between the third century and the end of the republic.28 two short texts in the gromatic corpus are attributed to Vegoia; the first concerns the demarcation of the fields and may be disregarded here; the second is the text of a strange prophecy. It is generally believed that the prophecy contains at least a kernel of authentic etruscan material, although mommsen expressed some doubt.29 It may refer to the struggle between serui and domini determined to maintain the existing landholding and the interests of their class. there are peculiarities of language; it is not the language of a literate roman of the late republic or early empire, but the prophecy is not a forgery. the peculiarities of its language result from a translation (but not from greek), by a person with imperfect latin. the effects of a close translation from etruscan have sometimes been detected.30 oracle of Vegoia to arruns Velthymnus: . . . you must know that the sea will be separated from the earth. when Jupiter claimed for him the land of etruria, he wanted and ordered the fields to be marked with boundary stones. as he knew that human beings were ava-

25 First published by a. turnèbe in 1554 (editio princeps) and by willem van goes (goesius) in 1674, the corpus of gromatici Veteres has been established by F. blume, K. lachmann and a. rudorff, Schriften der Römischen Feldmesser, vol. 1 (berlin 1848), 350– 51. see thulin 1911, V, 41 sq.; scullard 1967, 72, 282; Harris 1971, 31–40; reeve, 1983, 16; Dilke 1971, 126–32 and 227–30; Valvo 1988; guittard 2007, 289–305. 26 seru., ad Aen. VI, 72: tuas sortes] Sibyllina responsa, quae, ut supra diximus, incertum est cuius Sibyllae fuerint, quamquam Cumanae Vergilius dicat, Varro Erythraeae. Sed constat regnante Tarquinio quamdam mulierem, nomine Amaltheam, obtulisse ei nouem libros, in quibus erant fata et remedia Romana et pro his poposcisse CCC philippeos, qui aurei tunc pretiosi erant. Quae contempta alia die tribus incensis reuersa est et tantumdem poposcit, item tertio tribus incensis cum tribus reuersa est et accepit quantum postulauerat, hac ipsa re commoto rege, quod pretium non mutabat; tunc mulierem subito non apparuisse. Qui libri in templo Apollinis seruabantur, nec ipsi tantum sed et Marciorum et Begoes quae artem scripserat fulguriatorum apud Tuscos: unde addidit modo tuas sortes arcanaque fata et hoc tradit poeta. 27 wood 1980; cristofani 1987; briquel 1991, 489–554. 28 Heurgon 1959, 41–45; brunt 1965. 29 In Die Schriften der Römischen Feldmesser, vol. 2 (berlin, 1852), 181 and Gesammelte Schriften 7, 474–75 (= Jahrbücher des Vereins von Altertumsfreunden im Rheinlande xcvii– xcvii, 1895, 283–84). 30 Zancan 1939; guittard 2007, 289–305.

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ricious and greedy for the possession of lands, he wanted everything to be delimited with boundaries. but, some day, because of the avarice of eighth century finishing, men will move and rape these boundaries. but who will move and rape to increase his own possessions and reduce his neighbour’s property will be condemned by the gods as a criminal. If slaves do that, their condition under a master will become worse; if the master is accomplice, their house will be ruined and the whole family will disappear. those who move the boundaries will be severely ill and injured and they will drop with exhaustion. then, also the earth will be shacked by storms and eddies. the crops will be damaged, struck by rain and hail, ruined by heatwave, destroyed by mildew. there will be much discord between people. that is what happens when such crimes are committed, know that. so try to be neither deceitful nor lying. maintain the discipline in your heart.31

while we may note the verbal oddities of this text, we are unable to draw any conclusions regarding the historical context of the document’s date. * * * at the end of the republic, some scholars were able to understand and translate parts of the famous etruscan books. etruscan cities were no longer etruscan, they had become roman, and the etruscans were fully integrated into roman society. Etrusca disciplina was still important for augury, divination and prodigies, attracting great interest. but the translations were not mere translations by scholars: the libri had been adapted to the roman situation and roman formulas. In fact, as etruria became a part of the roman empire, Etrusca disciplina also became a part of roman culture and roman religion.

31 Oraculum Vegoiae arrunti Velthymno: . . . scias mare ex aethera remotum. cum autem iuppiter terram Etruriae sibi uindicauit, constituit iussitque metiri campos signarique agros. sciens hominum auaritiam uel terrenum cupidinem, terminis omnia scita esse uoluit. Quos quandoque quis ob auaritiam prope nouissimi octaui saeculi data sibi homines malo dolo uiolabunt contingentque atque mouebunt. sed qui contigerit moueritque possessionem promouendo suam alterius minuendo ob hoc scelus damnabitur a diis. si serui faciant, dominio mutabuntur in deterius sed si conscientia dominica fiet, celerius domus exstirpabitur gensque eius omnis interiet. Motores autem pessimis morbis et uulneribus efficientur membrisque suis debilitabuntur. tum etiam terra a tempestatibus uel turbinibus plerumque labe mouebitur. Fructus saepe ledentur decutienturque imbribus atque grandine, caniculis interient, robigine occidentur. Multae dissensiones in populo. Fieri haec scitote, cum talia scelera committuntur. propterea neque fallax neque bilinguis sis. Disciplinam pone in corde tuo.

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―—, “les etrusques, peuple d’orient”, in cahiers d’histoire mondiale 1 (1953), 340–42. rawson, e., “caesar, etruria and the Disciplina Etrusca”, in Journal of roman studies 68 (1978), 132–52. ―—, intellectual life in the late roman republic (london: Duckworth 1985). reeve, m.D., “agrimensores”, in l.D. reynolds (ed.), texts and transmission. a survey of the latin classics (oxford: clarendon 1983). scullard, H.H., the Etruscan cities and rome (london et al.: thames and Hudson 1967). swoboda, a. (ed.), p. nigidii Figuli operum reliquiae (Vienna/Prague: tempsky 1889). thulin, c., Etruskische Disciplin, göteborg Högskolas arsskrift, I, band XI: Die Blitzlehre (gothenburg: 1905); II, band XII: Die Haruspicin (gothenburg: 1906) (= 1906a); III, band XV: Die ritualbücher (gothenburg: 1909); see new edition, in one vol. (Darmstadt: wissenschaftliche buchgesellschaft 1968). ―—, Die Götter des Martianus capella und der Bronzeleber von piacenza (rVV 3, 1) (giessen: töpelmann 1906) (= 1906b). ―—, Die Handschriften des corpus agrimensorum, in abhandlungen der Preußischen akademie der wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Kl. (berlin: reimer 1911). torelli, m., Elogia tarquiniensia (Florence: sansoni 1975). Valvo, a., la “profezia di Vegoia.” proprietà fondiaria e aruspicina in Etruria nel i secolo a. c. (rome: Istituto italiano per la storia antica 1988). wachsmuth, c. (ed.), ioannis laurentii lydi liber de Ostentis (2nd ed. leipzig: teubner 1897). st. weinstock, libri Fulgurales, in papers of the British school at rome 19 (1951), 122–53. wood, J.r., “the myth of tages”, in latomus 39 (1980), 325–44. ―—, “the etrusco-latin liber tageticus in lydus’ De ostentis”, in Museum philologum londiniense 5 (1981), 94–125. Zancan, l., il frammento di Vegoia e il nouissimum saeculum, in atene e roma, ser. 3, 7 (1939), 203–19.

Before the teachers of Israel and the sages of greece: luke-acts as a Precursor of the conjunctIon of BIBlIcal faIth and hellenIstIc educatIon reinhard feldmeier 1. The “Wiser Foolishness” of God. The Dialectic of Negating and Surpassing Wisdom in Early Christianity from its origins, christianity was something like an educational movement, but not in the elite sense of greek paideia. Its founder, jesus of nazareth, who is constantly called “teacher,” was a construction worker (Mk 6,3), his disciples also came from the same class (cf. Mk 1:16–20 par.) and were, according to the testimony of acts, ἄνθρωποι ἀγράμματοι . . . καὶ ἰδιῶται (acts 4,13). the content of jesus’ message was the dawn of the kingdom of god, attested in word and deed (Mk 1:15 par.), and this proclamation, with all its charismatic immediacy, was also levelled at established forms of religiosity. If the purification of the temple (Mk 11:15–17 par.) shows jesus’ aloofness from cult, then his disputes with scribes exhibit his critical attitude towards the religious educational elite of his time. In his “thanksgiving to the father,” handed down by the Q document, jesus expressly praises the god he calls ‘father’ precisely because thou hast hidden this from the wise and intelligent and hast revealed it to the infants. Yea, father, for thus has it pleased thee (Mt 11:25 par. lk 10:24).

the rejection of jesus by the cultured and the acceptance he found among simple people is traced back directly to god’s “discrete decision” (εὐδοκία); the antithesis to the “wise and intelligent” thus becomes a downright characteristic of jesuan teaching. Paul can draw out this line even further regarding the end of jesus’ life in death, as he develops his theology of the cross in explicit antithesis to the “wisdom of the world”: the word of the cross is for those, who perish, foolishness; for us, however, who are saved, it is a power of god. for it is written: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of those who understand I shall render vain. Where is a wise man? . . . has not god turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness? (I cor. 1:18–21).

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regarding the community, the apostle can once more explicitly claim: look upon your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, . . . but god has chosen the foolish of the world so that he may shame those who are wise (I cor. 1:26–27).

Yet precisely the concept of wisdom, which is also familiar from the Biblical tradition, precludes mere negation and presses for a closer explication, thus also preparing an opening for hellenistic education and culture. this is already visible in the two passages quoted above, which apparently contain an outright rejection of wisdom of any kind. If they are placed in their context, it becomes conspicuous that the negation of wisdom is but one aspect of an endeavour to surpass it, which in turn employs the concept of wisdom, now in a perfectly positive way. thus, the apostle stresses in one and the same breath that the crucified christ whom he proclaims may well be foolishness for the greeks and a scandal for the jews, but for the elect, jewish as well as greek, the same christ is god’s Power and god’s Wisdom (I cor. 1:24), for, as the apostle declares, the foolishness of god is wiser than men (I cor. 1:25).

a very similar dialectic of negational surpassing is also shown in that marked christological passage found in Matthew: the “thanksgiving” that the father has concealed those things from the wise and revealed them to the infants is framed by pointed identifications of jesus with Wisdom. thus, in verse 19, jesus counters the criticism leveled at him by the people with the statement that Wisdom shall be justified by her own works,

which in the context of the gospel can only refer to jesus.1 furthermore, the Jubelruf is followed in verse 28ff by the “comfort for the heavy-laden,” which as far as tradition history is concerned, goes back to an invitation of Wisdom; jesus calls out “an der stelle der Weisheit.”2 the jesus, who praises his father for concealing his revelation in the son3 from the wise and intelligent and revealing it to the infants, is simultaneously identified here with divine Wisdom and thus surpasses even salomo, the jewish sage 1 cf. gnilka 1986, 425. the evangelist enhanced this christological connection through the redactionally inserted reference to the deeds that refer back to the “deeds of the christ” in Mt 11:2. 2 luz 2007, 218. 3 that is at least what the demonstrative pronoun in verse 25 refers to in its present context, whatever its original meaning might have been. cf. gnilka 1986, 435.

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κατ’ ἐξοχήν: “here is more than salomo” (Mk 12:42 par., lk 11:31). Both the statements of the apostle and those of the gospel are thus determined by a remarkable dialectic: on the one hand, they construct an explicit opposition between the message of christ or about christ and the “wise and intelligent” or the “wisdom of the world,” yet, on the other hand, this very opposition serves to underline that the divine revelation in christ is “wiser” than all the wisdom of this world, moreover, that the son who reveals the father is Wisdom par excellence. the negation of the “wisdom of the world” or the wisdom of the “wise and intelligent” aims at establishing the exclusive claim to wisdom for the christian message of salvation. the Pauline school in particular programmatically enhanced the connection between christology and wisdom, drawing on the apostle and ancient judaism (cf. col. 1:9.28; 2:3; 3:16; 4:5; eph. 1:8.17; 3:10); in doing so, the dialectical redetermination of the concept of wisdom was simplified in the context of christology, by transforming the negational surpassing into a more or less4 direct identification: thus, the epistle to the colossians can say of christ that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (col. 2:3), and can contrast with him the human quest for wisdom as “philosophy and empty deceit” (col. 2:8). an important stage on this path of christianity’s constructive engagement with the antique traditions of education and culture is marked by luke–acts. In his editorial shaping of central figures as teachers of wisdom, the author of luke–acts is pivotal for the synthesis of gospel and paideia that became so important for the history and culture of the occident. In spite of relatively obvious evidence, this work has as yet been only comparatively marginally perceived in this light, for two reasons. the first one is the fact that luke–acts is a corpus narrativum, in which the tendency described above comes into play only indirectly. the other reason lies in a skilful strategy of the auctor ad Theophilum, which I would like to call “double encoding.”5 By this I mean that the author refers to old testament and jewish traditions,6 and he does so partly more explicitly than his synoptic parallels, but at the same time he refashions and presents them in a manner that makes them appear plausible to a greek reader. 4 the Pauline reticence is still suggested in the statement of col. 2:3 that this wisdom is hidden in christ; the protest of the philosophers against the Pauline sermon in acts 17 could be interpreted in a similar manner. 5 In his analysis of the “ambivalence sémantique,” d. Marguerat showed the clearest perception of this phenomenon in luke thus far; nevertheless, he did not use this observation for a comprehensive general interpretation of luke–acts. cf. Marguerat 1999, 70–87. 6 one only needs to read the Vorgeschichte lk 1–2 composed by the evangelist.

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this is accomplished in the first place through the sapientisation of these traditions. the theological re-determination of the concept of wisdom, which had been undertaken discursively by Paul in the first corinthians and his disciple in the epistle to the colossians, is now attempted by luke, who also sees himself also as a disciple of Paul, in a narrative manner, through the corresponding sharpening of the early christian tradition’s profile. In his task, the evangelist can build on two preconditions: the reception of greek cultural and educational traditions by hellenistic judaism and the connection between jesus and wisdom already established in his sources. 2. The Religio-Historical Conditions for the Lukan Sapientisation to begin, let us turn to the first precondition. hellenistic judaism had, on the one hand, distanced itself sharply from the polytheism of its surrounding world and had propounded an exclusive monotheism. at the same time, the very same judaism had widely taken up the terminology of the greek sapiential and educational traditions, using them to interpret its own religious tradition in their light and to apologetically justify the way of life based on that tradition.7 especially σοφία and φιλοσοφία, but also παιδεία and other terms of the (popular) philosophical epistemology and ethics such as λόγος/λογισμός, γνῶσις, φρόνησις, σύνεσις, ἐπιστήμη, ἀρετή, σωφρωσύνη, νόμος/νομοθεσία κτλ. became key words, with which the Biblical tradition was reformulated in its new context and thus rendered anew intelligible for insiders and outsiders alike.8 this was facilitated by the fact that sapiential thought was well at home in the writings of the old testament, and that in the younger Wisdom texts (Prov. 1–9, job, kohelet, jesus sirach, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, sapiential texts from Qumran, etc.) an increasing theologisation of wisdom took place.9 In continuation of this tendency, hellenistic judaism increasingly came to interpret traditions, which originally had lacked any sapiential character, as expressions of divine wisdom, and, consequently, to reformulate them with the help of sapiential terminology. this especially concerned the tora, the Pentateuch with its stories, as well as its halacha. at the same time, these endeavours

7 this goes as far as the philosophical legitimation of cultic separation. cf. feldmeier 1994, 28–33. 8 cf. feldmeier 2009. 9 I thank my colleague r.-g. kratz for this remark.

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were further facilitated by the fact that in early hellenistic times judaism could be understood by hekataios of abdera,10 Megasthenes,11 alexander’s legate to India, and by klearchos of soloi, the student of aristotle,12 as representative of a barbarian philosophy. In its struggle to assert a distinctive identity in the confrontation with hellenistic culture,13 ancient judaism could programmatically adopt this alien interpretation,14 contend that its own tradition was a ‘philosophy’ and then increasingly also come to interpret it as such. Wisdom, i.e. increasingly the wisdom identified with the philosophical wisdom of the hellenistic world, thus became the hermeneutical key with which to once again unlock the Biblical tradition in the context of graeco-roman culture. the second precondition of the lukan ‘sapientisation’ can be found in the jesus tradition he received. this tradition’s link with wisdom has been sufficiently described in relevant scholarship15 and needs only brief mention here. It is widely accepted that the historical jesus had already included sapiential elements in his preaching,16 which shaped his portrayal particularly in the Q document and thence, also in the synoptic side referents Matthew and luke.17 But the interpretation of christ as the divine logos found in the johannine prologue cannot be understood without this background, either.18 Martin hengel expressed this with the poignant formula that the early jewish wisdom is “die Mutter der christologie.”19 this wisdom is primarily the jewish wisdom, which, however, had at that time been subject to greek influence for more than three centuries. therefore, it is entirely insufficient for scholarship on the relationship of wisdom and christology to view this jewish wisdom only in the light of its old testament background.20 rather, as outlined

10  stern (ed.) 1974, 26, 28. 11  stern (ed.) 1974, 46. 12  stern (ed.) 1974, 49–50. 13  terminologically, this is shown not least by the fact that this cultural opposition is articulated through the coinage of the pair of opposite terms Ἑλληνισμός (II Macc. 4:13) and Ἰουδαισμός (II Macc. 2:21; 8:1; 14:38; IV Macc. 4:26). 14  e.g. epar 31 refers directly to the judgment of hekataios. 15  cf. christ 1970, von lips 1990, M. ebner 1998. 16 cf. theißen/Merz 2001, 332–39. 17  according to christ 1970, 61 jesus is portrayed there “als messianischer Träger der Weisheit und als eschatologischer Weisheitslehrer.” 18  cf. Barret 1990, 181–82. 19  hengel/schwemer 2001, 81–131. 20 cf. the programmatic phrasing of von lips 2003, 509: “die klassifizierung von texten als ‘weisheitlich’ geschieht sinnvollerweise auf der grundlage der formen und Inhalte, wie sie die alttestamentlich-jüdische Weisheitstradition ausgeprägt hat (vgl. von rad).”

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above, ancient judaism reinterpreted its whole tradition, and in a certain sense reinvented itself, precisely by the reception of the greek concept of wisdom. this is the point of departure for the author of luke–acts. he attempts to portray the figure of jesus as well as other persons and events of the early christian story in such a manner, that they can be understood as representatives of religious wisdom, precisely insofar as they belong to god’s history of salvation. this is, thus the thesis of this article, the expression of a missionary strategy that had enormous repercussions on christian self-understanding. first, let us look at some examples. 3. The Sapientisation of Tradition in Luke–Acts 3.1. The Relationship to the Antique Tradition of Culture and Education: Terminology and Form already the lexical evidence indicates that the subject of education, culture and wisdom plays a more important role in luke–acts than in the other narrative traditions of the new testament: the term σοφία appears once in Mark, three times in Matthew, not at all in john, six times in luke and another four times in acts. Φιλόσοφος appears in the new testament only once in acts (acts 17:18), in Paul’s defence of the christian faith before stoic and epicurean philosophers (see below). this is also the only instance where philosophical schools are explicitly named in the new testament. But in luke–acts even more references to hellenistic education and culture can be found. only here, in the whole new testament, does the cultural and educational background of the persons who appear become an issue: luke’s judgment about Peter and john has already been quoted (acts 4:13); in contrast, the alexandrian apollos is characterised as an ἀνὴρ λόγιος (acts 18:24). of both Moses and Paul it is stated, employing the verb παιδεύω, that they are “educated” in the wisdom of the egyptians (acts 7:22) and in the ancestral laws (acts 22:3). luke had already found in his sources the exhortation to “repentance,” to “change one’s way of thinking” (cf. Mk 1:15), but the term μετάνοια κτλ, which can also be used in the contemporary moral philosophy of pagan provenience21 and can there be traced back to cynic influence, conspicuously becomes a

21 In the tabula cebetis there even appears a personified Metanoia who guides erring man onto the right path. cf. hirsch-luipold et al. (eds.) 2005, 78–81.

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favourite term in luke–acts.22 this link to the sapiential and educational tradition is programmatically displayed already at the beginning of the gospel. the prologue lk 1:1–4, the “beststilisierte [satzperiode] des ganzen n.t.,”23 is consciously modelled upon introductions to historical and scientific works. It thus documents the claim of its author to converse on a par with a cultured audience of the type of “his excellency theophilos,” whom he addresses (lk 1:3). this claim is substantiated, on the one hand, through the form of the exposition. ‘luke’ writes a far better greek than his sources, and he also displays his mastery of the genre of the historical treatise not least through establishing a connection between the single events of his story and the events of world history. this mastery is again illustrated by the allusions to greek culture interspersed time and again throughout the text. the Paul of acts quotes on the areopagus explicitly from aratos’ hymn to Zeus,24 in order to support the strongly stoicising argumentation25 which he had previously used in acts 17:28a: “for through him (sc. god) do we live and move and exist.” even the risen jesus quotes in the third version of his appearance before Paul a greek proverb, which appears in a similar form in euripides’ Bacchae, so as to render plausible the futility of any resistance against himself.26 But the author’s claim is most conspicuously manifest in his selection and editing of the transmitted material. luke did not simply replace the tradition handed down to him, but took up from the old testament precisely those traditions and ideas which could be easily communicated to an educated person of the greco-roman world, and in so doing, often emphasised this further by purposefully sharpening the sapiential profile of certain scenes and figures. 3.2. The Sapiential Profile of the Protagonists and of their Message the author of luke–acts has reproduced both the story of jesus as well as that of the early christian community in such a manner, that these stories either possess sapiential character themselves or at least can be understood in this light. until now, this has already been noted in exegetical

22 taken together, the verb and the noun (μετάνοια resp. μετανοέω) appear three times in Mark, seven times in Matthew and twenty-five times in luke–acts. 23 norden 1974, 316 a.1. 24 acts 17:28 from aratos, Phaenomena 5. 25 the stoic imprint of both the single elements and the composition as a whole has been described with great precision by norden 1974, 13–29. 26 acts 26:14; cf. euripides, Bacchae 794.

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scholarship for some isolated scenes. however, what has not been sufficiently perceived so far is the coherence of the redactional treatment and its consequences for the overall picture. In the execution of this project, ‘luke’ deliberately combines the reference to Biblical tradition with the sharpening of the sapiential profile. this can already be seen in two scenes which in luke mark the transition from the Vorgeschichte to the deeds of jesus, and thus introduce the reader to the story of jesus (if not to the whole of luke–acts): the story of the twelve-year-old jesus in the temple, transmitted only by luke, and the account of the appearance of john the Baptist, revised and markedly supplemented by luke. 3.2.1. The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:41–54) the setting of the story about the twelve-year-old jesus in the temple is at first decidedly jewish: as good jews, jesus’ parents go to jerusalem every year to celebrate Passover there (lk 2:41), and they take their son with them for the first time when he is twelve years of age (lk 2:42). and when jesus remains behind and is sought by his parents, they find him in the temple. But already the genre of the story departs from the traditional frame, for lk 2:41ff is the only childhood story of the canonical gospels. “Was lukas von den drei anderen evangelisten trennt, das verbindet ihn aber mit den Verfassern biographischer literatur in der griechischen antike . . . die jugendepisode ist in der antiken biographischen literatur zwar nicht obligatorisch, aber dennoch sehr häufig anzutreffen.”27 Its function consists in the narrative display of the protagonist’s core. the remarkable thing about the lukan variant is that the little son of god does not document his singularity through singular acts of power and miracles, in the manner preferred by the apocryphal tradition, partly with gross exaggerations, as in the childhood gospel of thomas.28 rather, the jesus of the lukan childhood narrative distinguishes himself through his wisdom. already at the end of the birth narrative it is stated that the child grew and became “full of wisdom”—this finds its narrative explication in the childhood story: “sitting among the teachers,” thus lk 2:46, the twelve-year-old discourses in the “gelehrte(n) Versammlung von Weisen”29 in the temple30

27 krückemeier 2004, 307–08. 28 cf. evangelien, in hennecke/schneemelcher (eds.) 1990, 353–59. 29 Bovon 1989, 157. 30 this discussion took probably place in the hall of solomon. It is in this hall, named after the king known also to luke as a paradigmatic sage (cf. lk 11:31), that the teaching of the apostles is later also localised (acts 3:11; 5:12.21.25). seen in this light, the portrait of the

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and provokes in the religious authorities of Israel utter amazement at his superior theological power of judgment (σύνεσις).31 even before the first appearance of the grown-up teacher and miracle worker, even as a child, he is qua son of god the “Modell der frommen Weisheit.”32 the repeated remark about his wisdom which grows with his age concludes this episode (lk 2:52; cf. 2:40). the emphasis on the (religiously connotated) wisdom of its protagonist connects lk 2:41ff with youth episodes in the Vita apollonii 9 or Iamblichus’ Vita Pythagorica (5.8.12).33 employing a motif of hellenistic biography, luke thus portrays the child jesus already as an archetype of religious education and wisdom. 3.2.2. The Baptist34 this first, already very marked sapiential accentuation of the jesus figure receives an interesting continuation in the next story lk 3:1ff. there the evangelist, following his sources, reaches the account of john the Baptist’s preaching of repentance. like Matthew, luke first combined in 3:1–9 elements from Mark and Q, where john appears as the eschatological prophet who “prepares the ways of the lord” (lk 3:4). this prophetic element of the forerunner shapes the image of christ throughout the whole gospel.35 however, this reference to old testament prophecy represents only one side of the coin. What appears as a prophetic figure from an old testament perspective arouses in a lectio Graeca associations with a particular variant of the type of the cynic wandering philosopher. this movement, which “im ausgehenden hellenismus fast erloschen [war], erlebte unter den politischen und sozialen Verhältnissen der römischen herrschaft gerade in der östlichen reichshälfte einen neuerlichen aufschwung”36 and was thus certainly known to luke; a particular feature of later antiquity is the fact that the figure of the philosophical itinerant preacher could assume religious characteristics—the philosopher can become a miracle worker and a prophet.37 john who, at least in luke, is of priestly lineage little sage would not only represent the prelude to the story of the son of god narrated in the gospel, but would also radiate onto the works of his successors. 31  In jewish tradition, σύνεσις is “fast synonym mit σοφία” (Bovon 1989, 158). 32 Bovon 1989, 158. 33 cf. krückemeier 2004, 311. 34 for the following interpretation of the Baptist cf. also feldmeier 2008, 72–84. 35 this is particularly striking in lk 4:25–26, the ‘inaugural sermon’ in nazareth, which was mostly refashioned by luke; for the whole complex cf. nebe 1989. 36 hahn 2009, 241–58. 37 this is shown e.g. by two of the works of lucian: alexander of abonuteichos, the “liar prophet” earns his money as a visionary and messenger of his god, compares himself with

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(lk 1:5ff ) and, like most cynic philosophers, has of his own will chosen a status as outsider in order to confront society with his criticism, resembles those “bizarre(n) kapuziner(n) des altertums”38 both in his outward appearance and in the content of his message. the simple clothing the Baptist wore coming from the desert (cf. lk 1:80), in conscious opposition to the “soft garments” of the rich (cf. lk 7:25),39 is not far from the coarse cloak which the cynic wears without undergarments.40 like the itinerant philosophers, john lives an ascetic life,41 despises luxury and criticizes wealth.42 Both understand themselves as sent by god to mankind, in order to teach them right from wrong;43 and in this context, the motif of repentance plays a certain role for both.44 the ethically motivated criticism of religious self-assurance (lk 3:8–9) can be read as a variant of the similarly motivated criticism of traditional religiosity.45 conversely, the criticism of the rich and mighty characteristic of cynic philosophy,46 which does not shrink back even from kings like Philip or alexander,47 is definitely recognisable in the Baptist’s criticism of herod; and just as the cynic reaps as a result enmity and persecution,48 john, too, is incarcerated because of his criticism of the ruler (cf. lk 3:19–20) and eventually killed. even the provocation of his audience, which is characteristic of the cynic—the cynic

Pythagoras and even styles himself with the golden thigh as the latter’s reincarnation. and Peregrinus Proteus, another charlatan figure mercilessly satirised by lucian, can obviously effortlessly exchange the mask of a christian prophet (MortPer 11: προφήτης) for that of a cynic itinerant preacher (MortPer 15ff ). In other works, too, the combination of the wise and holy man can be related to the double aspect of the philosopher and the diviner: according to the Vitapol, apollonius possesses the ability to “foresee the future on account of his wisdom” (Vitapol I,2: κατὰ σοφίαν προγιγνώσκειν . . .)—and this claim is substantiated in I,2 through the reference to the daimonion which produces the same divinatory ability in socrates and to comparable skills of anaxagoras. 38 helm 1902, 352. 39 according to Mk 1:6 par., Mt 3:4 it consisted of camel leather; for the garb of the cynic cf. dion: or 72; lucian, the cynic. 40 diog laert VI,13.105; epict III,22,10; dion or 55,8. 41 lk 7:33; for the simple life of the cynic cf. diog laert VI,21.31.37. 42 cf. diog laert VI,28.51.105 passim.; stob IV,31.33. 43 cf. epictetus diss III, 22: ἄγγελος ἀπὸ τοῦ Διὸς ἀπέσταλται καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν ὑποδείξων αὐτοῖς . . . 44 It is mentioned twice in the Baptist’s preaching as a central motif (lk 3:3.8), and it appears at the decisive point in the Tabula Cebetis, a pagan paraenetic text which is often connected with cynicism. 45 Vgl. diog laert VI,37.42–43.64 passim. 46 Vgl. diog laert VI,32.34.45.50 passim. 47 cf. diog laert VI,43–44. 48 cf. lucian: MortPer 18; Philostratus: Vitapol VII,1.

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“reviles everybody”49—can be effortlessly rediscovered in the Baptist’s preaching.50 to avoid misunderstanding: john the Baptist still remains in the gospel of luke a prophetic-apocalyptic figure. But ‘luke’ grasped the opportunity of a simultaneous ‘cynicisation’ and consciously enforced it in the spirit of his above-mentioned strategy of double encoding. to do so, he significantly expanded the preaching of the Baptist by adding lk 3:10–14. In this addition, the so-called Ständepredigt, suddenly nothing more is heard of the eschatological preacher of the last judgment. rather, the Baptist is addressed as “teacher,”51 and as such—and this echoes the diatribe style— he responds to the questions of different groups regarding their exact duties. In so doing, renouncing all apocalyptic references, he urges to share with the needy and warns against greed and violence; here the Baptist represents an austere, but nevertheless innerworldly plausible ethos. With this sapiential paraenesis, the annunciation of the end of times and the judgment of fire in lk 3:4–9 receive a rather unexpected continuation, which in form and content reminds the reader far more of the itinerant philosopher as educator of the people than of an eschatological prophet.52 3.2.3. Jesus’ Critique of Wealth and the Early Christian Communion of Goods this enhancement of the Baptist’s sapiential traits is not without consequences for the lukan image of jesus, as is already suggested by the connection between lk 3:1–14 and lk 2:41ff. Indeed, one of the most striking structural characteristics of the gospel of luke, the great journey narrative, may have been intended to characterize jesus along these lines as a homeless wandering preacher, just like the cynic philosopher (cf. lk 9:58 and epictetus, diss. III,22). the ethos he propounds in this account, particularly marked as it is by the critique of wealth, would fit this picture: just as greed is “die lukanische ursünde,”53 the cynic diogenes can also say that the love of money (φιλαργυρία) is the metropolis (μητρόπολις) of all evils (diog. laert. VI 50, cf. also 87). according to dio of Prusa, the πλεονεξία denounced in lk 12:15 is the μέγιστον κακόν (or. 17,7). altogether,

49 lucian, fug. 14. 50 cf. lk 3:7 and diog. laert VI,24ff; 44–45. 51  lk 3:12. In the preceding scene, the designation as “teacher” belonged to the sages of Israel, who discoursed with the twelve-year-old jesus in the temple (lk 2:46); it is the only time that luke grants them this designation. 52 cf. helm 1925, 3–24, esp. 18–19. for the cynic, the “popularphilosophische Predigt” takes the place “des schulmäßigen unterrichts” (ibid. 4). 53 Bovon 1989, 175.

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the whole argumentative nexus of lk 12:13–34 down to the example story displays a range of surprising correspondences to the treatment of the topos of greed in pagan literature, especially to dio of Prusa’s or. 17 (Περὶ πλεονεξίας), so that here one can speak with a.j. Malherbe of the “christianization of a topos.”54 the early christian community with its sharing of possessions will then realise the counter-option to a life determined by greed and will thus follow the ideal of κοινὰ τὰ τῶν φίλων,55 which seneca considered to be the way of life of the first generation of men, who lived in complete accord with the precepts of philosophy, before avaritia broke in upon them like the first sin and the community was shattered to pieces.56 the achievement of this ideal in a community shaped by philosophy will be claimed by Iamblichus in his Vita Pythagorica for the initial Pythagorean community, and he will do so using terminology that in many respects is reminiscent of the phrasing of acts: they (sc. his adherents) took their laws and ordinances from Pythagoras as if they were divine commands, and did nothing except by them, and they continued in harmony with the whole group of students. the people who lived nearby praised them and blessed their good fortune. they had their property in common, as Pythagoras had told them, and from then on they counted him among the gods, as a good and kindly spirit.57

although this last text originated in the late third/early fourth century a.d. and a possible influence of the account in acts cannot be excluded, the pagan neoplatonist’s use of the motif of shared possessions clearly demonstrates the attraction which this ideal exercised precisely from a philosophical perspective and the reasons that probably led luke to stylise the early christian community in such a manner.58

54 Malherbe 1996, 123–35, who analyses the parallels in detail. his conclusion: “the similarities of the popular conventions associated with covetousness are numerous and striking” (135). 55 Platon: Pol 424a; aristotle ethnic 1159b; cicero: de officiis I,51; for hellenistic judaism cf. Philo: abr 235. 56 according to ep 90, the first humans followed nature. thus everyone possessed everything, before greed tore community asunder and reduced even those to poverty who had accumulated the most wealth (ep 90,3: Desierunt enim omnia possidere, dum volunt propria). 57 VitPyth 30, trans. clark 1989. 58 this is not meant to exclude the possibility that luke’s account may also have drawn on material from the historical early christian community. But even in this quite probable case, the picture which luke paints is idealised and stylised in accordance with the ideal depicted. cf. roloff 1981, 89–91.

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3.2.4. The Ascent to Heaven the ascent to heaven deserves separate treatment. It describes, as a pendant to the Magnificat, how the lowly is raised up. only luke stages this moment as an ascent to heaven, and he does so twice: the ascent concludes the gospel (lk 24:51) and opens the account of acts (acts 1:9–11). this is surely meant to evoke in a reader with some knowledge of scripture the translation of the prophet elias in II kings 2:11, who rode in a fiery chariot to heaven—this corresponds to the enhancement of the prophetic element in the lukan image of christ. But it is surely not a mere coincidence that the scene described by luke evokes even more a pagan parallel, namely the ascent of herakles, the much-tried, whom Zeus, as the “almighty father” raises up to himself after all his labours and suffering. thus, e.g. ovid’s Metamorphoses say of herakles: the almighty father carried him away, swept in his four-horsed chariot through the clouds, and stationed him among the shining stars.59

the heavenly ascent of herakles is the staging of the ancient ideal per aspera ad astra—from the corresponding perspective one could even recognise here the sessio ad dexteram. this is all the more remarkable because herakles, as shown for example by Ps.-seneca’s hercules oeteus, was especially attractive to the stoic philosophy, with which luke exhibits the closest points of contact (see below for a discussion of acts 17). With his narrative of the heavenly ascent, luke thus ranges his jesus together with the prophetic man of god elias on the one hand, while on the other hand, the author of luke-acts consciously and pointedly adopts pagan ideas, thus attempting to render plausible in a hellenistic context as well that god raises the one who lowers himself, an idea central to his theology, but highly controversial in its ancient context.60 once again, we are dealing with an instance of the double encoding mentioned at the beginning of this paper. 3.2.5. The Speech on the Areopagus (Acts 17:16–34) this sapiential contouring is continued in acts. In the gospel, the parting jesus had promised his disciples wisdom, besides the corresponding mastery of speech (lk 21:15), and this wisdom manifests itself in the apostles

59 Met IX,271–72, trans. Melville 1986. 60 lk 14:11; 18:14; cf. 1:52; for the criticism cf. kelsos in Cels III,62–63f; VI,15.

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(cf. acts 6:10), especially in Paul as the greatest of them. here we can only briefly refer to Paul’s remarkable speech in acts 17: in athens, the centre of greek thought, he defends his message about christ before stoic and epicurean philosophers, and in so doing, he not only quotes from a hymn to Zeus, but also so evidently relies on stoic argumentation both in detail and in his whole argumentative structure,61 that Moreschini considers this speech as marking the beginning of conscious reception of greek philosophy by christianity.62 however, through the athenians’ resistance to the message of the resurrection, the author also presents the problem of an at least partial incompatibility of christian preaching and greek philosophy. nevertheless, the speech is a masterpiece not least because its statements can be read and understood from both a greek and a jewish perspective, as Marguerat has demonstrated.63 3.2.6. Further Aspects starting from here, it would be possible to analyze a whole range of other traits of luke-acts in terms of sapientization. one specific characteristic of the lukan figure of jesus that should be mentioned in this context is his turning to those excluded from society on social, ethnical or religious grounds: samaritans, women, and toll-collectors. this links him to the cynic philosophers who styled themselves as outcasts, who likewise severed all familial and social bonds.64 In this context, cynicism also promoted the emancipation of women65—another feature that comes close to the comparatively high importance of women in this gospel.66 furthermore, the lukan christ does not explain and justify his ethos primarily through the discipleship, as the Markan christ does, or through the exegesis of the torah, like the Matthean jesus, but rather through parables and example stories contrasting the behaviour of two persons in the style of a synkrisis. We also need to consider to what extent the provocative reversals of the protagonists’ valuation (priest, levite and samaritan; the two brothers, the rich man and the poor lazarus, Pharisee and toll-collector, etc.), so

61 the reference to single motifs as well as stoic thought as a whole has been analysed in great detail by norden 1974, 13–30. 62 cf. Moreschini 2004, 8–9. 63 cf. Marguerat 1999, 70–87. 64 cf. epictetus III,22.62ff. 65 cf. helm 1925, 11. 66 only in luke do women play an autonomous role in the Vorgeschichte (lk 1–2), and only he explicitly mentions female disciples (lk 8:2–3), who even shape a particular scene about the essence of discipleship (lk 10:38–42).

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typical of these parables and example stories (and exclusively of them) are so strongly emphasised by the evangelist not least because they could easily be understood as a variant of the cynic παραχαράττειν τὸ νόμισμα,67 of the re-minting of common value judgments. close attention should also be given to the scene of the last supper, refashioned as a symposium, with its parting speeches, in which the Master going to meet his death interprets his death, refraining from traditional atonement theology, as the ultimate consequence of his life as a servant of those who belong to him, (lk 22:24–28), while at the same time showing them the path ahead that stretches beyond this death (lk 22:29–38). notwithstanding the mark of the christian tradition, the lukan arrangement also recalls in some respects the parting of a philosophical teacher from his disciples, such as in the case of socrates from the Platonic Phaidon. here the philosopher bids his farewell by once again summing up his teaching, commenting on his death, interpreting it in connection with his whole life,68 and giving the disciples last counsels for their future. thus, the Passion, too, is stylised as the suffering and death of a paradigmatic just man, much more so than in the other gospels.69 even a text as clearly inspired by the old testament as the Magnificat should be reconsidered in the light of the double encoding strategy.70 the general theological orientation of luke-acts as a whole would also deserve separate treatment, such as the striking systematisation of the concept of divine will drawing on the stoic concept of providence, as well as the corresponding systematisation of evil in the figure of the devil (cf. esp. acts 10:38). the same consideration should be devoted to the central role of the holy spirit in christology and ecclesiology, given the wellknown fact that in philosophical texts, too, particularly those of the stoa, 67 cf. diog laert VI,20.56.71. 68 cf. also Xenophon: Mem IV,8,6ff; as well as the account of seneca’s death in tacitus ann XV,60–64. 69 this goes as far as the judgment of the centurion: luke turns the Markan “Verily, this man was the son of god” (Mk 15:39 par., Mt 27:54) into “this man was verily just” (lk 23:47). 70 the Magnificat of Mary, whose statements about god are decisive for the whole gospel, indubitably refers back to the song of hannah in I sam 2:1–10; yet at the same time, a remarkable pagan parallel for such a beginning can be found in hesiod’s “Works and days,” where the poet, after homer the most important representative of archaic poetry, lets his work begin with a hymn to Zeus, where at the very beginning we read: “for easily he makes string, and easily he oppresses the strong, easily he diminishes the conspicuous one and magnifies the inconspicuous, and easily he makes the crooked straight and withers the proud—Zeus who thunders on high, who dwells in the highest mansions.” (Works and days 5–8, trans. West 1988).

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the spirit is taken to represent the presence of the divine in the world and can be termed in this context spiritus sacer (seneca ep 41, 2) respectively θεῖον πνεῦμα (Ps-Plato: axiochus, 370c), while the prominent syntagma ‘Holy spirit’ found in luke appears very rarely in the old testament. 4. Pietas est eruditio. Conclusion luke, like any other evangelist, was primarily a transmitter of the jesus tradition. to fulfill his task, he consciously positioned jesus within the purview of judaism employing poignant editorial touches.71 at the same time, through selection and supplementation, he gave the tradition a profile rendering it plausible from a hellenistic perspective as well. By means of this ‘double encoding’ the author intended to make the early christian narrative tradition accessible to cultured persons such as “his excellency theophilus” (lk 1:3) without renouncing the old testament and the jewish roots of the jesus tradition. his work represents a milestone on the difficult path of early christianity towards the appropriation of greek education and culture without renouncing its own identity. this was not without repercussions for the christian message, that came to be identified to such a great extent with wisdom. despite the frequently uttered legitime warnings to consider the special character of “god’s wisdom” and not to suppress the “scandal” of the cross (I cor. 1:18ff ) by a purely philosophical interpretation of christianity,72 the path towards that “widerspruchsvollen Bunde” of christian faith and greek culture73 lies open. this path led justin Martyr, who had been a philosopher prior to his conversion in the mid-2nd century and continued as a christian to wear the philosopher’s cloak, to designate the christian faith as “the only sure and useful philosophy” and, correspondingly, to understand himself as its philosopher.74 he was the first to establish a connection between jesus

71 one must point out, for example, the positive valuation and role of jerusalem and the temple, both in the gospel (cf. lk 1–2) and acts, which departs from the stance taken by the other evangelists, but also to the already mentioned enhancement of prophetic references. 72 especially tatian and tertullian must be mentioned in this context; concerning the sapientia humana, the latter inquires, referring to col. 2:8: “Quid ergo Athenis et Hierosolymis? Quid academiae et ecclesiae” (De praescriptione haereticorum 7,9); in the subsequent passages tertullian explicitly argues polemically against the christian reception of the stoic and Platonic philosophy (ibid. 7,11). 73 a. v. harnack 1906, 29. 74 dial VIII,1–2, trans. falls 2003.

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and socrates, which shapes his whole apology addressed to the emperors antoninus Pius and Marcus aurelius: socrates “exhorted them (the people) to become acquainted with the god who was to them unknown, by means of investigation of reason (λόγος) . . . christ . . . was partially known even by socrates for he was and is the logos who is in every person . . . .”75 his reference to the “unknown god” is clearly intended as an allusion to Paul’s speech on the areopagus (acts 17:23), that is, to that lukan text that opens, as it were, the door for christians to engage in greek philosophy.76 this allows the christian philosopher apollonius to draw a parallel to the Passion: “so wie die athenischen ankläger über sokrates ein ungerechtes todesurteil abgegeben haben, so haben die gottlosen auch über unseren Meister und erlöser das Verdammungsurteil gefällt; denn die gerechten sind dem gottlosen stets verhasst.”77 half a century later, clement of alexandria declares that the “true philosophy” was given through the son and is therefore called “wisdom of god.”78 from the perspective of the history of religions, christianity thus develops, within a short time frame of slightly more than a century, from an apocalyptic jewish fringe group into a movement placed squarely within the discourse on culture and education of later antiquity. this, in turn, has repercussions for the understanding of wisdom and education. augustine’s influential phrase pietas est sapientia79 formulates the culmination of the identification of wisdom and faith that began in luke. at the threshold of modernity, the reformer Melanchthon, as praeceptor Germaniae, modified it slightly to pietas est eruditio and established it as the programme of a theologically motivated educational offensive. Bibliography Barnard, l.W. (trans.), St. Justin Martyr, The First and Second Apologies (new York: Paulist Press 1997). Barrett, c., Das Evangelium nach Johannes, KEK (göttingen: Vandenhoeck & ruprecht 1990).

75 apol II,10,6, trans. Barnard 1997; for the whole complex cf. harnack 1906, 34ff. 76 cf. Moreschini 2004, 8–9. 77 Quoted in harnack 1906, 36–37. 78 strom I,90,1; his use of the phrase “wisdom of god” is probably an allusion to Paul’s exposition in I cor. (I cor. 1:21.24.30; 2:6–7). 79 conf VII,20,26; trin XIV,1,3; cf. thomas aquinas, s.th. II-II,45,1; further, M. ficino, letter to Martin uranius from 1 june 1491: “Pietas enim summa quaedam apud deum sapientia est.”

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Bovon, f., Das Evangelium nach Lukas. Lk 1, 1–9,50, EKK (neukirchen-Vluyn/Zurich: neukirchener Verlag/Benzinger 1989). christ, f., Jesus Sophia. Die Sophiachristologie bei den Synoptikern (Zurich: Zwingli 1970). clark g. (trans.), Iamblichus: On the Pythagorean Life (liverpool: liverpool university Press 1989). ebner, M., Jesus—ein Weisheitslehrer (HBS 15) (freiburg et al.: herder 1998). falls, th.B. (trans.), St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (Washington: catholic university of america Press 2003). feldmeier, r., “Weise hinter ‘eisernen Mauern.’ tora und jüdisches selbstverständnis zwischen akkulturation und absonderung im aristeasbrief,” in M. hengel and a.-M. schwemer (eds.), Die Septuaginta zwischen Judentum und Christentum (tübingen: Mohr 1994), 20–37. ——, “endzeitprophet und Volkserzieher. lk 3,1–20 als Beispiel für prophetisch-weisheitliche doppelkodierung,” in c. georg-Zöller, l. hauser and f.r. Prostmeier (eds.), Jesus als Bote des Heils. Heilsverkündigung und Heilserfahrung in frühchristlicher Zeit. FS Detlev Dormeyer zum 65. Geburtstag (SBB 60) (stuttgart: katholisches Bibelwerk 2008), 72–84. ——, “ ‘göttliche Philosophie.’ die Interaktion von Weisheit und religion in der späteren antike,” in r. hirsch-luipold, M. v. albrecht and h. görgemanns (eds.), Religiöse Philosophie und philosophische Religion der frühen Kaiserzeit. Literaturgeschichtliche Perspektiven (Ratio Religionis Studien 1) (tübingen: Mohr siebeck 2009). gnilka, j., Das Matthäusevangelium. Kommentar zu Kap. 1, 1–13, 58, HThK, vol. 1, 1 (freiburg: herder 1986). hahn, j., “das auftreten und Wirken von Philosophen im gesellschaftlichen und politischen leben des Prinzipats,” in s. fornavo (ed.): Der Philosoph und sein Bild—Dion von Prusa, Orr. 54–55.70–72 (SAPERE 13) (tübingen: Mohr siebeck 2009), 241–58. harnack, a. v., “sokrates und die alte kirche,” in id., Reden und Aufsätze, vol. 1 (2nd ed. giessen: ricker 1906), 27–48. helm, r., “lucian und die Philosophenschulen,” in Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum, Geschichte und deutsche Literatur 5 (1902), 351–69. ——, “kynismus,” RE XII (1925), 3–24. hengel, M. and schwemer, a.-M., Der messianische Anspruch Jesu und die Anfänge der Christologie (WUNT 138) (tübingen: Mohr siebeck 2001). hennecke, e. and schneemelcher, W. (eds.), Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung, vol. 1 (6th ed. tübingen: Mohr siebeck 1990). hirsch-luipold, r. et al. (eds.), Die Bildtafel des Kebes (SAPERE 8) (darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2005). krückemeier, n., “der zwölfjährige jesus im tempel (lk 2.40–52) und die biographische literatur der hellenistischen antike,” in NTS 50 (2004), 307–19. von lips, h., Weisheitliche Traditionen im Neuen Testament (WMANT 64) (neukirchenVluyn: neukirchener Verlag 1990). ——, “Weisheit IV. neues testament,” Theologische Realenzyklopädie XXXV (2003), 508–15. luz, u., Das Evangelium nach Matthäus. Mt 8–17, EKK (4th ed. neukirchen-Vluyn/Zurich: neukirchener Verlag/Benziger 42007). Malherbe, a.j., “the christianization of a topos (luke 12:13–34),” in NT 38,2 (1996), 123–35. Marguerat, d., “luc-acts entre jérusalem et rome. un procédé lucanien de double signification,” in NTS 45 (1999), 70–87. Melville, a.d. (trans.), Ovid, Metamorphoses, intr. and notes by e.j. kenney (oxford: oxford university Press 1986). Moreschini, c., Storia della filosofia patristica (Brescia: Morcelliana 2004). nebe, g., Prophetische Züge im Bilde Jesu bei Lukas (BWANT f.7) (stuttgart: kohlhammer 1989). norden, e., Agnostos Theos. Untersuchungen zur Formengeschichte religiöser Rede (darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschat 1974). roloff, j., Apostelgeschichte, NTD (göttingen: Vandenhoeck & ruprecht 1981).

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stern, M. (ed.), Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, vol. 1: From Herodotus to Plutarch (jerusalem: Israel academy of sciences and humanities 1974). theißen, g. and Merz, a., Der historische Jesus. Ein Lehrbuch (göttingen: Vandenhoeck & ruprecht 2001). West, M.l. (trans.), Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days (oxford/new York: oxford university Press et al., 1988).

Religious education in late antique Paganism ilinca tanaseanu-döbler 1. Introduction Research on the religious and cultural life of late antiquity has so far given the topic of religious education little attention. in spite of the monumental works of Jaeger and marrou on education on the one hand,1 and the variegated research on different philosophical and religious issues on the other, the two strands have seldom been systematically combined to highlight the specific issue of religious education.2 nevertheless, it is of

1 For Jaeger’s classical work Paideia in its historical context see the article of auffarth in this volume. marrou’s Histoire de l’education dans l’antiquité and Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique have been highly influential for later research, establishing the paradigm of late antique culture as ossified and static. His understanding of late antique education had a lasting influence on scholarship, as can be seen from Bouffartigue’s monumental study of Julian as a representative of pagan late antique culture (Bouffartigue 1992). marrou’s idea of the development of enkyklios paideia has been challenged e.g. by Hadot 1984/2005, who has opened new perspectives on the development of the liberal arts. For a recent survey of greco-Roman education with an extensive bibliography see christes/ Klein/lüth (eds.) 2008. 2 most work on religious education in later antiquity has been done on christian topics like the vexed question of the existence and characteristics of the alexandrian school (e.g. van den Broek 1995, Wyrwa 2005, 279–302, cf. the succint discussion on the state of the question in markschies 2007, 97–101) or the catechumenate (see below, n. 18). on christian teachers see e.g. neymeyr 1989 (overview), Kovacs 2001 (clement) or markschies 2002 ( Justin and origen). the manifold connections between learning and religion in Jewish and early christian texts are explored in the contributions assembled in ego/merkel 2005. all these works have, however, focused on the imperial period and not on post-constantinian times. For late antiquity, the reception and transformation of classical education by the christians has been thoroughly discussed after Jaeger 1959 or 1961 most recently by Piepenbrink 2005, 340–91 and gemeinhardt 2007; see also tloka 2005, who compares the attitude of origen and John chrysostom to classical education and discusses the emergence of specifically christian educational concepts. However, the focus of these works lies in exploring the christian reception of and reaction to classical education as a whole, not on the question of religious education. a step towards this issue is taken by markschies 2002 (a slightly expanded version can be found in id. 2007, 43–109), who besides reception and reaction also sketches processes by which christians appropriated mechanisms of antique education to develop a christian form of higher education. a stimulating, though partly problematic, contribution is that of stroumsa 1996/2005, who asserts the existence of early christian esoteric traditions eventually superseded in late antiquity by the emergence of mysticism. His approach points to the plethora of early christian groups and leads to inquire whether different christian groups employed different types of religious

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great importance to analyse the mechanisms of religious education and transmission especially in such a dynamic period as late antiquity, when different religious options compete. as already discussed in the introduction to this volume, both concepts involved in “religious education” have complex histories and debated meanings. What are the goals of education? should it aim at transmitting knowledge and specific skills, or at creating an attitude, a specific ability and willingness to think about the different questions of life which ideally should provide the educated person with firm orientation in the world? these questions about the meaning and function of education are ancient; one can trace them back to the Platonic representations of the sophists and socrates as embodying conflicting pedagogical ideals.3 in different nuances, they play a central role in modern european theories of education4 and are now the battlefield for divergent, highly political conceptions about the role and aim of the educational system. in late antiquity itself we can discern a variety of competing concepts of education, which in some way resemble the conflicts surrounding modern universities. Besides its old rivalry with philosophy for the crown of education, rhetoric faces new competitors on a practical level, through the increasing importance of jurisprudence and even technical training in stenography as paths to lucrative posts in the imperial administration.5 the importance of higher education in literature, rhetoric and the specialised disciplines for philosophy is disputed by certain philosophers, while others see it as a prerequisite.6 therefore, it seems most useful for the historical inquiry into late antique religious education to employ the con-

education and transmission besides the catechumenate on which most research has been centred. the recent volume edited by Frateantonio/Krasser (Religion und Bildung. Medien und Funktionen religiösen Wissens in der Kaiserzeit, 2010) focuses mainly on the presence and handling of religious topics in texts from the second sophistic, showing how knowledge about religious details and skilful literary play with them was part of the broad paideia expected of the cultured elite of the Roman empire. 3 see e.g. Plato, Protagoras, Apology, Gorgias as well as Plato’s own ideal of education in the Republic. cf. Jaeger 1927/1960, 142ff, who highlights Plato’s fundamental importance and influence on later european ideas of culture and education. the full discussion of Plato’s educational model dominates vol. iii 2 of his Paideia. 4 For an overview of the history of education in antiquity and Western europe see e.g. von den driesch/esterhues 1951/1961 or the collection of ‘classical’ articles on ancient greek and Roman education published by H.-th. Johann (ed.) 1976. 5 cf. Klein 2006, 150. 6 the debate is vividly mirrored in synesius, Dion 4–11. see also Julian, Or. Vii against the cynic Heraclius. For earlier more existential and less formal conceptualisations of true paideia see also Ps.-cebes, Pinax or lucian, Hermotimus.

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cept of education in a broad sense to designate any form of transmission and acquirement of practical or theoretical knowledge, in this case about religion. this will enable us to evince differences and conflicts and open the path for systematic reflection, which the reader in turn may use as material for a philosophical discussion. on the other hand, “religion” is fraught with similar problems. the notorious debate about its essence has now given way to a more open approach, based on often complementary working definitions that are ever subject to revision and discussion. in this paper “religious” shall be understood in the substantive sense outlined in the introduction as referring to beliefs and actions based on the assumption of a transcendent or “culturally postulated superhuman” “counterintuitive” level of reality. in order to approach religious education in pagan late antiquity one must first consider that the embeddedness of antique religion and its overlapping with other spheres of culture make it necessary to distinguish between different aspects of religion, which in turn presuppose and contain knowledge transmitted by different methods. the various aspects of pagan religions and their implications for religious education highlighted by ch. auffarth earlier in this volume for classical greece continue into late antiquity. the picture is further complicated, however, by the encounter of different, sometimes competing cultures within the frame of the Roman empire, and the emergence of christianity as a universalistic form of religion challenging established categories, such as the association of specific forms of religion with specific ethne.7 still, religious practice relies heavily on learning by doing: participating in rituals or visiting different religious sites facilitates the grasp of the proper behaviour in such contexts. on a different level, religious practice is connected to myth and philosophy, and subject to divergent interpretations which produce and provide discursive knowledge about its rituals. the theoretical aspect of religion is very fluid and transmittable through different media. literature, written or performed, or the fine arts can transmit mythological knowledge,8 allusive or explicit, creating and presenting different versions of the myths. a stricter type of theoretical religious knowledge can be found in philosophy, wherein during later antiquity neoplatonism gradually achieves a monopoly: philosophers aim at developing and refining

7 on this see e.g. stroumsa 1999, 58ff, Johnson 2006. 8 as such, statues can be presented as non-verbal texts that communicate in just the same way as books, only using a different medium. to understand their message, religious literacy and alphabetisation is needed. see e.g. Porphyry, De stat. 351F smith.

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coherent cosmologies and theologies and sometimes at a systematisation of and reflection on the realities of religious practice and myth, developing interpretations which range from criticism to the integration into the respective system, e.g. by use of allegory.9 closely related to this distinction between different aspects of religion and their modes of transmission is the issue of the persons to be educated. Here it is necessary to distinguish between the education and socialisation of children and of adults, between pedagogy and andragogy. most literary sources on religious education refer to adolescents and adults, as they were written within the confines of the literate elite discourses of philosophy and literature. children appear in these sources only in exceptional cases, and mostly in retrospectives, e.g. in the genre of panegyric or biography, when (selected) deeds of childhood and youth are taken to prefigure the later development or the subsequent greatness.10 the students of a philosopher were most commonly adults, often retaining this status for many years. the common curriculum beginning with elementary schooling and continuing with training in literature and rhetoric11 transmitted certain elements of discursive religious knowledge, mainly through the reflection of religion in literary texts. nevertheless, just as in classical athens, there was still nothing comparable to modern religion classes, no

  9 on philosophical criticism of different aspects of religion cf. e.g. tanaseanu-döbler 2009a. For the use of allegory see e.g. Julian’s interpretation of the cult of cybele and attis in his hymn to the mother of the gods, Or. Viii Rochefort, esp, 6–10, 166a–170c or his discussion of myth in Or. Vii 10–12, 215c–217d Rochefort against the cynic Heracleius; his position is reflected in salutius’ De diis et mundo iV 7–11. 10 e.g. eunapius, VS Vii 1, 5–9 about Julian’s childhood, whose love of learning and ease in mastering the Bible show his great nature and foretell his eventual conversion to paganism (Vii 1, 5–7), or the fairy-tale description of the childhood and education of the mysterious pagan philosopher sosipatra (Vi 6, 5–7,11). this pattern can be traced back to iamblichus’ Vita Pythagorica 2 or even Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius i 7–13. 11 on educational institutions and curricula in antiquity see e.g. Hadot 1984/2005, for a brief recent summary cf. Watts 2006, 1–14. cribiore 1996, 2001 or 2007b and morgan 1998 enrich our understanding of education by focusing on schooltext papyri and thus approaching education from the point of view of “real people,” a necessary complement to the literary sources (see cribiore 2001, 246). their work brings the first stages of education, starting with the acquirement of literacy, which do not feature prominently in the literary sources, into sharper focus. case studies concentrating on local settings reinforce the general picture of language-centered higher education as a common level and medium of elite communication in the Roman empire; cf. e.g. Vössing 1997 on school and culture in imperial north africa, Watts 2006 on late antique athenian and alexandrian rhetorical and philosophical schools, or cribiore 2001 and 2007b on education in Hellenistic and Roman resp. late antique egypt.

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space given to special training in religion for late antique paganism.12 this marks a clear distinction in comparison with the christians, who from early times had stressed the importance of religious instruction for all its adherents. instruction and teachers play a great role in new testament texts, where already an approach to greek paideia as a useful instrument of conceptualising and propagating the christian message can be sensed.13 Religious instruction as a prerequisite for baptism already appears in the didache, and the catechumenate appears to have been firmly established by the last third of the second century and subsequently elaborated during the fourth century, which provides us with ample extant baptismal catecheses from cyril of Jerusalem or John chrysostom. it included (ideally) about three years of baptismal instruction concerning both moral formation and information about the reading and exposition of the Bible and central prayers.14 While the christian model of religious instruction seems to have been adopted by other late antique religious groups, such as the manicheans,15 it seems not to have appealed to pagan circles; the only possible exception shall be discussed below. However, it is important to note that in spite of their models of religious instruction, christians did not import religion into the school curriculum and did not create a specifically christian school, at least not up to the stage of rhetoric; the only exceptions were christian philosophical schools such as that founded by origen in caesarea, where christian texts were studied as part of a philosophical curriculum.16 christian children and adolescents frequented the

12 cf. Bremmer 1995, who stresses the “informal and participatory” character of greek and Roman religious education, drawing also on late antique examples like Prudentius. the cause is seen in the different conceptualisation of religion: “if religion is not recognised as a separate category, how can there be religious instruction?” (38). 13 see e.g. Jaeger 1961, 5–12. cf. also the article by R. Feldmeier in this volume, which explores the bridge-building intention of luke–acts towards accommodating key patterns of thought found in greek education. 14 For the catechumenate and its development cf. e.g. turck 1964, 20–31. an overview of its development from its beginnings to the full institutionalisation in the last third of the second century can be found in Wyrwa 2005, with a good bibliography; tloka 2005 dedicates some sections to the question of the alexandrian “catechetical school.” 15 see Bremmer 1995, 30. 16 cf. Bremmer 1995, 37; Vössing 1997, 602 pertinently points to the salient reason: “erst wenn die tieferliegenden, an die traditionelle παιδεία gebundenen grundbedürfnisse integration und distinktion erkannt sind, wird deutlich, daß man sich mit der trennung von den litterae saeculares auch vom ganzen saeculum verabschiedet hätte, und dazu war nur eine minderheit bereit.” glimpses of the emergence of a purely christian paideia have been noted by Rubenson 2000 in his study of education in saints’ lives of the fourth century for women saints such as macrina or non-greek-speaking saints like Pachomius, whose culture is portrayed as resting exclusively on christian texts (135–36). John chrysostom takes

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same schools of pagan or christian teachers of literature and rhetoric as non-christians,17 and catechesis remained a separate domain. even in the circles forming around christian or pagan philosophers, all religious affiliations were represented in a common desire of higher education, of paideia.18 one conclusion that can be drawn from this situation is that the issue of religious education needs to be seen against the wider background of religion and education in late antiquity. the different traditions of

this tendency a step further with his pedagogical writings (see tloka 2005). the sporadic usage of christian texts and topics for elementary and rhetorical schooling can be traced in the papyri containing school exercises found in late antique and early Byzantine egypt (cribiore 2007, 50–53). this absence of specifically christian schools in imperial and early late antique times is valid on the level of elementary, literary and rhetorical studies; the conceptualisation of christianity as a form of philosophy found in Justin, clement or origen naturally prompted competition with other non-christian philosophical schools, again within the common arena of imperial philosophy. For the personalised, fluid and often unstable structure of such private philosophical schools in imperial and late antique times cf. the seminal work of Fowden 1979, Hadot 2003/2005, 411–12 and the recent analysis of athenian and alexandrian philosophical circles by Watts 2006, 79–142, 155–68 and 187–256. 17 the best studied example of such a mixed audience is the school of libanius, who numbered Basilius of caesarea and John chrysostom under his students; see e.g. cribiore 2007, 95–110, who highlights the role Basilius played as a recruiter of new students (100ff ) and concludes for the circle of libanius: “choices in matters of religion did not play a fundamental role in identifying a hetairos, because they could be circumvented by paideia” (109). a late antique christian star rhetorician is Prohairesius who taught at athens and numbered among his students pagans like eunapius of sardes as well as christians such as gregory nazianzen and Basilius of caesarea. eunapius wrote an enthusiastic vignette on his teaching in his VS X; for Prohairesius’ christian background see X 8, 1–2, who states that Prohairesius was excluded from teaching on the basis of Julian’s edict on schoolteachers; see also the entry in Jerome’s Chronicon pp. 242–43 Helm and cribiore 2007, 54; goulet’s doubts of his christianity (goulet 2000/2001, followed by stenger 2009, 108–09) rest on shaky foundations. a balanced analysis of eunapius’ vita of Prohairesius is found in Penella 1990, 83–94. For a bleaker picture of Prohairesius’ opportunism and violent methods of recruiting students cf. the analysis of Watts 2006, 48–78 who overstates the role and instrumentalisation of religion in the scholarly life of the fourth century. 18 this mixed composition of philosophical circles can be seen from imperial times well into late antiquity. clement of alexandria directs his philosophical writings at pagan and christian intellectuals alike. the legendary ammonius saccas was the teacher of pagan students like Plotinus as well as christians like Heraclas or origen (eus. HE Vi 19, 13–14; see van den Broek 1995, 46 or Watts 2006, 155–68). origen’s school in caesarea also welcomes students from pagan backgrounds like gregory thaumatourgos; cf. also the picture of his teaching drawn by eus. HE Vi 18–19; cf. markschies 2007, 103–04. Julian is received into the circle of iamblichus’ student aedesius and his followers while still professing christianity; even his teacher maximus of ephesus, styled as the paradigmatic theurgic neoplatonist by eunapius, as we shall see below, has a future christian bishop among his students. Hypatia of alexandria is frequented primarily by christian aristocrats (cf. tanaseanu-döbler 2008, 88ff, 188–89).

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religious practice share a common meta-discourse, that of paideia.19 thus, religion operates on different levels; at the local and regional level as well as the level of intellectual discourse about religion. culture, paideia, itself becomes a criterion for judging proper religion in intellectual circles; as such, it features prominently in the polemics between pagans and christians. intellectuals on both sides share the same overarching discourse of paideia and draw upon its various role models and positions in order to prove either its supreme compatibility or its utter incompatibility with one’s own resp. the others’ religion.20 Paideia itself is not something that pagans grudge the christians. Before Julian, christian teachers of rhetoric and literature did not provoke any pagan comments, but were accepted as such: a prominent example would be lactantius, who, although a professing christian, was appointed by diocletian, the initiator of the last wave of repression against the christians before constantine, to an official position at his court, in spite of the latter’s avowedly traditional and conservative religious background.21 even Porphyry, whom the christian post-constantinian apologists describe as their main adversary, does not go as far as to make education a contentious issue: although he praises ammonius sakkas for having converted to a Hellenic life through his studies and censures origen for doing the exact opposite, he acknowledges origen’s culture as the common ground shared by both and complains only about the wrong use to which origen puts his learning, trying to elevate the Jewish scriptures to texts worthy of allegorical interpretation.22 debates about the legitimacy and suitability of classical education and culture for christians typically took place within the christian discourse, where school curriculum and specifically religious instruction ran side

19 liebeschuetz 2001, 224–25 speaks of the “religion of rhetoric.” 20 this approach stresses the discursive common ground between christians and pagans in the Roman empire. the commonality of practices, such as magic, has been explored e.g. by von stuckrad 2002, 200–02. However, the participation of both christians and non-christians in the same discourse fields should not blind us to the existing differences between them; von stuckrad goes too far in denying the distinction between christians and non-christians any analytical value. in the case of late antiquity, given the various conflicts arising on religious grounds, we still must distinguish between conflicting religious groups coexisting and competing within these different discourse fields, without committing the error of viewing christianity as something utterly different and sui generis (a problematic view deconstructed by smith 1990 and auffarth 2003); for a critique of von stuckrad’s conclusions see also gemeinhardt 2007, 22, n. 78. 21 For diocletian’s traditional religiosity see e.g. the preface of his edict against the manicheans or of his edict on prices; cf. Kuhoff 2001, 273–80. For lactantius’ appointment cf. Kuhoff 2001, 248 or demandt 2004, 7. see also de Palma digeser 2000, 1–5 and 27–33. 22 Porph. ap. eus. HE Vi 19, 4–8.

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by side. this debate gave rise to diametrically opposed standpoints:23 on the one hand the stress on the importance of paideia and the need to adapt it to a christian context, which appears in clement or origen, and later in gregory nazianzen or Basil of caesarea,24 while, on the other hand, cyprian of carthago advocates the rejection of Roman culture as a whole, including education—much in the manner cynics criticise their society—, and tertullian rejects the profession of the teacher as being incompatible with christianity.25 analysing the whole range of pagan religious education in late antiquity would be a task beyond the scope of this paper. therefore it shall focus on one specific question, namely the importance of religious education for paganism at the beginning of the increasingly severe crisis that it faced during late antiquity. the delimitations of this period shift continually; here it will serve to designate the time after constantine’s accession to power, which marks the beginning of a new situation: christianity (that is, various groups claiming to represent it in its authentic form) gradually rises to imperial attention and funding, while the pagan religious traditions slowly recede from the sphere of public life and lose imperial and public support, with the brief but notable exception of Julian’s reign (361–363).26 the question at stake here will be whether such a crisis situation has any impact on the range, scope, or importance of religious education. does such education become important as a mechanism of self-defence? such a question is not only historically important, but can help to advance towards a systematic theory of religious education, as the situation of pagan groups in the late antique Roman empire could be fruitfully compared with other groups under social and political pressure and their methods and aims in transmitting their religious knowledge. in order to sketch at least a partial answer to that question, i will focus on texts originating in the intellectual circles around the emperor Julian. With Julian and his friend salutius we catch a glimpse of the ideas 23 cf. gemeinhardt 2007, 9–10. 24 the positive reception and development of greek paideia by christian theologians such as the alexandrians or the cappadocians was magisterially explored by Jaeger 1959 and 1961. 25 cf. gemeinhardt 2007, 66ff for an analysis of tertullian’s position, and 92–96 for an analysis of cyprian’s Ad Donatum; for the closeness between early christian and cynic positions see the article of Feldmeier in this volume. christian attitudes problematising and rejecting paideia are also explored e.g. by scholl 1964, stockmeier 1967, athanassiadi 1981, 1–4 and 18–19. 26 on the crisis of paganism in the fourth century and some reactions of pagan intellectuals see stenger 2009.

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about religious education and their role in the Julianic attempt to revitalise ‘Hellenism’; eunapius of sardes, who studied with the same philosophical teachers as Julian, allows us a look at later times, after the triumph of christianity during the reign of theodosius. thus, we can study the evolution within one particular strand of the late antique pagan intellectual life and draw some conclusions which can provide the basis for further research. 2. Julian: Paideia and Priestly Training the first pagan author concerned with the issue of religious education who stands out clearly in the post-constantinian period is constantine’s nephew Julian, one of the most famous and controversial figures of late antiquity. His conversion from christianity to paganism was initiated by his literary and philosophical education.27 Paideia and religion are closely intertwined in his writings, and form two basic constants of his selfunderstanding and also of his political programme.28 maybe it was his journey to conversion that led him to emphasise the religious potential of classical education in his writings and his religious policy. in fact, Julian was the first pagan emperor to lead the conflict with christianity onto a new level, turning education into the new battleground29 by prohibiting christian professors of literature and rhetoric,30 the core of higher education, from teaching classical literature, and by confining them to the 27 education in literature and philosophy is the constant theme both of Julian’s own retrospective glances at his intellectual development during childhood and youth and his progress towards paganism, (contra Heracl. 23, 235a–d, misopogon 21–25, 351b–354b) and the accounts of his contemporaries, be it the pagan praises of Julian found in libanius (Or. Xii, Xiii and XViii) and eunapius, VS Vii 1, 5–2, 13, or the christian polemic of gregory nazianzen (Or. iV). For Julian’s conversion see tanaseanu-döbler 2008. 28 see athanassiadi 1981, 121–91, who tends to over-emphasise the systematic character of Julian’s measures concerning education. smith 1995 emphasises the grounding of Julian in the traditional paideia (see 23–48) and tends to downplay the impact of his theurgic interests on his imperial measures. an overview over early scholarship on Julian’s measures concerning education can be found in carmon Hardy 1968. 29 cf. gemeinhardt 2007, 352–53. 30 Julian’s targets might have been holders of public chairs. the latin version of the edict quoted in full below concerns teaching as a munus; this points to public chairs. carmon Hardy 1968, 131 also assumes that the edict refers to municipal chairs; see also Kaldellis 2007, 148. For private schools and municipal chairs cf. Hadot 1984/2005, 215–30, who notes an increase in such chairs and a process of “fonctionnarisation” of education in imperial times. However, see germino 2004, 185–90, who stresses the phrase “quisque docere vult” and points out that Julian’s reformatory intention necessarily included both public and private schools.

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teaching of christian sacred texts. By this measure Julian shows his awareness of the inner-christian debate on education briefly sketched above; after all, he requests nothing which hardliners such as tertullian had not voiced earlier.31 2.1. Educating the Young Julian’s legislation on the subject survives in two documents: a brief latin constitutio which was included into the Codex Theodosianus, and a more elaborate letter in greek where Julian expounds his reasons and outlines the aim of his measures.32 the latin version is highly neutral, stating only that teachers must be of excellent moral character, and that applicants, therefore, must be approved by decree of the curiales which must then be submitted to the emperor for ratification.33 Put thus, this is an ongoing concern to control the appointment of teachers, and the wording was found useful enough to be included in the decidedly christian Codices

31 For tertullian see gemeinhardt 2007, 66ff; tertullian, too, differentiates between the role of the magister and the pupils, who are in principle allowed to frequent public schools. see also carmon Hardy 1968, 139 or Kaldellis 2007, 149: “Julian was in effect siding with christian hard-liners who wanted nothing to do with Hellenism.” 32 the character and relationship of the two texts has been viewed differently in scholarship. downey 1957 saw the two as belonging together; goulet 2000/2001, 326–27 sees in the latin text the constitutio but not the law text itself; germino 2004, 30 also speaks of a constitutio; in his view, although the letter expresses the same position, it is not to be considered an official letter outlining the application of the constitutio, but a later justification of the measures (2004, 135–66). Bringmann 2004, 123–24 assumes that the neutral latin version does not represent the original, but has been redactionally modified and abridged to suit the christian codex, as Julian’s text must have explicitly been levelled at the christians. matthews 2000, 274–77 pleads for viewing the latin edict and the explicitly anti-christian legislation as two completely distinct measures. another line of scholarship recently exemplified by Watts 2006, 68–71 argues that the latin text constitutes a first insidious measure of Julian designed to give him the basis for the attack against the christians by collecting the names of all relevant teachers. this reconstruction is slightly problematic, as there are no allusions to such a strategy in Julian or the contemporary sources. However, as both texts are animated by the same intentions and conception of paideia (see germino 2004, 160), the actual details of administrative conception and execution need not concern us here. 33 Ep. 61b Bidez: CTh Xiii 3,5 = CJust X 53,7: Magistros studiorum doctoresque excellere oportet moribus primum, deinde facundia. Sed quia singulis civitatibus adesse ipse non possum, iubeo quisque docere vult, non repente nec temere prosiliat ad hoc munus, sed iudicio ordinis probatus decretum curialium mereatur, optimorum conspirante consensu. Hoc enim decretum ad me tractandum referetur, ut altiore quodam honore nostro iudicio studiis civitatum accedant.

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Theodosianus and Justinianus.34 the greek letter35 expatiates upon the exact meaning of moral probity: duplicity is to be avoided by all means. a teacher who does not believe what he teaches to his students is himself utterly bereft of true education and therefore unfit to teach. as the ancient authors believed in the gods, their writings cannot be properly taught by people who refuse to believe in them. they are left with the choice either to convert and thus instruct the pupils by their own examples, or to give up teaching the classical authors and go comment on matthew or luke.36 nevertheless, Julian restricts this measure to the christian teachers: christian students are still allowed to attend courses in classical literature and rhetoric, in the hope that this may lead them to discover the truth—here Julian may well think of his own experience. He stresses the existential and formative dimension of paideia: it is the shaping of the human personality that matters most, knowledge as such comes second.37 the ideal education is that found in Homer, thucydides or Hesiod, in the classical writings; it is inextricably interwoven with the worldview of paganism and serves a religious function insofar as it is cathartic and leads the pupils to grasp the truth and convert.38 the insistence on relevant texts, even though determined by the pattern of late antique higher education, may highlight something more: might Julian draw here on his experience during his catechumenate and conceive Hellenic paideia as an alternative

34 see germino 2004, 206–08, who shows that the presence of the constitutio points to its actual use and is not to be viewed as an accidental relict. However, one aspect of the edict, namely the centralised imperial control over the appointments seems to have been revoked later by CTh 13, 3, 6 (germino 2004, 229–31). cf. also downey 1957, who detected and analysed the marked formal similarities, albeit with reversed religious allegiance, between Julian’s measures and Justinian’s closure of the athenian philosophical school. see also Watts 2006, 128–41, who stresses the local tension between the overtly pagan philosophers and the increasingly christianised athenian environment, which supposedly led to complaints that in their turn influenced and fuelled Justinian’s legislative measures. 35 Ep. 61c Bidez. 36 the argument of goulet 2000/2001, 330, that Julian aims here at pagan teachers who criticise the religion of the classical authors, excessively strains the text of the letter. 37 and here he was stating nothing new; cf. Vössing 1997, 605. 38 cf. also ep. 114 Bidez 438a-b: the christians err rather out of ignorance than intentionally; they should be taught and persuaded by reason and not by physical violence. teaching (didaskein) appears here as the only effective method of conversion. cf. also smith 1995, 214 or Kaldellis 2007, 147ff. Bouffartigue’s dismissal of Julian’s argumentation as a pretext to mask his actual plan to exclude christians from education and the cultural life (1992, 600–03) relies on the position of gregory nazianzen as accurate, dismisses Julian’s own reasons a priori and does not take Julian’s statement seriously that christian students are expressly allowed to continue their studies; it stands in a long tradition impressively reflected by schlange-schöningen 1995, 143, with n. 5, who accepts it without questioning.

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to that?39 But his intention, even in the detailed greek letter, is only to exclude the christian teachers from schools because of their rejection of the unity between religious and other elements in Hellenic culture; he does not aim to narrow down education as such to exclusively religious matters.40 Precisely as a unitary whole is paideia existentially helpful for the individual; its religious role lies mostly in bringing about the harmonious development of the young students’ personality and the purification of their souls—not the contents transmitted, but the process matters, and this process remains highly individualistic and eventually open-ended.41 thus, Julian’s aim is different from christian catechetical instruction, which in spite of all its flexibility and consideration of individual aspects aims at integrating a given group of persons into the institution of the church by preparing them not least through the transmission of specific religious knowledge for the ritual of baptism. this formative and cathartic function of education plays an important role in Julian’s treatise against the ‘galilaeans,’ in which he contrasts Hellenic education comprising the complete heritage of classical culture, including religion,42 with christian education based on the scriptures. His point of departure is the universality of the innate conception of god. this is a basic and irreducible anthropological phenomenon; nevertheless, knowledge of god’s exact nature is not easily accessible for all, and those who have obtained that knowledge cannot instruct everyone in it.43

39 e.g. Bouffartigue 1992, 596–98, Bringmann 2004, 124–28, gemeinhardt 2007, 359, Watts 2006, 71. 40 For the unity between religion and culture in Julian cf. already downey 1957 and 1959, Kaldellis 2007, 151ff. 41  stenger 2009, 101–10 reads the edict in the light of the quest for a stable and uniform Hellenic identity and is thus tempted to overemphasise religion and to disregard the individualistic character of paideia; his assertion that Julian strove to impose his interpretatory monopoly on the study of the classical authors, and to realise a “institutionalisierte(n), möglichst unveränderliche(n) Vermittlung und auslegung” falls prey to christian ideas and misses the processual and dynamic aspect of education as envisaged by Julian. 42 For Julian’s concept of Hellenism see athanassiadi 1981, 1–12 and 121ff, cameron 1993. curta 2002 analyses the complex facets of Julian’s Hellenism and correctly comes to the conclusion that it was determined foremost by the idea of paideia; however, his separation of paideia, language, and religion from one another in order to downplay the religious element is not convincing. 43 CG frg. 7 masaracchia, 52B. For the long philosophical tradition in which Julian’s idea of an innate notion of god stands, see the parallels collected by masaracchia 1990, 199. the opposed christian use of the same notion can be found in tertullian’s insistence on the publicus sensus, which renders the soul in its pure state, when unadulterated by the educational apparatus and traditions of the Roman empire, naturally christian; cf. gemeinhardt 2007, 75–76.

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Here Julian echoes Plato and endorses an elitist position typical of the neoplatonism of his time; in his view, mankind is structured hierarchically as far as intellectual ability goes.44 again, classical education plays a paramount existential and religious role, because it can purify and train the mind to further its capacity and enable it to progress towards the ideal of a perfect human being, an ideal that includes not only proper behaviour, but also knowledge of the divine.45 the christians themselves are

44 cf. Plato, Tim. 28c. therefore athanassiadi’s interpretation of Julian as extending to all his subjects, willing or not, the paideia which iamblichus intended only for a limited group (1981, 125ff ) is misleading. Julian’s writings are not a programme of popularisation of philosophical religion aimed at comprehensive education. Paideia certainly is the path to salvation for Julian, but it is not accessible to all; as we shall see, the illiterate masses do not count for him, as they are easily swayed and manipulable. 45 cf. also ep. 89b, 295d–296b, where Julian expressly attributes the errors he detects in the Hebrew prophets’ conception of god to the lack of training in the enkyklia mathemata, which would have purified their souls’ eye. For the concept of enkyklia mathemata cf. Hadot 1984/2005, 263ff, esp. her conclusion (293); she emphasizes the distinction between the philosophical concept of enkyklia mathemata or enkyklios paideia as the harmonious unity of all theoretical disciplines preparatory for philosophy stricto sensu and necessary for a complete and well-rounded culture on the one hand, and the literary and rhetorical curriculum of the actual schools on the other hand. Vössing 1997, 30–34 and 576 has rightly taken Hadot’s conclusion one step further, arguing that in spite of this discrepancy, the education imparted by the higher schools of literature and rhetoric was nevertheless ideally thought to convey precisely this complete culture and was thus associated with the enkyklios paideia (he speaks of a commonly accepted ‘etikettenschwindel’). Julian’s imagery in ep. 89b takes up Plato’s educational ideal in the Republic; in this context, the enkyklia mathemata would point to the more narrow philosophical understanding of enkyklios paideia as the harmonious body of sciences preparing the way for philosophical contemplation. in ep. 8 Bidez, 441c, too, he distinguishes between rhetoric, poetry, mathemata, and philosophy as distinct objects of study. However, as we have seen above in his greek letter concerning the teachers, the function that the mathemata are assigned in this passage of Contra Galilaeos is assigned to the study of classical literature. and in the Contra Heraclium Julian attributes to the study of literature the same function and equates his study of the poets tacitly with the preparation required by the famous inscription on Plato’s academy requiring the study of geometry (Or. Vii Rochefort 23 and 24, 235a–d and 237d). this suggests that he, too, although aware of the finer differences tended at times to conflate literary and enkyklios paideia as the broad field of higher education preparing the ground for philosophy. For the connection between paideia and salvation in Julian see athanassiadi 1981, 125. it is precisely in this point, in stressing the superiority kat’ exochen of the ‘Hellenic’ ideal of literary and philosophical paideia as a formative force compared with christian types of education and approaches to the divine, that the two divergent concepts of “religious” and “cultural” Hellenism which cameron 1993 associates with Julian and synesius of cyrene actually converge. Just as Julian stresses that christian education does not benefit anyone, while the Hellenic paideia furthers even less talented natures, synesius opposes the gradual ascent of the Hellenic philosopher to the divine through paideia, which makes the divine accessible to many people, even of lesser intellectual capacity, to the disordered, irregular attempts of the monks, who may by chance reach the divine if their nature be outstanding, but cannot account for or teach their experience (Dion, 6–8). Beyond

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well aware of that, and that is why they insist on giving their children a classical Hellenic education, although partaking of the classical education is more dangerous than partaking of their traditional abomination par excellence, the sacrificial meat offered to idols, because it eventually leads every better nature to conversion to paganism: Why on earth do you nibble at the sciences of the Hellenes, if the reading of your scriptures suffices for you? and this although it would be more effective to keep people away from those rather than from eating sacrificial animals. For from the latter, as Paul, too, says, the partaker does not derive any harm, only the conscience of the brother who sees it may be scandalised—just to speak in your manner, you supreme sages! through this learning, though, whatever noble being nature has brought forth in your ranks departs from atheism once and for all. everyone possessing but the slightest particle of proper nature will thus depart from your atheism in the blinking of an eye. so it were better to keep men from learning than from sacrificial victims.46

Here again we note the separation between pagans and christians into two ideally separate groups, each with its own learning and culture; classical culture is claimed as the exclusive property of pagans, who stand in the tradition of the ancient greeks. Julian contrives this by drawing on a rigidly ethnical categorisation of religious groups. each ethnos has its religious traditions, its central texts, its cultural identity; each is under the protection of a special tutelary divinity, the ethnarchic god, whose characteristics dominate in that particular social body.47 that is why he labels the christians galilaeans, confining them to an ethnic group, precisely in spite of their claim to universality and transcendence of all ethnic and cultural boundaries (as expressed canonically in Paul’s letter to the

all differences in their attitude to public pagan or christian institutions, on the level of the individualistic philosophical religiosity paideia plays the same role. the idea of Hellenism as a type of intellectual religiosity remains a possibility well into Byzantium and emerges again with full force during the humanism of the Renaissance, cf. athanassiadi 1981, 11–12. 46 CG fr. 55 masaracchia, 229c–d. the idea that paideia purifies the mind and makes it apt to know higher metaphysical truths is already found in Plato’s programme of studies outlined in the Republic (Vii). the distinctive note Julian adds lies in identifying this highest level of philosophical truth with the true, i.e. the traditional, gods. For the eating of sacrificial meat see Paul, i cor. 8–9. 47 the idea can already be found in middle Platonism, see e.g. celsus ap. orig. Contra Celsum V 25, analysed by andresen 1955, 196–98, or, in a christian modification, origen’s De principiis iii 3, 2–3. For neoplatonism cf. iamblichus, De mysteriis V 24–25. For the problem of ethnicity and religion which arose through the universalistic claim of christianity, see e. g. eusebius, Pe i 1,6 or 2, 1–8 with Johnson 2006.

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Romans).48 through this artifice he can reduce christian culture to the Jewish and christian writings as authoritative texts. and this culture produces in his opinion only a mediocre result worthy of slaves, while Hellenic culture promotes even completely untalented persons. to prove this, he proposes an experiment: let children be educated only in the specifically christian culture, and the poor results will speak for themselves.49 the firm integration of the enkyklia mathemata and literary education within the philosophical ideal and the postulated unity between religion and paideia naturally lead Julian to polemicise against cynics who devaluated paideia in favour of a supposed “short-cut” to philosophical life and criticised established traditions, including religion.50 in a speech against the cynic Heraclius, who had attempted to play the established role of philosophical adviser to the king, free from all social constraints and enjoying parrhesia, by constructing and presenting a myth that put Julian in the position of the inexperienced advisee,51 Julian succumbs to the temptation to digress on the nature and philosophical function of myths so as to prove Heraclius’ ignorance of proper philosophy. His digression is interesting from the perspective of religious education because the myths are assigned an educative potential, an idea which briefly also appears in his hymn to the mother of the gods and is taken up and paraphrased by salutius in his short introduction to neoplatonic religion De diis et mundo. For Julian, myths are either used at a beginners’ level for ethical exhortations, or at a higher level by the branch of philosophy that deals with initiations. initiatory myths serve the purpose of adapting truths about the gods to the capacities of the common people (hoi polloi) who cannot receive truth

48 see e.g. the programmatic formulation in Rm 1, 16. Julian presents the “galileans” as a new, hybrid group, mixing the worst defects of both Jews and greeks (cf. curta 2002, 7). 49 CG fr. 55 masaracchia, 229d–230a. cf. also ep. 111 Bidez, 435a–b, where Julian polemically denies the banished athanasius of alexandria any special status as exegete and preacher: any christian from the common herd could do just as well for the didaskalia ton graphon. the passage mentions the katechesis as a special field of activity of the bishop athanasius and speaks also of his school (didaskaleion). 50 Or. Vii and iX Rochefort. For Julian’s understanding of philosophy in these discourses cf. tanaseanu-döbler 2008, 124–28. For the deeper motives of the polemics against Heraclius see Bouffartigue 1992, 584 or nesselrath 2008, 209–10; smith 1995, 49–90, who analyses the conventional themes in the speeches goes however too far in reducing them to a “staged debate” (90), even though he is right to point out that the discourses were not part and parcel of a systematic programme to establish Hellenism (arguing against athanassiadi 1981, 128ff ). 51 a similar mistake earned a certain nilus a highly polemical letter of Julian (ep. 82), cf. Bouffartigue 1992, 584f.

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in its pure form;52 thus, they derive some profit from the symbolism of the myth without further questions.53 moreover, the capable are spurred by precisely the abstruse and paradoxical elements in the myths to seek the exact truth; thus, they learn under the guidance of the gods.54 Julian here includes en passant the myths, so often derided by the christians, into his concept of religious and philosophical education.55 Besides insisting on the unity between religion and culture and on the religious character of literary and philosophical education, we see Julian also concentrating on one particular episteme, educational discipline, namely that of “sacred music.” in a letter to the eparchos of egypt, he orders him to set up a chorus of a hundred boys chosen from the best families; the boys will be chosen only on account of their voice and receive a public allowance. in addition, the present pupils of the musician dioscurus will receive any necessary attention from the emperor if they apply themselves to their art. as Julian speaks of the hiera mousike, choruses that sing in honour of gods come to mind, a reminiscence of those discussed for athens in ch. auffarth’s essay earlier in this volume. again, the cathartic function of music plays a prominent part in Julian’s argumentation: the boys will benefit greatly by their duty, because their souls will—Platonically—be purified through it.56 2.2. Training the Priests While Julian insists on the religious aspect and function of the classical culture in general, trying to fuse it into an ideal hellenismos, he also uses his role as pontifex maximus to educate pagan priests in accordance with his philosophical and religious ideas in order to ensure that they act as

52 Or. Vii 11, 216c–d. 53 Or. Viii, 11 Rochefort, 170 b. 54 Or. Vii 12, 217c–d and 14, 219a; Or. Viii 11, 170b. 55 on Julian’s theory and use of myths in the speech against Heraclius see thome 2004, 39–46 and nesselrath 2008, 212–14. given that the external form of the mythical narrative is an envelope designed to accommodate the common herd, mythos and its derivates and compounds can be used by Julian also in a depreciative manner, e.g. about the christian scriptures in Contra Galilaeos, frg. 1, 13, 14, 17 or 23 masaracchia. But even in this polemical text, the idea of myth as encoded truth appears (in frg. 17 Julian speaks of adam’s expulsion from paradise as a myth enclosing an aporrheton theoria—the unspoken malicious corollary is, of course, that the christians are too limited to discern it; Julian deliberately ignores the technique of allegorical exegesis). cf. also thome 2004, 66–71. 56 Ep. 109 Bidez, 442a–c.

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imposing and efficient representatives of hellenismos.57 For, as Julian is forced to obliquely admit in a letter, Hellenism does not go without saying, but must be learnt anew: in tyana he meets with a small number of people willing to sacrifice, but they have no idea how to do it properly.58 the letters in which he pursues this endeavour have been aptly labelled ‘pastoral letters.’59 the most detailed and impressive is ep. 89a–b Bidez. Ep. 89a, the end of which is missing, is directed to a certain theodoros, to whom Julian assigns the office of high priest (archiereus) of asia. conversely, ep. 89b is preserved as a fragment without beginning or end. its closeness in tone, structure and intention to ep. 89a, as well as the fact that in both the addressee is marked as a student of Julian’s teacher maximus of ephesus, who has recommended him to his imperial student, make it appear plausible to read it as its continuation.60 in this text, Julian outlines the ideal bios for the priests, prescribing and explaining the behaviour requisite during the period of temple service as well as outside that period,61 the sacrifices and the pursuit of philosophy, the selective readings suitable for them, the duty to learn as many hymns as possible by heart and recite them.62 Julian also takes care to provide the priests with a neoplatonic interpretation of aspects of cult that had been the target of christian critique: sanctuaries and statues are merely material objects symbolising the gods, and their destruction does not affect the gods in any way or prove them inane.63 thus, the priests are equipped to cope with the success of the christians and their claims to superiority. the priestly life is in Julian’s view the most venerable possible, better than the political life; therefore, one should exhort and teach men to follow it, and the best

57 For Julian’s radical innovations concerning the role of pontifex maximus see stepper 2003, 201–07, who however concentrates only on the christian influence, or tanaseanudöbler 2008, 141–50. 58 Ep. 78 Bidez, 375c. 59 Ep. 84, 86, 88 (about the dignity of the priestly office to a high-ranking official), 89a–b Bidez. For the term ‘pastoral letters’ see e.g. Koch 1928, 50. 60 cf. Bidez 1972, 102. 61 this point is also briefly sketched in ep. 84, 430a–431d to arsacius, high priest of galatia. candidates for the priesthood must, among other things, be careful to introduce their whole household to proper religious observance (305b): priests must not tolerate christianity in their own home. a personal exhortation to correct behaviour is addressed to theodora, a priestess and friend, who has apparently christian slaves in her household. Julian is emphatic: every priest must first and foremost purge his or her own house of the “disease” of christianity (ep. 86). 62 Ep. 89b, 300c–304d. 63 Ep. 89b Bidez, 293a–296d, cf. tanaseanu-döbler 2009b, 290–91, 295.

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will surely heed the call.64 the priests taught by the pontifex maximus and thus invested with higher authority should teach other priests, in the cities as well as the countryside;65 Julian seems to envisage the possibility that even pagans from lower classes and thus without the proper education, can be chosen to be priests; probably he is thinking of inferior and unattractive, e.g. rural priesthoods that could not be filled otherwise.66 the centralised system of priestly instruction would then serve as a measure to safeguard a minimum of expertise even for the lowest-ranking priestly personnel. although Julian stresses that he teaches in close keeping with the ancient customs, kata ta patria,67 he develops a new conception of the pagan priest as the religious specialist, knowing both ritual and doctrine and being able to teach others by word and deed, a worthy representative of hellenismos.68 the overall christian inspiration of this new model has often been noted;69 for the present study it is important to note that Julian attaches particular importance to religious education in the sense of teaching the meaning and foundations of hellenismos, the right behaviour and the right ideas about the gods, thus emulating the training of the christian clergy. He deplores the ignorance, oblivion and indifference which the true piety has fallen prey to, due to a debauched lifestyle, and contrasts them unfavourably with the fervour of the Jews; the fragment

64 Ep. 89b Bidez, 289a: Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν ἱερατικὸν βίον εἶναι χρὴ τοῦ πολιτικοῦ σεμνότερον, ἀκτέον ἐπὶ τοῦτον καὶ διδακτέον· ἕψονται δέ, ὡς εἰκός, οἱ βελτίους· ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ εὔχομαι καὶ πάντας, ἐλπίζω δὲ τοὺς ἐπιεικεῖς φύσει καὶ σπουδαίους· ἐπιγνώσονται γὰρ οἰκείους ὄντας ἑαυτοῖς τοὺς λόγους. 65 Ep. 89b, 166 Bidez: Ὁποῖον δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι χρή, πειράσομαι νῦν εἰπεῖν, οὐχ ἕνεκα σοῦ, . . . ἀλλ’ ὅπως ἔχῃς ἐντεῦθεν διδάσκειν τοὺς ἄλλους, οὐκ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς, εὐλογώτερον καὶ ἐπ’ἐξουσίας. . . . 66 Ep. 89b, 305a. see Bouffartigue 1992, 592. 67 Ep. 89a Bidez, 435b. 68 this is a radically different conception from what we find in traditional greek and Roman religion, where priests were usually non-specialists, priests “in their spare time”; cf. the article of ch. auffarth in this volume. graf 2010 has attempted to argue that priests attaching importance to theological training can be found also in paganism, pointing to two exceptions from the mainstream: on the one hand professional priests such as the eumolpidae or orphic priests, on the other hand philosophically trained members of the imperial and late antique elite who import their philosophical knowledge into their priestly offices. His few cases scattered along nine centuries only touch on exceptions, some of which—such as the greek topos of the learned egyptian priest or the iamblichean theurgist—are to a great extent literary constructions. as graf concludes, the main difference between the christian priests and the pagan priests is “dass die lehre nie zum obligatorischen Bestandteil priesterlicher aktivität wird . . .” (27). 69 see e.g. Koch 1927–1928, downey 1957, 98–99 or 1959, 342, stenger 2009, 100 and 358–59.

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which contrasted them with christian behaviour is unfortunately not extant.70 the situation of fierce competition and rivalry is thus clear to Julian, who tries to tackle it by educating the pagan priests. the greater mass of the people is not taken into account as far as education is concerned, but is to be goaded by other means, e.g. by the practice of philanthropy on the part of the priests as an efficient counter-action to the christian care for the poor.71 Julian is quite clear as regards the poor: they are easily attracted by immediate material advantages, just like children.72 moreover, lower-class pagans can endanger the image of Hellenism by their questionable religious—for Julian: superstitious—practices.73 For them, therefore, education must be of little avail; it is the part of the high priest to educate and habituate the pagan elites to give to the poor, as Julian stresses in a letter to another high priest.74 2.3. Conclusion: Top-Down Elite Hellenism Julian’s ideal of religious education has thus different aspects, but in every case it concentrates on elite groups, who have access to higher education. the masses can hardly be educated; at best, they can derive some profit from hearing truth in a mediated and enigmatic form through myths. Priests from lower classes are envisaged probably only for the lesser offices, and Julian’s outline of a priestly bios does not take them into account at all, but focuses only on highly educated priests and their classical readings. even when he attacks the christians, his target are primarily the educated christians, who send their children to higher schools or teach rhetoric themselves.75 classical education has a twofold importance: on the one hand, as a whole it purifies the intellect and turns it towards higher, immaterial things, making it apt for a clearer knowledge of the divine. as such, it gains an existential, religious function. on the other

70 Ep. 89a, 453c–d. the letter was written from antioch, where Julian was confronted precisely with the neglect of pagan traditions by pagans themselves, and a lifestyle which he censures as debauched and debased. Both grievances are voiced in his Misopogon. 71  Ep. 89b, 290a-b and 305b–c, cf. also the lengthy exhortation to counteract christian philanthropy in ep. 84, 429d-431c to the high priest of galatia. 72 Ep. 89b, 305c–d. 73 see ep. 59 Bidez, 443c, where Julian claims that the incubatory practices that had developed around a fallen obelisk in alexandria are detrimental to belief in the gods. For the incapacity of the mass to think cf. also or. Vii Rochefort 13, 218d. 74 Ep. 84, 430d–431a. 75 therefore it is misleading to consider Julian as proposing a “Platonismus für’s Volk,” in order to counteract the success of christianity, as schäfer 2008, 55 does.

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hand, it conveys religious knowledge, knowledge about the true gods, those relevant for true Hellenes. thus, it has immediate relevance for religious instruction as an instrument and a medium, leading great natures to conversion. a special case is the education of the priests, whose role is fundamentally reconceptualised by Julian as the moral and religious elite of hellenismos. they are to be instructed in a hierarchical system, leading from the pontifex maximus through the archiereis of the provinces to all the priest and priestesses in cities and the surrounding countryside, and thus rendered able not only to perform their sacred duties with the relevant knowledge, but also to instruct the non-priestly elites to further the cause of Hellenism e.g. by philanthropy. the instruction of the priests is mainly formal—pursue philosophy and read only decent and god-fearing authors—and moral; no fixed theological contents, e.g. the neoplatonic metaphysical hierarchy of being, are transmitted.76 one might speculate whether Julian’s two prose hymns on Helios and the mother of the gods were destined to fill such gaps, but they are addressed not to priests, but to members of his close entourage: the named dedicatee of the Hymn to Helios is salutius. at the closing of this hymn Julian prays that he may one day equal iamblichus’ knowledge of the nature of the god and become able to “teach all in public, but privately those worthy to learn.”77 this is the only allusion to the desire for a universal teaching, and even this allusion presupposes the distinction between the common herd and those worthy of closer instruction.78 However, the hymn is primarily an offering to Helios and, as Julian states shortly afterwards, not written to teach; any such attempt would be futile given iamblichus’ work. the hymn to the mother of the gods also presents itself as an offering, an intellectual celebration of her cult—the individual philosophical worship of a pepaideumenos. contemporary reactions to Julian’s pedagogical views are extant from both the christian and the pagan camp. shortly after Julian’s death gregory

76 this shows that Julian’s endeavour was more flexible than envisaged by athanassiadi 1981, who sees it as a vast concerted programme to rebuild paganism on the basis of neoplatonic theology. downey’s contention that Julian laid out doctrinal training for priests in detail (1957, 99) also cannot be borne out by the sources, just as his view of Julian synthesising and developing a new philosophical system cannot be held after Bouffartigue’s analysis of Julian’s education and culture (1992). 77 Hymn to Helios = Or. Xi 44, 157d. 78 the image of a minutiously organised “vast réseau de catéchèse” (Bouffartigue 1992, 597) can therefore not be derived from this isolated passage and the polemics of gregory nazianzen; here, too, Bouffartigue is overly influenced by gregory’s position.

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nazianzen fiercely denounces the edict on the professors of rhetoric as a cunning attempt to bar christians from Hellenistic culture—even though Julian himself had only aimed at the teachers, not the students. He argues for the purely linguistic and cultural meaning of hellenismos, distinguishing it sharply from the religious dimension Julian had stressed and maintaining the religiously neutral status of paideia.79 His friend Basil of caesarea took this stance one step further and wrote a treatise on the manner in which classical literature could be usefully read by young christians, namely as a storehouse of exempla for moral excellence.80 curiously enough, the pagan reactions were rather reluctant on this point. although libanius, the pagan rhetorician and close friend of Julian himself endorsed and praised Julian’s programmatic union of letters and religion,81 he refrained from any allusion to the edict. the historian ammianus marcellinus, who had served as an officer under Julian and paints him in glowing colours as the great hero of the fourth century, is more explicit and denounces this measure as cruel and inhuman.82 this shows that classical education, paideia, was perceived at least among educated christians and pagans mostly as common ground, part of the cultural koine exempt from the debates of religious difference.83 3. Philosophical Religion for all Pepaideumenoi: Salutius’ de diis et mundo What is lacking in Julian, the idea of a fixed number of basic “doctrines” of hellenismos, can be found in a small treatise by “saloustios” entitled “on the gods and the World.” the most plausible identification of the author is with saturninius salutius secundus, a close friend of Julian, praetorian

79 greg. naz. Or. iV and V against Julian. 80 For an analysis of this text see the article of a. schwab in this volume. another solution is proposed in the slightly later (late 4th/early 5th cent. a.d.) canones Hippolyti 69f: the christian grammatikos should explicitly inculcate into the children the idea that the pagan gods are demons whenever he has to discuss anything dealing with the latter; a papyrus with christian writing exercises using the names of gods and “neutralising” them with the sign of the cross shows a similar practice on an even more elementary level (gemeinhardt 2007, 350). 81  lib. Or. Xiii 1 and XViii 157. 82 amm. marc. XXii 10, 7 and XXV 4, 20. 83 this cultural koine is an important complement of the specifically religious koine described by salzman 2007 for the 4th century a.d.; both contribute to the groundwork for the basic functioning of society in spite of the religious tensions.

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prefect of the east from 361 to c. 366.84 salutius was the dedicatee of Julian’s Hymn to King Helios and also knew his Hymn to the mother of the gods. His moderation in religious matters had led to his being considered as the most suitable candidate to the throne after Julian’s death in battle, which he declined on account of his advanced age; he was again offered the throne and refused it after the death of Jovian.85 3.1. Intention and Audience salutius’ treatise outlines the basic elements of proper religious knowledge. While the title Περὶ θεῶν καὶ κόσμου/De diis et mundo goes back to leo allatius in 1638,86 salutius himself marks theology as the central topic of his treatise in the very beginning, when he marks out the envisaged audience: those who want to hear about the gods must on the one hand have been properly educated since childhood and not brought up with senseless opinions; on the other hand, they must also be good and sensible, so that they have something in common with the discourses. they must also know the common notions. common notions are those which all men would acknowledge if asked correctly, such as that every god is good, because he is impassive, because he is unchangeable, for everything that changes, changes either for better or for worse, and if for worse, then it worsens, if for better, it was bad before that.87

the aim of the work is thus explicitly the discussion of the gods, peri theon. this is a common rhetorical and philosophical theme; treatises peri theon can be traced back to the fourth century B.c., to the famous lost work of Protagoras; in late antiquity, Pythagoras himself was attributed a peri theon.88 the theme could be treated from different angles and perspectives. it appears in the bibliography of stoic, epicurean and neoplatonic philosophers; cicero’s De natura deorum could be seen as an extant example of

84 on the identity of the author cf. e.g. Rochefort 1960, x–xxi, Rinaldi 1997, 228, clarke 1998, Vacanti 1998, 7–8, di giuseppe 2000.the other candidate is Flavius sallustius, prefect of gaul (e.g. cumont 1892, 52ff ). For a recent summary of the history of scholarship, editions and the identity of the author of De diis et mundo see melsbach 2007, 13–77. For a more thorough discussion of this book cf. its review tanaseanu-döbler 2011. 85 cf. amm. marc. XXii 10, 7 and XXV 4, 20; for a collection and interpretation of the testimonia about salutius see melsbach 2007, 43–77. 86 cf. cumont 1892, 49, Rochefort 1960, xxiii. 87 salutius, De diis et mundo i, 1–2. 88 e.g. iamblichus, VP 19, 53/90 and 28, 82/146, where the orphic background is emphasised.

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this philosophical subgenre. the mythographic compendium written by apollodoros of athens and extant in fragments shows another approach to the subject.89 salutius’ treatment of the topic is peculiar. He sides with the philosophical approach, offering a condensed account of neoplatonic interpretation of myths, theology, cosmology and anthropology. He discusses the gods, the immutability and eternity of the cosmos conceived Platonically as a divine living being, the place of humans in this hierarchy of reality and the different relationships and forms of interaction between gods, cosmos, and men. different (neo)platonic sources can be discerned, mostly iamblichus and Julian, but also reminiscences of Porphyry, Plotinus, Plutarch or Plato;90 the questions treated are fixed commonplace components of middle Platonic summaries.91 However, salutius does not embark upon an elaborate philosophical discussion of the topic, but concentrates on brief statements accompanied, supported, and reinforced by sketches of arguments and didactic devices, such as repetitions or numerical systematisations.92 it is a treatise of popularised philosophy, an interesting endeavour that from an elitist Platonic perspective may appear like a contradiction in terms: salutius wants to communicate to a wider, non-philosophical public basic philosophical knowledge that makes communication with the divine possible;93 he takes philosophy out of its traditional closed circle. this pedagogical impetus is close to the position of themistius, who also insisted on the task of philosophy to rise from its dark corners and educate a wider public of cultivated nonphilosophers. But salutius goes beyond themistius, who had envisaged this undertaking only for practical philosophy, while theoretic philosophy,

89 Vacanti 1998, 18 is therefore right to point not only to christian influence but also to themes and trends within the pagan culture as the source of inspiration for Julian or salutius: “senza dubbio c’era anche la volontà di mettere in grado l’eredità religiosa pagana di competere col cristianesimo, ma una raffinata attività letteraria intorno agli dei era, per gli uomini tardo-antichi, un godimento da cui non si potevano astenersi.” 90 For the sources see the editions of nock 1926, esp. xl–civ, Rochefort 1960, xxvii–xxviii and the notes to the text, and more recently the detailed comments of Vacanti in her translation from 1998; di giuseppe 2000 concentrates more on philosophical comments. the neoplatonic background dominated by iamblichus is thoroughly analysed by clarke 1998, 330–47 or Vacanti 1998, 19–36. 91 see nock 1926, xxxix. 92 the difference between his work and a thorough specialised philosophical treatment can be perceived through a mere comparison with Proclus’ voluminous Platonic theology occupying five tomes in the Belles lettres collection. 93 see clarke 1998, 327–28 or 347. For the text as an introduction to neoplatonic philosophy see already nock 1926/1966, cXV; more recently, di giuseppe 2000, 51, melsbach 2007, 107 and stenger 2009, 321–27.

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the theia moira, physics and metaphysics, should be reserved exclusively for specialised study, being inaccessible to non-philosophers.94 a.d. nock is right to compare salutius’ undertaking with the famous epicurean inscription by diogenes of oinoanda or with middle Platonic handbooks: all reach out to a larger public to transmit standard philosophical answers to existential questions.95 the introductory passage quoted above also delimitates the intended readers: people who possess the proper natural endowments, including intelligence, who have received a good education from childhood without having been exposed to ἀνόητοι δόξαι and who master the κοιναὶ ἔννοιαι, the fundamental common-sense notions of mankind.96 another passage specifies the addressees further: “people who neither can be led through philosophy, nor are completely incurable in their souls.”97 thus we have a literate audience of adolescents or adults, who are not capable of pursuing the time-consuming philosophical curriculum, but are able to understand philosophical theology on the basis of common-sense arguments. Yet another passage identifies this group more clearly with gentlemen of higher culture, pepaideumenoi: salutius argues that true virtue, which leads the soul to eudaimonia, the final goal he proposes to his readers at the end of his work, is only accessible to the pepaideumenoi, not to the apaideutoi, because only the pepaideumenoi can fully realise the harmony of the duties of all parts of the soul; without logos, no behaviour is worthy of the name arete.98 so again, we have the concentration on the same target group as Julian, members of the cultural and social elite articulating its

94 cf. themistius, or. 26, 315 a-c, 317d–320b, 324c–325d, 327a–328c and or. 28, esp. 341b–342d. For themistius’ pedagogical ideal see downey 1957/1976, 566–71 or schlangeschöningen 1995, 73–74, who points to adverse reactions of christians against his pose as a moral educator of wider circles. 95 nock 1926, xxxvi–xxxvii. He also points to the cynic and neopythagorean preachers as well as the middle Platonic handbooks to illustrate salutius’ intellectual background. 96 this is a commonplace of philosophical literature; cf. nock 1926, Vacanti 1998, 41, n. 1. 97 De diis et mundo Xiii 1: τοῖς μήτε διὰ φιλοσοφίας ἀχθῆναι δυναμένοις μηδὲ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀνιάτοις. 98 De diis et mundo X 2: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν μὲν τοῖς πεπαιδευμένοις πάσας ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀπαιδεύτοις ὁ μέν ἐστιν ἀνδρεῖος καὶ ἄδικος, ὁ δὲ σώφρων καὶ ἀνόητος, ὁ δὲ φρόνιμος καὶ ἀκόλαστος· ἅσπερ οὐδὲ ἀρετὰς προσήκει καλεῖν λόγου τε ἐστερημένας καὶ ἀτελεῖς οὔσας, καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων τισὶ παραγινομένας. cf. also X 3: Γίνονται δὲ αἱ μὲν ἀρεταὶ ἐκ πολιτείας ὀρθῆς καὶ τοῦ τραφῆναι καλῶς καὶ παιδευθῆναι· For εὐδαιμονία as the self-rewarding goal of a good soul see the closing passage XXi.

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communication in and through paideia,99 and salutius, too, sees paideia as the source not so much of knowledge but in the first place of true virtue and harmonious personal development. 3.2. Axioms of Philosophical Religion after circumscribing the topic and the audience, salutius sets out four principles of his philosophical theology. every proper discourse on the gods must conform to the idea that they are eternal, incorporeal, not locally circumscribed and not separated from one another or from their first cause. this concise outline of Platonic inclusive monotheism offers the hermeneutic master key to salutius’ exposition peri theon. it does however beg the vexed question of the status of myths, which salutius answers on the same lines as Julian, giving even a brief summary of the latter’s interpretation of the myth and cult of cybele and attis. like Julian, salutius integrates the myths using the conception of an epistemologically hierarchical structure of humanity: some are better endowed with intelligence, while others fall short of grasping higher truths. the double structure of myths is adapted to this hierarchy, telling everybody that there are gods, but communicating their nature only to the discerning, by means of encrypted language. a direct communication of all theological truths would be fatal, as the stupid ones would not grasp them and therefore deride them, and the intelligent would become lazy: the myths imitate the gods themselves according to the speakable and unspeakable, the hidden and the obvious, the clear and the hidden, and they imitate the gods’ goodness, for, just as those made the good things to be derived from the realm of sense perception the common property of all, those derived from the intelligible realm the property of the intelligent only, so do the myths tell all that gods exist, but who those gods are and what their nature is only to those who are knowledgeable.100 if one should want to teach the truth about the gods to everybody, that would produce on the one hand contempt in the minds of those devoid of intelligence, because they cannot understand, and on the other hand

 99 cumont’s view that “ce petit livre était destiné à des ignorants et avait un but de vulgarisation” (1892, 54) is thus highly misleading. 100 De diis et mundo iii 3: Αὐτοὺς μὲν οὖν τοὺς θεοὺς κατὰ τὸ ῥητόν τε καὶ ἄρρητον, ἀφανές τε καὶ φανερόν, σαφές τε καὶ κρυπτόμενον οἱ μῦθοι μιμοῦνται, τὴν τῶν θεῶν ἀγαθότητα, ὅτι ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀγαθὰ κοινὰ πᾶσιν ἐποίησαν, τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῶν νοητῶν μόνοις τοῖς ἔμφροσιν, οὕτως οἱ μῦθοι τὸ μὲν εἶναι θεοὺς πρὸς ἅπαντας λέγουσιν, τίνες δὲ οὗτοι καὶ ὁποίοι τοῖς δυναμένοις εἰδέναι.

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ilinca tanaseanu-döbler sluggishness in the minds of the excellent. Hiding the truth through myths does not allow the former to despise, and forces the latter to philosophise.101

the idea that encoded language is the proper medium for conveying theological truths, that there are multiple levels of meaning, each pedagogically useful for different audiences is a commonplace in the religious discourse of the Roman empire, used in different ways by pagans and christians alike.102 the myths—taught through classical literature—are thus safeguarded as authoritative and ancient expressions of theological truths, occupying a position similar to christian scripture.103 3.3. Gods and Souls: Universal Harmony With the apology and hermeneutic of myth, the parameters for developing a discourse on the ancient gods are set. salutius then discusses the structure of reality.104 His starting point is the first cause, the supreme good beyond essence (hyperousion agathon) (V); then he offers a clear classification of the different orders of the gods and their functions (Vi), discusses the indestructibility and eternity of the cosmos (Vii) and the nature and role of intellect and soul in it (Viii). after the ontological account, he focuses on the relationships between the different elements of reality: on providence, fate and chance (iX), proceeding then to a discussion of ethics and forms of government, as well as the provenance and illusory reality of evil (X–Xii).105 this discussion should suffice to give 101  De diis et mundo iii 4: Τὸ μὲν πάντας τὴν περὶ θεοὺς ἀλήθειαν διδάσκειν ἐθέλειν, τοῖς μὲν ἀνοήτοις, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι μανθάνειν, καταφρόνησιν, τοῖς δὲ σπουδαίοις ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐμποιεῖ· τὸ δὲ διὰ μῦθων τἀληθὲς ἐπικρύπτειν τοὺς μὲν καταφρονεῖν οὐκ ἐᾷ, τοὺς δὲ φιλοσοφεῖν ἀναγκάζει. 102 cf. Plutarch’s discussion of the myth of isis and osiris, which expounds several possible interpretations, all of which are true in some way, but which are progressively arranged to lead to the highest truth, that of Platonic philosophy with Pythagorean accents (De Is. 359d–378B; only the euhemerist interpretation in 359d–360d is considered with much reserve). cf. also Julian’s theory of myth outlined above or synesius of cyrene, Dion 6.1, De insomniis, prooem. or ep. 105. For the appropriation and variation of the topos in christian theology see clement, Strom. i 1, 14–18; 2, 21, 1–3 or iV 2, 4–7 or origen’s systematic theory of meanings of scripture in De princ. iV 2–3. on the history of allegory see e.g. dawson 1992. For a discussion of salutius’ theory of myth see clarke 1998 or thome 2004, 75–79. the latter develops the interesting thesis that it was precisely the philosophical allegory as proposed by Julian and salutius that led exponents of the antiochene school, such as diodore of tarsus and theodore of mopsuestia, to break with the long-standing church tradition of allegory as an exegetical method (219–20). 103 For the different authoritative non-philosophical texts in neoplatonism—greek poetry, especially Homer and the orphica, alien, barbarian wisdom, and new revelatory texts, the Chaldean Oracles—see lamberton 2003, 202–11. 104 For an attempt at systematic interpretation see melsbach 2007. 105 De diis et mundo V–Xii.

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his readers basic knowledge on the gods, the universe and the human condition, as he states in the beginning of chapter Xiii. What follows are answers to controversial questions, a discussion of the eternity, unity and immutability of the gods and the cosmos and the implications of this axiom for the proper conception of the relationship between gods and men, i.e. of cult.106 the unitary multitude of divine powers between the soul and the first cause create the cosmos ab aeterno (Xiii); the gods are always impassive and good and never inflict evil; goodness or wickedness are entirely the responsibility of men: proper behaviour connects men with the gods by establishing similarity, while wickedness results in their wilfully turning away from the divine illumination and connecting themselves to punishing daimones. through cultic acts established by the helpful gods, this situation can be remediated and the contact with the divine goodness re-established. cult does not benefit the gods, but the humans, by enabling them to tap into the divine pronoia, to receive the beneficial influence of the gods, through imitation and similarity (XiV). cultic space and cultic acts imitate cosmic processes and provide men with the crucial synhaphe, close connection, with the higher orders. special attention is accorded to the apology of animal sacrifices, operating with the concept of life as the mediating element (mesotes) between gods and men (XV–XVi). a longer section (XVii) again takes up the topic of the indestructibility of the cosmos.107 the spread and seemingly overwhelming success of atheism is dismissed as not worthy to trouble the intelligent: atheism does not affect the gods in any way and its sporadic appearance is due to the lesser rank of the soul and the material world; it can also be viewed as a punishment for contempt for the gods in a previous life (XViii). this leads to the theodicy question: the wicked are not immediately punished because their souls are eternal—so no need to rush; besides, immediate punishment would instill fear and ruin the development of genuine virtue. Punishments are experienced in various forms after death, and the rational soul is punished together with the irrational part of the soul (XiX). Reincarnation is needed, as the number of souls is fixed (XX). the little compendium closes with a note on the fate of good and virtuous souls, which experience eudaimonia in every form, are delivered from the irrational part, are connected with the gods and share with

106 For the structure of the treatise see nock 1926, cxiv. 107 the insistence on the perfection, divinity and indestructibility of the cosmos shows that for salutius the cosmos itself is good and important and not only relevant as a symbol of higher things, as clarke 1998, 345 assumes.

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them in ruling the cosmos. But even apart from this reward, virtue alone suffices for eudaimonia (XXi). 3.4. A Pagan “Catechism”? salutius thus offers a succinct account of pagan neoplatonic religiosity, combining the philosophical theology and anthropology with the apology and hermeneutics of traditional myths and religious practices. His work has, therefore, ever since cumont, been considered by many scholars a pagan catechism, fitting into the religious policy of Julian and designed to provide empire-wide religious instruction.108 But precisely the comparison with Julian’s own stance shows great differences. For one thing, Julian did not envisage classes of specifically pagan religious instruction but trusted that every young boy steeped in classical paideia would naturally turn to the old gods. salutius, on the other hand, does not paraphrase Homer, but writes specifically about religion, teaching his readers what to believe. a second difference can be found in the stance they occupy in the conflicting religious landscape of late antiquity. For Julian, christianity is something to be overcome by all means, a stain or disease affecting the empire. He uses his position as an emperor to actively fight it and reinvigorate pagan cults. in salutius, however, the tone is different. many of the ideas and questions he rejects or answers could be voiced by christians. the question why the ancients used myths and seemingly rejected philosophical theology could have been asked e.g. by eusebius, who in his attack on the pagan pantheon stresses the tension between the old myths and their philosophical hermeneutics.109 the eternity and indestructibility of the cosmos remains a point of tension with the christian idea of creation and apocalypse, and early in the fifth century, synesius of cyrene could proclaim his allegiance to the philosophical doctrine and present the christian idea as myth good for the common herd (ep. 105). Bloody sacrifices were a standard locus of conflict and polemic between

108 cumont 1892, 54–55. downey 1957, 99 considered it “a sort of teacher’s manual to be used by pagan priests in their religious teaching activities” (an interpretation not supported by any hint in the extant sources). For the “catechism” approach see also Rochefort 1960, athanassiadi 1981, 154–60, Bouffartigue 1992, 597, Rinaldi 1997, 230, Vacanti 1998, 11 and 16, stenger 2009, 353–55 (the last two scholars, however, with more caution). other scholars tend to consider it as a work written for, or at least circulated in a select private audience of a few close friends, perhaps even after the death of Julian (e.g. nock 1926, ciii, di giuseppe 2000, 54), not intended as a means of anti-christian pagan instruction but of open-minded communication on Hellenism and Hellenic identity, cf. melsbach 2007. 109 Pe ii 6–7, iii 6, 6.

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christians and pagans and a clear boundary marker.110 But all these questions and problems could have been raised also by pagans—the critique of myth is as old as Xenophanes;111 the precise nature of the eternity of the cosmos is debated in middle Platonism, and salutius’ apology of sacrifice and interpretation of cult is full of reminiscences of the debate between Porphyry and iamblichus on the compatibility of cult with the Platonic idea of the divine.112 certainly, the discussion of the spread of atheism and the reassuring explanation that it does not affect the gods and that it can be regarded as due to the imperfection of matter or to misconduct in a prior life is probably aimed at christians, set as it is in the context of the fourth century; it matches Julian’s strategies to cope with the success of christianity and the destruction of the temples and is like a prelude to later neoplatonic resignation.113 But fighting the christians is not the primary aim of salutius,114 who is more concerned with setting out doctrines for those desiring to hear about the gods and to solve different enquiries (ζητήσεις) and painful perplexities (ἀπορίαι), such as the epicurean enquiry about the possibility of providence in the face of divine tranquil happiness (iX 3). the christians are just an aside to his endeavour.115 What is striking is his insistence on divine goodness, his reassuring picture of a perfectly ordered, eternal, and indestructible cosmos in which everything and everyone fits into its place and is illuminated by the benevolent powers of the gods, united with the primal cause, the supreme good. to put it with J.Z. smith, what salutius expounds is a perfect example of a

110 see e.g. Bradbury 1995, Belayche 2001, saggioro 2002. 111 see frg. 11–16 and the alternative of one wholly other highest god in frg. 23. 112 cf. Porphyry’s De abstinentia and Letter to Anebo and iamblichus’ reply to the letter known as De mysteriis. For the philosophical problematisation of sacrifice in imperial times see e.g. camplani/Zambon 2002, esp. 62–74 for Porphyry. For Porphyry’s attitude to rituals see tanaseanu-döbler 2009a. the parallels between salutius and iamblichus are carefully traced by clarke 1998, 330–47. 113 cumont 1892, 51–52 takes salutius literally and considers that he assumed paganism to be widespread and christianity limited to a few regions; this does not take into account salutius’ eagerness to explain why atheism does in no way affect the gods—this shows that he viewed christianity as not so very negligible. nock 1926, lxxxviii senses the “quiet irony.” the late neoplatonic strategies for coming to terms with the religious and cultural transformations of their times are analysed by saffrey 1992. 114 cf. nock 1926, cii–ciii, who detects a “quiet implicit rejection of hostile views,” di giuseppe 2000, 52. Recently melsbach 2007, passim, e.g. 155ff, attempted to go even further and argued for a pluralistic non-polemical attitude of De diis et mundo; however, his assumption relies to a great extent on a wrong translation of De diis et mundo XVi 2. 115 cf. di giuseppe 2000, 33: “ai toni dell’ irrisione, della polemica aperta, si sostituisce la considerazione aristocratica: il tentative di inglobare il cristianesimo nell’ eternità, vedendolo dal punto di vista non degli uomini, del sacro;” see also Rinaldi 1997, 230–31.

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locative worldview,116 striving to give a sense of place and belonging: evil has no real existence and can easily be overcome by reconnecting to the gods who have carefully provided the necessary means, and true virtue leads straightaway to eudaimonia. this attempt to give a sense of stability and reassurance goes beyond the purpose of mere religious instruction and suggests a desire to offer strategies to cope with the fluctuations and uncertainties of the fourth century. salutius writes for people in need of answers and compelling arguments.117 this brings us back to the question of audience and intention. We do not know anything about the date of composition or the reception of the work by its contemporaries, and also nothing about Julian’s knowledge of, or attitude to it: the question whether he entrusted his friend with the task of popularising philosophical theology as a means of creating a basic framework for Hellenism must remain open. there is no hint in Julian’s extant works that he ever envisaged such an endeavour, and in view of his emphasis on traditional paideia as the way to conversion, salutius’ compendium of neoplatonic religiosity would not have fitted into Julian’s ideal classroom. to place it in the context of Julian’s ideal of the priestly life promises better: in this context it could have been used to introduce priests without philosophical background to the pursuit of philosophy which Julian saw as an integral part of fulfilling the temple duties.118 However, there is no allusion in the work to priesthood or to a special status of its intended readers; it reaches out to all well-educated non-philosophers, answering their existential questions and giving them a sense of Geborgenheit in the harmonious web of divine and cosmic reality. the attempt to explain the overwhelming christian growth, which is

116 smith elaborates the distinction between “utopian” and “locative” worldviews in different essays, e.g. 1970/1978, 1972/1978, 100–03, or 1974/1978. salutius’ religiosity can also be described using the theories of smith’s teacher eliade as a form of cosmic religiosity, asserting the unity and sacrality of man and cosmos as di giuseppe 2000, 32–35 does; in terms of more recent debates, as an exponent of neoplatonism he could be viewed as a perfect instance of assmann’s evolutionary cosmic monotheism (see e.g. assmann 1993, esp. 45–48). 117 cf. XVii 10, the closing of his last detailed section arguing for the indestructibility of the cosmos (XVii), where he expressly says that his impressive collection of seven arguments was elaborated for those who needed stronger demonstration (πρὸς τοὺς ἰσχυροτέρων ἀποδείξεων δεομένους εἴποντες). 118 downey 1957 connects it with the reformed priesthood ideal, but views it not as an instrument for the training of the priests themselves, but rather as a teaching handbook for the priests to teach others and lead them to conversion; this again has little support in Julian’s conception of priestly conduct and tasks as outlined above and is completely dependent on gregory nazianzen’s polemical sketch of Julian’s plans.

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viewed as an established fact, not likely to recede in the near future and therefore in need of explanation, may point to a date after Julian’s death; the brief prayer at the end of chapter iV 10 could also be understood as referring to Julian as already dead.119 then the treatise could be read as an attempt to foster and defend a pagan identity through a stock of common knowledge, facing the ruin of pagan restoration hopes connected with Julian’s reign. salutius teaches by writing, explaining pagan beliefs and cult to unknown readers, empowering them to explain their stance and to cope with conflicting religious claims coming e.g. from christianity. additionally, he may also have envisaged his little treatise as a potential handbook for people attempting to instruct others; such a wider intention could account for the fact that, on the one hand, he consistently casts the addressees as hearers,120 but without using this to create a fictional personal writer/teacher-reader/disciple relationship; he always remains distanced and never directly addresses the potential readers, but speaks of them impersonally as a group to be educated;121 the potential teacher could fill the gap and apply and personalise salutius’ information. it is important to keep in mind that the extant testimonies about salutius describe him as a man of religious moderation and tolerance, a convinced Hellene, but acknowledged as an outstanding personality also by christians like gregory nazianzen, while eunapius speaks somewhat bitterly of his shrinking from the vita activa and concentrating on literary pursuits during the reign of Valens.122 He represents yet another, more

119 this possible reading had been already signaled by cumont, who, however, did not draw any consequences; di giuseppe 2000, 53ff takes that to show that salutius wrote after Julian’s death; he connects him with the last pagans of Rome. another possibility would be that salutius wrote before Julian’s death but did not publish it, sensing that the Julianic reaction had failed (nock 1926, ciii). 120 e.g. i 1, ii 1, V 1. 121  in this, he differs from writers who systematically address their audience and conceive of the book as the medium between themselves and the unknown readers/disciples, e.g. clement of alexandria (especially the addressing of his readers/audience in the Paedagogue and the detailed reflection on the book as a medium for teaching in Strom. i 1–2) or the author of the Rule of st. Benedict. 122 the testimonies are assembled by melsbach 2007, 43–77. For eunapius see Vs Vii 5, 3–4. salutius is “a man who had well ordered his fortune already under Julian’s reign, but nevertheless, he (his rival clearchus) clearly unmasked his indolence due to old age and used to call him nicias, for he concentrated at that time on pasturing and strengthening his soul through reading and historical expertise.” the formulation is vague; most scholars have taken the study of history to refer to salutius’ pursuit of a dignified otium (see Penella 1990, 126 or the summary of scholarship in melsbach 2007, 53–55), but the last sentence could also refer to clearchus’ historical studies and expertise which could have provided him with the handy nickname for salutius’ slowness. eunapius’ flamboyant portrayal of

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resigned, but self-conscious and self-assured facet of late antique paganism, mid-way between the militant pro-Hellenic and anti-christian endeavours of Julian and the advocacy of religious tolerance and avoidance of specifically religious issues by themistius, whose concept of paideia concentrates on the neutral ground of ethics. But as for Julian, the philosophical understanding of religion is only one aspect of salutius’ conception of education, which, as we have seen, builds on paideia as its foundation. it is tempting to go one step further, but here we are on shaky ground. one of the Roman contorniates show a salVstiVs aVtoR; l. desnier proposed to identify this salustius with the author of De diis et mundo.123 if this identification were correct, this would indicate that salutius was perceived as a notable author in Rome during the late fourth century. the parallels between salutius, the statesman and lay neoplatonist champion of the old religion, and Vettius agorius Praetextatus, who had been consul of achaia under Julian and is portrayed by macrobius in his Saturnalia as an expert on neoplatonic theology, are striking. as both salutius and Praetextatus had served in the east under Julian, they must have known each other, and it is tempting to assume that salutius was read among Praetextatus’ acquaintances at Rome, a circle perhaps indeed resembling the fictional setting of the Saturnalia.124 the cultivated paganism of salutius with his intent to teach the cultivated non-philosophers would have been at home in such a circle, given that macrobius portrays Praetextatus as doing precisely the same thing. in the Saturnalia, we meet the quiet and dignified self-assurance of a select circle of pagan aristocrats, founded on their common culture of which religion is presented as an intrinsic and inseparable part; explicit polemic against christianity does not trouble the serene picture, as the rude intruder euangelus does not stay long enough to do much mischief.125 and, last but not least: the Saturnalia themselves, including the long theological speech of Praetextatus, were designed by

clearchus, who among other things courageously shows his sympathy for paganism by rescuing the philosopher maximus of ephesus from his plight, clearly shows where his sympathies in the conflict lie, cf. Penella 1990, 126. 123 desnier 1983, with photographs of the contorniates (65). 124 see also di giuseppe 2000, 54–62, who, however, is still indebted to the scheme of the “pagan party” at Rome offering the supreme resistance to christianity; this view dominant in earlier scholarship has been rightly questioned and qualified e.g. by cameron 1999; see also tornau 2008, 299–301. 125 on the portrayal of the pagan aristocrats in the Saturnalia see tornau 2008, esp. 308–23. He prefers to view euangelus not as a christian, but more unspecifically, as embodying a rejection of education and culture that was also shared by some christian theologians (320–23). liebeschuetz’ interpretation that there is “no trace of anti-christian

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macrobius as a graceful handbook containing the quintessence of liberal education for his son, and, pars pro toto, for young men of the highest classes—an attempt to accomplish a goal close to that of salutius.126 4. Eunapius of Sardes: Ritual Training and Philosophical Paideia With eunapius we leave the troubled times of Julian’s reign and catch a glimpse of the mentality of pagan circles at the end of the fourth century, after theodosius’ final moves to cement the supremacy of orthodox christianity.127 eunapius is linked to Julian by the same philosophical circle: he studied philosophy with chrysanthius, who was one of Julian’s teachers,128 was closely acquainted with oribasius, Julian’s pagan physician,129 and, moreover, he was initiated at eleusis by the same hierophant as Julian.130 His Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, written at the turn to the fifth century, present a panorama of mostly pagan philosophers, rhetoricians and physicians of the second half of the fourth century.131 traditional paideia plays a central role,132 as do extraordinary

polemic” (1999, 201) does not take into account the fact that sovereignly ignoring something can also be a subtle form of polemic. 126 For macrobius’ identity as a cultivated pagan, based on the faith in the eventual superiority of his ideal of culture and religion, cf. tornau 2008, 322–23: “sein ganzes selbstbild, wie es in den Saturnalien erkennbar wird, musste ihm die Überzeugung eingeben, dass die von ihm vertretene Bildung eine stärkere und auf die dauer durchsetzungsfähigere kulturelle macht als jeder religiöse Rigorismus war; dass er sich darin irrte, ist bekannt.” this could be said also of salutius. 127 For the chronology of eunapius see Penella 1990, 1–9, with a summary of the critique against goulet 1980/2001, 311ff and further arguments. goulet’s position failed to gain acceptance, in spite of his responses to the critique of various scholars (2000/2001, 337–47). 128 VS Vi 1,6 or XXiii 3,15–16. 129 VS XXi 1,6–7 and XXiii 6,9, cf. also Hist. Frg. 8, where he states that oribasius was one of those admirers of Julian who had encouraged him to write his historical work and given him his own notes on Julian (Blockley 1981, 8 and 22). 130 VS Vii 3,1–2. 131 For the date of composition and its relationship with the historical works of eunapius see goulet 1980/2001, 311ff, and 2000/2001, 337–47, responding to the criticism voiced to his previous article. as many of the portrayed intellectuals were contemporaries whom eunapius knew well and who “indirectly affected his own life,” it must be kept in mind that this panorama is highly selective and emotionally and programmatically coloured (cf. Blockley 1981, 1, 10 or 16–19; goulet 2001, 19ff ). 132 see the statement of his purpose in VS Vi 2, 12: ἐμοὶ δέ, ὥσπερ προείρηται, πεπαιδευμένων ἀνδρῶν εἰς πᾶσαν παιδείαν ἀναγράφοντι βίους. cf. also Blockley 1981, 17, Penella 1990, 33; goulet 2001 also speaks of the “finalité protreptique” (2001a, 19) visible in eunapius as well as in other late antique biographies of philosophers.

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religious skills and abilities, which appear as one of the boxes eunapius regularly checks when presenting his sketches of philosophers’ lives, whereas they are not considered relevant in the cases of sophists or physicians.133 there are only two exceptions to this rule: the first is iamblichus’ student and constantine’s adviser sopatrus, for whom eunapius records no religious skills—this is understandable, given that sopatrus is put to death on charges of magic brought forward by his opponents. the second is Priscus, a student of aedesius and member of Julian’s entourage. eunapius emphasises his penchant for silence and secrecy, and then eventually connects him with the religious sphere by the final notice that he perished together with the sanctuaries of Hellas in his old age (Viii 1, 10–11). that religious knowledge and skills are part of eunapius’ ideal of complete philosophical paideia134 can be seen for example in his discussion of Porphyry. Paideia is the key term and concept structuring his vita; he presents Porphyry as striving incessantly for higher forms of paideia, up to Plotinian philosophy, and marrying only for the sake of educating his wife’s children from a former marriage. summing up his accomplishments, eunapius praises him for mastering the whole gamut of paideia: . . . all the while not leaving aside any discipline of education. For one can truly be at a loss and wonder which of his studies had the greater weight: whether his pursuits pertaining to rhetorical material, or those leading to grammatical accuracy, or arithmetical studies, or what is inclined to geometry, or that which tends towards music. as to his philosophical studies, neither their theoretical part can be grasped, nor can their practical application be reached by discursive description. as to the physical and theurgic,

133 cf. also Penella 1990, 33. this difference between philosophers’ lives and those of other intellectuals shows that although eunapius certainly assumes a fundamental unity between the different cultivated professions and intellectuals he describes (see goulet 2001, 21, cox miller 235–49, esp. 228), he nevertheless does not quite reduce them to one and the same type (as cox miller 2000, 228 assumes). For eunapius, paideia is the basic value which holds together the different types of intellectual professions such as rhetoric, philosophy or medicine; as such, paideia is presented as divine or holy; sophists are described as theioi, venerated by their audience as divine epiphanies (see cox miller 2000, 239–40 or goulet 2001b, 385). However, this hyperbolic speech appears to be just a device to enhance the grandeur of the sophists discussed; it is important to note that the sophists are not presented as actively and expertly engaged in religious practices (even Prohairesius only draws on the expertise of the eleusinian hierophant without practicing divination by himself), whereas philosophers regularly are, nor are the sophists credited with clairvoyance. thus, although the analysis of cox miller astutely unravels some of the narrative techniques used to convey and reinforce the idea of holiness in philosophers (235–49), we cannot say that all lives conform to an ideal of neoplatonic theurgic religiosity. 134 With this insistence on religious skills, eunapius is typical of philosophical biographies of late antiquity, cf. goulet 2001a, 38ff.

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it had better be left to the initiation ceremonies and the mysteries. such a universally blended creature, with respect to every form of excellence, was this man.135

the theurgic aspect—extraordinary ritual skills—naturally plays a determinant role in the life of iamblichus, portrayed in a vein similar to the Jesus of the gospels or Philostratus’ apollonius of tyana, in the midst of wondering disciples of limited understanding (VS V 1–2);136 however, eunapius does not credit him explicitly with perfect paideia, pointing to his poor style and presenting it as the working of divine grace that he managed to attract a circle of bright students despite this shortcoming (VS V 1, 2–4).137 His student and, in a certain sense, successor, aedesius, is presented as a highly educated philosopher, almost equaling iamblichus, save on the point of contact with the divine. eunapius confesses to have found no information on such skills, but assigns it to the troubled post-constantinian era and to aedesius’ penchant for secrecy; he adds that the truer iamblichean philosophy—and from the context he must mean the theiasmos aedesius seems to lack—can be communicated only after a prolonged preparation, and that he himself was granted initiation into it only in his twentieth year of study (VS Vi 1, 4–6). the contrast drawn between aedesius as the astute theoretical philosopher and his Pergamene colleague sosipatra as the divinely inspired philosopher and theurgist (VS Vi 9, 2) also strengthens the supposition that aedesius was rather distanced from the ritual enthusiasm found in some of his peers— in spite of the pains eunapius takes to find something on that head and check the box satisfactorily. However, eunapius can at least report that aedesius practiced dream divination and got a hexametric oracle setting out different options for his future (VS Vi 4), so the closeness to the gods is satisfactorily ascertained, as behoves a true student of iamblichus. the life of aedesius is connected with sketches of other philosophers. His colleague sopatrus tries to convert constantine to philosophy,

135 VS iV 2, 2–3: . . . οὐδὲν δὲ παιδείας εἶδος παραλελοιπώς. ἔστι γοῦν ἀπορῆσαι καθ’ἑαυτὸν καὶ θαυμάσαι, τί πλεῖόν ἐστι τὼν ἐσπουδασμένων·πότερον τὰ εἰς ὕλην ῥητορικὴν τείνοντα, ἢ τὰ εἰς γραμματικὴν ἀκριβείαν φέροντα, ἢ ὅσα τῶν ἀριθμῶν ἤρτηται, ἢ ὅσα νεύει πρὸς γεωμετρίαν, ἢ ὅσα πρὸς μουσικὴν ῥέπει. τὰ δὲ εἰς φιλοσοφίαν, οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ λόγους καταληπτόν, οὔτε τὸ ἠθικὸν ἐφικτὸν λόγῳ· τὸ δὲ φυσικὸν καὶ θεουργὸν τελεταῖς ἀφείσθω καὶ μυστηρίοις· οὕτω παντομιγές τι πρὸς ἅπασαν ἀρετὴν ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτὸς χρῆμά τι γέγονεν. 136 cf. e.g. VA i 16, 4 or 18, Viii 10–12, 19 or 21. 137 Penella 1990, 46–47 rightly stresses that eunapius’ presentation of the relationship of the two philosophers as continuity and not opposition and his critique of iamblichus’ style are unusual in neoplatonic literature.

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but is eventually put to death as a sorcerer binding the winds (Vi 2–3). eustathius, serving as an ambassador of the christian constantius to the Persians would almost have converted their king to a simple, philosophical way of life, had there not been the magoi, accusing him of sorcery (Vi 5, 8–10); he is presented as a superior expert on divination, able to correct the peri tauta deinoi (Vi 6, 1–4), and, above all, as the lucky husband and father of the philosopher-theurgists sosipatra and antoninus (Vi 6, 5–11, 12). sosipatra’s biography is presented as truly divine and exceptional: educated and initiated as a child by two mysterious strangers, initiates of the chaldean mysteries or even super-human daemons, she develops wondrous abilities of clairvoyance and inspired divination, but also reads and assimilates by herself, without any other teacher, the works of poets, rhetoricians and philosophers, thus accomplishing on her own the whole spectrum of paideia.138 most of her children fail to live up to the high standards of their parents, save for antoninus, who settles at canopus as a philosopher, attracted by the mystery rites performed there and in turn attracting many young men as priests to the sanctuary. He is said to have predicted the destruction of the serapeia, although he carefully conceals all extraordinary theurgical abilities from his appearance, on account of the tensioned religious climate in alexandria (Vi 9, 15–17 and 10, 6-11-12). the discussion of sosipatra and antoninus prepares the ground for the biography of maximus, perhaps the best-known philosopher-theurgist of the later fourth century, due to his role as the teacher of the emperor Julian. His skill to conjure the divine is captured in a vivid anecdote about his causing the statue of Hekate in her Pergamene temple to laugh and her torches to flare up by incantations and the sacrifice of incense (Vii 2, 6–11). on account of his skills, sosipatra begs him to counter the love spells her cousin directs against her, a task which he successfully accomplishes through his θυτικὴ σοφία (Vi 9, 4–7). maximus’ theurgic aptitudes finally lead him to his death, when he is drawn into a conspiracy against Valens (Vii 6, 2–7). another anecdote shows Julian’s theurgic philosophy teachers, maximus and chrysanthius, engaged in sacrifice to decide whether to join Julian as advisers or not. the signs are unfavourable; while chrysanthius bows to the will of the gods, maximus reproaches him: my dear chrysanthius, you seem to have utterly forgotten the education we were trained in, namely that it behoves the elite Hellenes, who are

138 childhood: Vi 6, 5–8, 1; autodidactic study of poetry, rhetoric and philosophy: Vi 8, 2; clairvoyance and divination: Vi 7, 4; 8, 3–5; 9, 7; 9, 12–14.

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educated in these matters, not to give way entirely to the signs that show up first, but rather coerce the nature of the divine until it inclines towards the worshipper.139

the anecdote, taken up again in the life of chrysanthius (VS XXiii 2, 3), is certainly tendentious, as eunapius wants to underline the superior piety of his own teacher. For our purposes it is important to note that sacrifice and divination are presented as a form of paideia, more exactly, one ranking high among the others, open to and constitutive of the first-class Hellenes, the religious and cultural elite.140 this connection between divinatory expertise and elite is further enforced in the parallel anecdote in VS XXiii 2,3 by the statement that the negative signs were so obvious that even “a layman and ignorant person” (ἰδιώτην καὶ βάναυσον) could have understood them. inserted into the life of maximus we find a short passage on Julian’s early education. the christian education he receives in early childhood is not enough for his sublime nature; he masters the christian writings so quickly that his teachers find themselves unable to teach him anything else and ask the emperor to allow him to study rhetoric and philosophy. Permission granted, Julian embarks on a quest for a teacher which leads him to Pergamum to study with aedesius. the old man directs him to his pupils; after hearing of maximus’ theurgic skills, he declares to have found in him the long-sought master and studies together with him and chrysanthius. after studying with them, he betakes himself to the eleusinian hierophant, hearing that there even more wisdom could be found.141 Julian’s education is thus presented by eunapius with a decidedly religious colouring: the christian paideia is not sufficient for his nature, which finds fulfilment only in theurgic neoplatonism and the ritual expertise of the hierophant. Religion understood as ritual expertise is here part and parcel of a complete philosophical education; and the rhetorical and philosophical studies prepare the ground for the acquisition of ritual wisdom. lastly, chrysanthius is depicted as the crown of later fourth-century philosophy. His divine nature pushes him to philosophy which he masters 139 Vii 3, 12: ἀλλ’ ἐπιλέλησθαί μοι δοκεῖς, εἶπεν, ὦ Χρυσάνθιε, τῆς παιδείας ἣν ἐπαιδεύθημεν, ὡς τῶν ἄκρων γέ ἐστιν Ἑλλήνων καὶ ταῦτα πεπαιδευμένων μὴ πάντως εἴκειν τοῖς πρώτως ἀπαντήσασιν, ἀλλ’ ἐκβιάζεσθαι τὴν τοῦ θείου φύσιν ἄχρις ἂν ἐπικλίνῃ πρὸς τὸν θεραπεύοντα. 140 For “Hellene” as a construct combining religion and culture cf. also the description of the ἔπαρχος τῆς αὐλῆς anatolius (VS X 6,3): “καὶ φιλοθύτης ὢν καὶ διαφερόντως Ἕλλην (καί τοί γε ἡ κοινὴ κίνεσις πρὸς ἑτέρας ἔφερε ῥοπάς).” eunapius’ concept of Hellenism corresponds to that of Julian, as discussed above. 141 VS Vii 1, 5–3, 6.

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fully, starting with aristotle, going on to Plato, and finishing with Pythagorean wisdom, regarding especially the divine. Just as with Porphyry, whom eunapius had presented as the first ‘new’ philosopher, without an already extant biography, as a fruit of his extensive education, chrysanthius masters every possible discipline of paideia, and, furthermore, is infallibly correct in his predictions of the future.142 His superior religious expertise manifests itself not only in dealing correctly with the unfavourable signs whose rejection lead maximus to the precipice of doom,143 but also in foreseeing the eventual triumph of the christians and subsequent careful handling of his office as archiereus of lydia,144 or the lesson in divination he gives to iustus, governor of asia, an enthusiastic, but not perfectly knowledgeable pagan (VS XXiii 4, 1–9) who had assembled “all those who enjoyed fame on account of their education” (τοὺς πανταχόθεν ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ δόξαν ἔχοντες) to publicly test their aptitude to interpret the signs portended by his sacrifice: Well, if you want me, too, to say something about these things, tell me first which the type of divination was, if you really understand the divinatory types, and of which subclass; again, what the inquiry was, and according to which method it was asked. and if you told me this, then i would well be able to tell how that which appeared points to the future. But before you tell me that, it would be a mark of ignorance for me to speak both about the question and about the future in reply to your question and connect what will be to what has taken place, even though the gods do signify the future. For thus there would arise two questions, but nobody inquires about two or more things at the same time. . . . at this point, iustus cried out that he had understood all the things he did not know before. . . .145

142 VS XXiii 1, 9–10: εἰς τοσοῦτον ἐκουφίσθη τε καὶ ἀνηγέρθη παρὰ τοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τελείωματος, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, ὥστε πᾶν μὲν εἶδος αὐτῷ παντοίας παιδείας εἰς ἄκρον ὑπάρχειν, καὶ πᾶσαν κατορθοῦσθαι πρόγνωσιν. 143 notably, his attitude implies not just mere compliance with divine signs, but a more gentle manner of attempting to modify the will of the gods and submitting to it only when his ritual means are exhausted. maximus’ mistake is presented as a failure to adhere to the rules of theurgy: he finally projects his own wishes onto what appears and so sees what he wants to see, without dispassionate observation and consideration of the actual apparition (VS XXiii 2, 1–3). 144 VS Vii 3, 10–14, 4, 5–9 and XXiii 2, 3–9. 145 VS XXiii 4, 7–9: ἀλλ’ εἴ τι βούλει κἀμὲ, ἔφη, περὶ τούτων εἰπεῖν, τίς μὲν ὁ τρόπος τῆς μαντείας, εἴ γε τοὺς μαντικοὺς τρόπους ἐπίστασαι, εἰπὲ τὸ πρότερον, καὶ ποίου τινὸς εἴδους, τίς δὲ ἡ πεῦσις, καὶ κατὰ τίνα μέθοδον ἐπηρώτηται. καὶ εἰ ταῦτα λέγοις, εἴποιμ’ἂν ὅπῃ τὸ φαινόμενον εἰς τὸ μέλλον φέρει. πρὶν δὲ ταῦτα λέγειν, βάναυσόν ἐστι πρὸς τὴν ἐρώτησιν, σημαινόντων τὸ μέλλον τῶν θεῶν, ἐμὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐρωτήσεως καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος λέγειν, συνάπτοντα τῷ γεγονότι τὸ ἐσόμενον· δύο γὰρ οὕτως ἂν γίνεσθαι τὰς ἐρωτήσεις. περὶ δύο δὲ ἢ πλειόνων οὐδεὶς ἐρωτᾷ κατὰ ταὐτόν . . . ἐνταῦθα Ἰοῦστος ἀνέκραγεν ὡς μανθάνων ὅσα μὴ πρότερον ἠπίστατο. . . .

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eunapius thus considers religious and especially ritual expertise as a necessary accomplishment for philosophers, in his eyes the highest form of the Hellene elite of the late fourth century. this might help to explain why themistius, for example, was not included in his programmatic presentation of the intellectual crème de la crème of the late empire,146 whereas the christian sophist Prohairesius earns his warm praise: it may be not only an issue of eunapius’ anti-christian attitude that leads him to exclude themistius as a collaborateur of the christian emperors, but the fact that his lack of interest and expertise in religion disqualifies him as a true philosopher, while Prohairesius’ christianity does not affect his paideia as a rhetorician (and moreover, he has the good sense to acknowledge the expertise of the eleusinian hierophant and make good use of his ability to foresee the future).147 the same point could be made about another exception, eunapius’ alexandrian contemporary Hypatia.148 she is the only philosopher to emerge unscathed from the turmoil surrounding the destruction of the serapeion, and she does so probably by keeping aloof from a militantly pagan stance, not displaying any interest in pagan ritual, and building a circle of mostly christian students.149 to eunapius she may thus have appeared to lack an important philosophical accomplishment—much in the way damascius pronounced her, more than a century later, to have been a geometer, not a philosopher. the contrast between the divinely inspired sosipatra, the only woman fully included in his gallery of pepaideumenoi, and the missing Hypatia is eloquent on eunapius’ conception of philosophy.150

146 cf. also Penella 1990, 136, who thinks that themistius’ lacking affiliation with iamblichean circles made him an unlikely candidate for inclusion in the first place. on the same lines stenger 2009, 223. 147 goulet 2000/2001, 334 reads this visit to the hierophant as an argument for Prohairesius’ paganism. However, precisely the domain of divination is one of the discourse fields eagerly frequented by christians and pagans alike (see Rosen 2006, 102–03); together with magic, it is one of the areas of antique religion where a discourse-oriented approach is more fruitful than one asserting rigid religious boundaries (see von stuckrad 2002). to assert that eunapius viewed Prohairesius as a pagan downplays the evidence of eunapius himself, who sedulously keeps concrete religious practice out of his Vita (religious themes appear only as hyperboles that serve to underline Prohairesius’ rhetorical skills or as mythological themes developed by Prohairesius in his speeches, which was standard practice for christians and pagans alike, see Julian’s law discussed above) and explicitly states that Prohairesius was banned from teaching because he seemed to be christian. 148 she flourished as a teacher of philosophy in the 390s, as synesius studied with her immediately after this critical period (393–395). eunapius must probably have known her. 149 cf. dzielska 1993/1998, 27–46 and 79–83. 150 damascius, Vita Isidori frg. 106a athanassiadi see also Penella 1990, 61.

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it is important to note that even in connection with philosophers, eunapius focuses only on such aspects of religion that imply a real contact with the divine. it is not philosophical theology or meditation that he dwells upon, but communication between gods and men via sacrifices and (mostly private forms of ) divination; the former is conspicuously absent from his collection of anecdotes. this may be explained by the situation of increasing repression of paganism in which he writes; the contemporary philosophers are represented as models of how true Hellenism can survive under these conditions. Hence, the work aims to create and confirm possible identities for a circle of educated pagans; there is no interest of going beyond this circle. 5. Conclusion and Further Perspectives With Julian, salutius and eunapius we caught a glimpse of how the relationship between education and religion was conceptualised in late antique pagan circles. one basic constant found in all three authors was the insistence on traditional literary, rhetorical and philosophical paideia as the basis sine qua non for a truly human life and thus for any transmission of religious knowledge. automatically, all those lacking higher education are excluded from their considerations altogether.151 traditional paideia can be conceptualised differently. in Julian, probably due to his own experience, but also to Platonic pedagogy, it was assigned a religious value as such: it purifies the soul, leads to conversion to paganism and prepares the soul for philosophy. conversely, lack of it results in erroneous conceptions of the divine. Julian assigns these religious functions to literary and rhetorical paideia as a whole, emphasising its fundamental coherence and the unity between its religious and other aspects. education is a highly individualised, ultimately life-long process of development and improvement. Julian does not develop an idea of specific religious instruction beside classical education directed at the general public; however, he designs a priestly ideal which he tries to inculcate and which includes philosophy when on temple duty. For salutius, paideia and the innate common notions of man are the proper foundation for an elementary course on philosophical religion, providing cultivated nonphilosophers with the basics of a philosophical outlook on religion and 151 on this point as one basic difference between christianity and Platonism see Kobusch 2008, 30–32.

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the human life. in its specificity and in its attempt to reach out to nonphilosophers, his little book goes beyond what Julian, who wholeheartedly subscribed to the esoteric aura of neoplatonism, envisaged for the average cultivated public. Finally, eunapius presents the idea of different forms of paideia, the highest form of which seems to be found in the philosopher for whom religious knowledge in the form of rituals or other techniques ensuring direct contact with the gods is a must. as in Julian, philosophical religious knowledge is the province of a select few, initiation being granted only after long preparatory studies. Porphyry and chrysanthius with their wide-ranging accomplishments spanning all forms of paideia from literature and rhetoric to philosophy and theurgy, are presented as embodiments of this ideal, framing the other vitae eunapius claims authorial credit for. the elitist touch which confines religious instruction to the pepaideumenoi and thereby to a specific class—higher education was mostly confined to the upper classes—goes together with the idea of an intellectual and epistemic hierarchical structure of mankind. there are those able to grasp the truth about the divine in detail—and those who must content themselves with myths at best. Whereas in Julian and salutius this is explicitly stated, in eunapius we can infer it from the insistence on the esoteric character of philosophical religion. specific religious education is for all three authors ultimately philosophical religion, explaining and interpreting the fundamental notions inculcated by the literary and rhetorical paideia. Julian and eunapius, however, connect the understanding of philosophical theology and metaphysics to the study of philosophy proper, while salutius is more optimistic, postulating only the general paideia as a necessary requirement for basic theological education. the forms of religious education all three authors discuss share in the highly individualised idea of education as a whole, triggered and aided by teachers or books. the neoplatonic teacher-disciple relationship develops close bonds, lasting a lifetime, within which the teacher concentrates on the individual development of the student and tailors his teaching to suit his needs; salutius, too, while using the indirect method of teaching through writing, views his elementary course as the initial impulse for a Platonic process of uncovering and refining the koinai ennoiai already present in everyone’s mind, referring the readers to other treatises for further information. it is tempting to speculate whether we could possibly detect a basic difference in teaching methods between east and West. the more ‘private’ form of teaching through writing books, respectively of approaching philosophical religion through private, autodidactic philosophical

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reading, private cultivation of the solitary intellectual or through intellectual exchange in looser circles without fixed structures of authority, was perhaps more widespread in the West, if we think of the circle of Praetextatus and symmachus, of macrobius’ own didactic undertaking, martianus’ strange “private manual”152 or, not least, of the young augustine’s solitary philosophical perusals and quest, the loose networks in milan which acquainted him with neoplatonic reading material, or his own first circle at cassiciacum.153 notably, it is in Rome that we find the only trace of appreciative reception of salutius. in the eastern half of the empire, conversely, the institution of philosophical schools was stronger154 and the ideal of learning was informed by the master-student relationship. this master-student relationship is predominant in later philosophical biographies, such as marinus’ Life of Proclus, or damascius’ Life of Isidore; the devotion to a philosophical teacher and circle is paramount in synesius’ letters to Hypatia, for example, or to fellow students.155 solitary philosophical pursuits can form only the continuation of proper philosophical studies, never its beginnings, as a proper initiation is needed. sometimes we even hear notes of distrust of books per se, if read without proper guidance: the famous dictum of Proclus, that he would annihilate all books excepting the Timaeus and the Chaldean Oracles,156 or the anecdote damascius relates about a holy man possessing only a few books and concentrating solely on the poems of orpheus.157 the conception of religious education analysed here is based on neoplatonic sources, which certainly capture only a segment of the discourse on religion and education. a look at libanius, for instance, shows us a different picture. libanius praised Julian for realising that logoi and hiera, literature and rhetoric and religion, were siblings. in his panegyrics and monodies on Julian he emphasises this connection. However, the

152 For macrobius’ text as a private manual which later gained canonical schoolbook status, see tommasi moreschini 2008, 208–19. 153 in this context, the notions of “life-long” resp. “informal learning” that have become important hermeneutical tools of modern studies of education could be fruitfully applied to late antique intellectual endeavours of religious education. 154 not surprisingly, the only ancient institutions that can be compared to medieval and modern universities can be found in the east, namely in alexandria and—on a lower level—in constantinople, as Vössing 2008 has shown. 155 cf. ep. 5; 10; 16; 124; 154 (directed to Hypatia) or 137–40 and 1438 addressed to his fellow student Herculianus. 156 the dictum forms the finale of the encomiastic vita written by his student and successor marinus (VP 38). 157 damascius, Vita Isidori frg. 111 athanassiadi.

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composition of his circle and the esteem with which he addresses christian students show that he did not insist on seeing religion as an integral and sine qua non part of paideia, and that he did not view his teaching as comprising or aiming at any form of pagan religious education. throughout his non-Julianic speeches, religion appears as a matter of practice and tradition, not of discussion; he deplores the neglect of that tradition or its wilful destruction by monks,158 but does not try to preach to his fellow antiochenes.159 another important figure would be themistius, who has been mentioned above. His complaint about christian harassment of pagan philosophers and ardent demand that philosophy serve the whole society through public education by public speeches—again, only the pepaideumenoi are envisaged, as only they could follow and be attracted by the speeches—would predispose him to be something like a pagan missionary, trying to oppose education to christianity. But he expressly concentrates only on ethics, leaving metaphysics and theology for the specialists’ secluded corners and pleading for a pluralistic view on religion in his speech dedicated to Julian’s short-lived successor (or. V). We could view the speech as an attempt to convey and make the idea of religious pluralism plausible for the emperor—this could be viewed as inter-religious education at the highest level.160 such positions vanish after the fourth century, and the neoplatonic model which we could observe in Julian, salutius, and eunapius at a comparatively early stage, with its insistence on hierarchy and elite, its connection to philosophy as the highest authority on religious matters and only source for education on religion in its true form, comes to dominate

158 see e.g. or. XXX, which pleads on behalf of the temples in antioch and the countryside. 159 cf. sandwell 2007, 278: “libanius’ response to the threats posed by the aggression of certain christian groups was not to follow the approach of christian leaders or of the emperor Julian of constructing a firm graeco-Roman religious identity. Rather, it was to sidestep the whole religious issue by playing down the importance of religion to other areas of life.” another approach is taken by stenger 2009, who concentrates exclusively on libanios’ assertions about paganism, completely leaving out his letters to and relationship with christian students; unsurprisingly, he arrives at the picture of a highly militant pagan. 160 While themistius’ speech can be considered primarily an attempt at imperial interreligious instruction, designed to prevent religious rigorism à la Julian, the similar ideas presented in symmachus’ speech on the altar of Victory are set in a different context, namely in a situation of acute religious conflict; instruction, defence and polemics are closely connected. stenger 2009 reads or. V mainly as a covert critique of christianity because of the denial of its exclusivistic claims (371–77). this overlooks the very fact of themistius’ willingness to accomodate christianity.

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the pagan intellectual scene for more than another century, until the closing of the athenian school and the christianisation of the alexandrian ones. its strength lies precisely in providing a basis for a clear-cut pagan religious identity in the face of christianity, drawing clear boundaries between ‘us,’ the true Hellenes, preservers of the complete heritage of the classical past, and ‘them,’ the christians, obliquely designated as the base vultures surrounding the remains of a civilisation in agony.161 not surprisingly, Julian became the hero of such circles, forming the fixed point for historical chronology e.g. in marinus’ Vita Procli.162 But precisely in its strength we can also trace the reason for its failure: this pagan identity and religiosity remained the identity of an elite, willing to impart the basis of its religiosity, namely classical literature, rhetoric and philosophy rather to christians of the same social rank and intellectual background than to go beyond the limits of paideia.163 Wider religious education as an attempt to draw boundaries and secure a encompassing sense of ‘we’ was out of the question, both in the east and in the West; it was only carried out at the level of the educated elites, and there it succeeded in fueling religious conflicts, gaining converts and remaining alive as an intellectual tradition well into Byzantine times.164 Beside the constructed sophisticated religion of these elites, ‘paganism’ remained a variety of unconnected local and regional cults; the integrative function that public civic cults or prominent sanctuaries had exercised long gone, there was nothing to fill the vacuum. While Proclus’ attempt to teach locals in asia minor who their gods really were,165 or olympus’ attempts to teach religion to every alexandrian he encountered166 remained exceptional, christian preachers could fill the gap, exchange one name for another, attempt to change practices or point to the superior power of their divinity. But here again, 161  see saffrey 1975 and 1992. 162 marinus, Vita Procli 36. 163 Julian himself is the best example: he began his studies of rhetoric and philosophy as a christian under the guidance of pagan masters such as nicocles of sparta or the circle of aedesius; another student of his teacher maximus was later to become the bishop of the novatian community in constantinople (see tanaseanu-döbler 2008, 85ff). libanius’ prominent christian students are well-known (cf. cribiore 2007a or sandwell 2007). synesius, probably from a christian family, studied with the pagan Hypatia. in alexandria a certain accommodation to christian students can be noticed, which enabled the school to survive into the early 7th century. see Watts 2006 and Vössing 2008, 248–50. 164 conflicts and converts: damascius, Vita Isidori frg. 67 or 97a. For pagan intellectuals in the greek east after Proclus see the works of Kaldellis, esp. 2003 ( John lydus), 2005 (Hesychius of milet) or 2007. 165 marinus, Vita Procli 15. 166 damascius, Vita Isidori 42F–g athanassiadi.

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given the fact that popular religion operated with different mechanisms, accentuating practice and correspondingly learning by doing, christian teaching could hardly be effective in eradicating it: the complaints recurring time and again in theologians’ writings about ‘superstitious’ or ‘pagan’ practices remain a standing feature in Byzantium and the West, and forms of ancient cult performed in honour of christian saints remain a feature of popular religion.167 the demise of paganism can also be viewed in terms of the falling apart of elite and popular religiosity, and late antique christianity provided from the beginning forms to integrate both levels into a distinctive religious identity, not least by means of its flexible and nuanced instrumentarium of, and emphasis on religious instruction. But in spite of these developments, Julian’s model did not lose the battle entirely. His emphasis on the religious dimension of classical culture and education, his insistence that students might ultimately be led to convert to pagan religiosity by reading poetry or philosophy, was not mistaken: in the course of time, the fascination of classical education would every now and then reveal its latent religious potential in varying degrees.168 such religious changes certainly remained limited to a few intellectuals and never did gain the broad impact that Julian had envisaged. But after all, he was nothing but than an intellectual himself. Bibliography andresen, c., Logos und Nomos. Die Polemik des Kelsos wider das Christentum (Berlin: Walter de gruyter 1955). assmann, J., Monotheismus und Kosmotheismus. Ägyptische Formen eines “Denkens des Einen” und ihre europäische Rezeptionsgeschichte (Heidelberg: c. Winter 1993). athanassiadi, P., Julian and Hellenism. An Intellectual Biography (oxford: clarendon 1981). ——, Damascius. The Philosophical History (athens: apamea cultural association 1999). auffarth, ch., “die frühen christentümer als lokale Religion,” in Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum 7 (2003), 14–26. Belayche, n., “Partager la table des dieux: l’empereur Julien et les sacrifices,» in Revue de l’histoire des religions 218 (2001), 457–86. Bidez, J., L’empereur Julien. Oeuvres complètes, vol. i,2: Lettres et fragment. (3rd ed. Paris: les Belles lettres 1972).

167 see e.g. Kaldellis 2008 on ‘survivals’ on lesbos. 168 e.g. the well-known case of Plethon (on whom see the detailed analysis of tambrunKrasker 2006) or marullus, whose Hymni naturales show a marked degree of internalisation of pagan ideas—although his precise religious standpoint is never explicitly stated and must remain a matter of conjecture (see schönberger 1996, 13–15, who cautiously tends toward viewing him as a pagan).

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Blockley, R.c., The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus (liverpool: Francis cairns 1981). Bouffartigue, J., L’empereur Julien et la culture de son temps (Paris: institut d’Études augustiniennes 1992). Bradbury, s., “Julian’s Pagan Revival and the decline of Bloody sacrifices,” in Phoenix 49 (1995), 331–56. Bremmer, J., “the Family and other centres of Religious learning in antiquity,” in J.W. drijvers and a.a. macdonald (eds.), Centres of Learning. Learning and Location in Pre-Modern Europe and the Near East (leiden/new York/cologne: Brill 1995), 29–38. Bringmann, K., Kaiser Julian (darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft/Primus Verlag 2004). van den Broek, R., “the christian ‘school’ of alexandria in the second and third centuries,” in J.W. drijvers and a.a. macdonald (eds.), Centres of Learning. Learning and Location in Pre-Modern Europe and the Near East (leiden/new York/cologne: Brill 1995), 39–47. cameron, a., “Julian and Hellenism,” in The Ancient World 24 (1993), 25–29. ——. “the last Pagans of Rome,” in W.V. Harris (ed.), The Transformations of VRBS ROMA in Late Antiquity (Portsmouth, Ri: 1999), 109–21. camplani a. and Zambon, m., “il sacrificio come problema in alcune correnti filosofiche di età imperiale,” in Annali di storia dell’esegesi 19 (2002), 59–99. carmon Hardy, B., “the emperor Julian and His school law,” in Church History 37 (1968), 131–43. christes, J., Klein R. and lüth ch. (eds.), Handbuch der Bildung und Erziehung in der Antike (darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2006). clarke, e.c., “communication Human and divine: saloustios Reconsidered,” in Phronesis 43 (1998), 326–50. cox miller, P., “strategies of Representation in collective Biography. constructing the subject as Holy,” in t. Hägg and Ph. Rousseau (eds.), Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity (Berkeley/los angeles/london: university of california Press 2000), 209–54. cribiore, R., Writing, Teachers and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (atlanta: scholars Press 1996). ——, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Princeton: Princeton university Press 2001). ——, The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch (Princeton/oxford: Princeton university Press 2007) (2007a). ——, “Higher education in early Byzantine egypt: Rhetoric, latin and the law,” in R. Bagnall (ed.), Egypt in the Byzantine World, 300–700 (cambridge, uK: cambridge university Press 2007), 47–66 (2007b). cumont, F., “salluste le philosophe,” in Revue de philologie, de litterature et d’histoire anciennes, n.s., 16 (1892), 49–56. curta, F., “language, Ἔθνη and national gods: a note on emperor Julian’s concept of Hellenism,” in Ancient World 33 (2002), 3–19. dawson, d., Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria (Berkeley et al.: university of california Press 1992). demandt, a., “diokletian als Reformer,” in a. demandt, a. goltz and H. schlange-schöningen (eds.), Diokletian und die Tetrarchie. Aspekte einer Zeitenwende (Berlin/new York: Walter de gruyter 2004). desnier, J.-l., “salutius-salustius,” in Revue des Études Anciennes 85 (1983), 53–65. de Palma, digeser, e., The Making of a Christian Empire. Lactantius and Rome (ithaca/ london: cornell university Press 2000). downey, g., “the emperor Julian and the schools,” in The Classical Journal 53 (1957), 97–103. ——, “erziehung und Bildung im spätrömischen Reich. christliche und heidnische theorien unter Konstantin und seinen nachfolgern,” in H.-th. Johann (ed.), Erziehung

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nock, a.d., Sallustius. Concerning the Gods and the Universe (cambridge: cambridge university Press 1926; repr. Hildesheim: georg olms 1966). Penella, R., Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century A.D. Studies in Eunapius of Sardis (leeds: Francis cairns, 1990). Piepenbrink, K., Christliche Assimilation und Identität in der Spätantike. Probleme des Christseins in der Reflexion der Zeitgenossen (Frankfurt: Verlag antike 2005). Rinaldi, R., La Bibbia dei pagani (Bologna: edizioni dehoniane 1997). Rochefort, g., Saloustios. Des dieux et du monde (Paris: les Belles lettres 1960). Rosen, K., Julian. Kaiser, Gott und Christenhasser (stuttgart: Klett-cotta 2006). Rubenson, s., “Philosophy and simplicity. the Problem of classical education in early christian Biography,” in t. Hägg and Ph. Rousseau (eds.), Greek Biography and Pan­ egyric in Late Antiquity (Berkeley/los angeles/london: university of california Press 2000), 110–39. saffrey, H.-d., “allusions antichrétiennes chez Proclus le diadoque néoplatonicien” in Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 59 (1975), 553–63. ——, “le thème du malheur des temps chez les derniers philosophes néoplatoniciens,” in m.-o. goulet-cazé, g. madec and d. o’Brien (eds.), ΣΟΦΙΗΣ ΜΑΙΗΤΟΡΕΣ Chercheurs de sagesse. Hommage à Jean Pépin (Paris: institut d’Études augustiniennes 1992), 421–31. saggioro, a., “il sacrificio pagano nella reazione al cristianesimo. giuliano e macrobio,” in Annali di storia dell’esegesi 19 (2002), 237–54. salzman, m.R., “Religious Koine and Religious dissent in the Fourth century,” in J. Rüpke (ed.), A Companion to Roman Religion (malden/oxford/carlton: Blackwell 2007), 109–25. sandwell, i., Religious Identity in Late Antiquity. Greeks, Jews and Christians in Antioch (cambridge, uK: cambridge university Press 2007). schäfer, ch., “Julian ‘apostata’ und die philosophische Reaktion gegen das christentum. die ‘Pseudomorphosen’ des platonischen denkens im ‘magischen Zeitalter,’” in id. (ed.) Kaiser Julian ‘Apostata’ und die philosophische Reaktion gegen das Christentum (Berlin: de gruyter 2008), 41–64. schlange-schöningen, H., Kaisertum und Bildungswesen im spätantiken Konstantinopel (stuttgart: Franz steiner Verlag 1995). schönberger, o., Michael Marullus. Hymni naturales (Würzburg: Königshausen und neumann 1996). scholl, R., “das Bildungsproblem in der alten Kirche,” in Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Pädagogik 10 (1964), 24–43. smith, J.Z., “the Wobbling Pivot,” in Journal of Religion 52 (1972), 134–49; repr. in id., Map Is Not Territory (leiden: Brill 1978), 88–103. ——, “the influence of symbols upon social change: a Place on Which to stand,” in Wor­ ship 44 (1970), 457–74; repr. in id., Map Is Not Territory (leiden: Brill 1978), 129–46. ——, “map is not territory,” in id. Map Is Not Territory (leiden: Brill 1978), 289–309; (inaugural lecture held 1974). ——, Drudgery Divine. On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity (chicago: university of chicago Press 1990). smith, R., Julian’s Gods. Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (london/new York: Routledge 1995). stenger, i., Hellenische Identität in der Spätantike. Pagane Autoren und ihr Unbehagen an der eigenen Zeit (Berlin/new York: de gruyter 2009). stockmeier, P., “glaube und Paideia,” in Theologische Quartalsschrift 147 (1967), 432–52. stroumsa, g.g., Barbarian Philosophy. The Religious Revolution of Early Christianity (tübingen: mohr siebeck 1999). ——, Hidden Wisdom. Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism (2nd ed. leiden: Brill 2005; originally published 1996). von stuckrad, K., “ ‘christen’ und ‘nichtchristen’ in der antike. Von religiös konstruierten grenzen zur diskursorientierten Religionswissenschaft,” in Hairesis. Festschrift für

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From a Way oF reading to a Way oF LiFe: BasiL oF Caesarea and gregory oF nazianzus aBout Poetry in Christian eduCation andreas schwab it is unlikely that anyone would doubt the presence of a certain relationship between reading and education. however, perhaps not everyone would accept the following definition of the educated person as a reader: the educated person is a reader. . . . he knows to read books in such a manner that they transform him. . . . it is an infallible sign of education that one considers knowledge neither a mere accumulation of information, nor an amusing pastime or social-décor, but rather something which can signify an inner transformation and expansion, which will have an effect on one’s actions. this is not only relevant if it concerns significant ethical values. the educated person will also become a different person by means of poetry.1

this definition is part of a valuable and rich discourse of the swiss philosopher and novelist Peter Bieri (also known under the alias Pascal mercier) about education. the last sentence in particular would meet with ready agreement from the two intellectuals and church fathers of the fourth century a.d., Basil of Caesarea, also known as ‘the great’, and his friend gregory of nazianzus, ‘the theologian’, both originally from the great region of Cappadocia in the eastern part of the roman empire, in Western anatolia, today Western turkey.2 the role of poetry in the context of Christian religious education in the second half of the fourth century is the main interest of my study, although it will be limited to the two influential thinkers of Cappadocia.

1 Bieri 2005, 4 (my translation): “der gebildete ist ein Leser. . . . der gebildete weiß Bücher so zu lesen, dass sie ihn verändern. . . . das ist ein untrügliches zeichen von Bildung: dass einer Wissen nicht als bloße ansammlung von information, als vergnüglichen zeitvertreib oder gesellschaftliches dekor betrachtet, sondern als etwas, das innere Veränderung und erweiterung bedeuten kann, die handlungswirksam wird. das gilt nicht nur, wenn es um moralisch bedeutsame dinge geht. der gebildete wird auch durch Poesie ein anderer.” For Peter Bieri, the concept of the educated person as a reader is, of course, only one aspect of an educated person. 2 For the life and works of Basil see rousseau 1994. For the life and works of gregory see mcguckin 2001, Bernardi 1995 and schwab 2009, 17–30.

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Poetry as well as philosophy and rhetoric were not only the main components of the concept of paideia in Classical greek antiquity,3 but they continued to play a major role in the imperial era and Late antiquity, especially in the context of the institution of the school and rhetorical training in the graeco-roman empire.4 Why is it useful to study the position these two men held on poetry? Both were highly talented orators and received their extraordinary intellectual education among other places in the great metropolis of athens. neither was alone in having an official role as bishop and being a representative of the early church engaged in and concerned with questions regarding education in the second half of the 4th century. they also had another thing in common: both addressed young people. however, there is one interesting difference. While Basil addresses the young people in a fine and profound exhortation about the use of non-Christian literature5 and especially poetry, gregory explicitly declares in one of his poems that he uses the medium of poetry to address young people.6 so while the one speaks theoretically about the use and value of poetry, the other uses the various metres of greek poetry as a medium of education. it therefore appears useful to first study the main advice concerning poetry given by Basil in his “address to young People on the right use of greek Literature”.7 after presenting an overview of his address, i will further scrutinise some special aspects of Basil’s reflection. a summary of his advice on reading poetry will be presented in four principles, which serve as a kind of reading guide. the right use of greek literature and especially poetry is finally illustrated by the famous ‘parable of the bees’ (see below). the second part focuses on gregory of nazianzus and the four reasons he gives in his poem “on his own Verses” for writing poetry. Both analyses will finally show that poetry plays an important role in Christian religious education.

3 see Jaeger 1933–1947 and Jaeger 1961. 4 see hose 2004 and hose 2006. 5 on the greek and Latin terms for non-Christians see opelt 1965. 6 For the poetry of gregory see demoen 1996 and gilbert 2001. 7 the greek title is: ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΝΕΟΥΣ ΟΠΩΣ ΑΝ ΕΞ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΩΦΕΛΟΙΝΤΟ ΛΟΓΩΝ. see the critical edition of naldini 1984, the english translation of Padelford 1902 and the French translation of Boulenger 1935/1965.

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1. Basil on the Use of Poetry in so far as my inquiry focuses on the role and value of poetry in Basil’s essay, it seems useful to provide an overview of the ten chapters of his treatise.8 1.1. An Overview of the ad adolescentes While the first chapter of his “address to Υoung People about the right use of greek Literature” deals with a persuasive captatio benevolentiae, the second chapter presents the main thesis of his essay. in principle, the reading of non-Christian authors seems useful, if an appropriate selection is made. in chapters three to eight, this thesis is developed and illustrated by various examples, analogies and parables. in chapter three, for example moses and daniel are presented as examples of people having both acquired great knowledge of other cultures. Presenting a parable about the behaviour of bees in chapter four, Basil demonstrates to the young people how they should choose and select their reading-passages from the great variety of greek literature. in chapter five, he explains that virtue (ἀρετή) represents one important criterion for the choice of literature. Chapter six sets out the connection of theory and practice: young people should not only read and attentively consider worthy deeds and actions of virtue, they should also imitate them and put them into action. some anecdotes from non-Christian models are presented in the seventh chapter, including Pericles, socrates and euclid. Basil considers their deeds nearly in accordance with Christian doctrine, and regards them as highly worthy of imitation. Basil emphasizes, by some analogies in chapter eight, the efforts and exercises necessary to live a Christian life, then in the following chapter reminds the young to take particular care of their souls (τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλειαν). although they will become more intimately

8 the work is extremely difficult to date. see rousseau 1994, 49–50 and Bräutigam 2003, 154–55. Bräutigam notes that she could not aim for new insights “die eines der unzähligen argumente für eine frühe beziehungsweise späte datierung zwingend widerlegen oder bekräftigen würden. dennoch kann man sich meines erachtens in soweit festlegen, dass Ad Adolescentes nach der aufhebung von Julians schulgesetz entstanden ist, also frühestens im Jahre 364 nach Christus. nach der aufhebung von Julians schulgesetz waren die Würfel zu gunsten eines selbstverständlicheren umgangs von Christen mit heidnischer Bildung weitestgehend gefallen. die grundsätzliche Frage, ob ein Christ sich heidnischer Bildung unterziehen solle, hatte an aktualität verloren. Vielmehr stand nun die Frage nach dem wie im Vordergrund. genau dieser Frage hatte sich Basileios in seiner schrift gewidmet . . .” (154).

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acquainted with the Christian way of life by reading the sacred writings, in the final chapter Basil advises them to, for the present, trace the silhouette of virtue in the non-Christian authors. 1.2. Introductory Reflections in his opening words (ch. 1), Basil refers to his own experience in order to gain the attention and confidence of his young audience. the addressed young people are characterized as going to school every day and being in touch (συγγινομένοις) with the learned men of the past through their writings. in contrast to them, Basil describes himself as “so familiarized with human affairs” (ἔμπειρόν με εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων) that he would be very able to map out the safest course for those just starting their careers. his captatio benevolentiae concludes with an allusion to some verses of hesiod’s “Works and days”:9 now if you should receive my words with gladness, you would be in the second class of those who, according to hesiod, merit praise; if not, i should say nothing disparaging, but no doubt you yourselves would remember the passage in which that poet says: “he is best (ἄριστον μέν) who, of himself, recognizes what is his duty, and he also is good (ἐσθλὸν δέ) who follows the course marked out by others, but he who does neither of these things is of no use under the sun” (ἀχρεῖον εἶναι πρὸς ἅπαντα) (ch. 1).10

By the mere inclusion of this passage, Basil encourages and warns the young people to listen appropriately to his advice. at the same time, he exhibits the first evidence of his acquaintance with greek poetry. Basil emphasizes that he stands in the same relationship to them as their parents do and that he, too, is concerned about them. therefore, he will give them his counsel. his advice concerns the relation of a young Christian towards non-Christian literature. in Basil’s opinion, the young people should not give over their minds completely to the learned men of the past, but rather, while receiving (δεχομένους) what is useful (χρήσιμον), also learn to recognize (εἰδέναι) what they should ignore (παριδεῖν) in their writings. the author explicitly states that he will teach them (διδάξω). on the one hand, they will learn which writings these are, on the other hand, how (ὅπως) they can discriminate (διακρινοῦμεν) between them.

  9 Cf. hesiod, Works and Days, 293–97. 10 the english translation is that of Padelford 1902, ch. 1.

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1.3. Some Basic Convictions or: The Preparation for “Another Life” the second chapter of Basil’s treatise reveals some of his basic convictions as well as of his addressed audience. here, Basil briefly names some of the orientations and values for a Christian life. at first he emphasizes—in the first person plural (ἡμεῖς)—that he and the addressed young people hold that “this” human life (τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον τοῦτον) is not in every way (παντάπασι) a benefit (χρῆμα). neither do they consider anything wholly good (οὔτ’ἀγαθόν τι νομίζομεν ὅλως), nor do they call (οὔτ’ὀνομάζομεν) anything “good” if its use is only limited to this life. this basic conviction is further illustrated by the following sentence, which enumerates some negative examples:11 neither pride of ancestry, nor bodily strength, nor beauty, nor greatness, nor the esteem of all men, nor kingly authority, nor, indeed, whatever of human affairs may be called great do we consider worthy of desire, or the possessors of them as objects of envy (ch. 2).12

instead of being orientated towards these values, Basil declares at first that he and the addressed young people place their hopes upon greater things (ἐπὶ μακρότερον). secondly, he remarks that all things they do (ἅπαντα πράττομεν) they should do in preparation for “another life” (πρὸς ἑτέρου βίου παρασκευήν). according to these basic convictions, the author adds two important aspects: (a) on the one hand, he holds the opinion that whatever helps toward achieving this kind of “another life” they should love (ἀγαπᾶν) and follow (διώκειν) with all their force; (b) on the other hand, those things which have no bearing upon it should be ignored, as if they had no value (ὡς οὐδενὸς ἄξια παρορᾶν). one might ask why Basil starts with this kind of elementary reflection, and why he mentions these deep convictions in this context, speaking about the value of greek literature. From Basil’s perspective, reading texts or listening to them are highly important actions which affect the one who listens or reads—especially if young people and students are concerned. in the fifth chapter, Basil remarks on the souls of young people: since we must needs attain to the life to come through virtue, our attention is to be chiefly fastened upon those many passages from the poets, from

11  For this enumeration see also Plato, Rep. 491c. 12 Padelford 1902, ch. 2. Cf. this passage with Matthew 6:25–33.

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andreas schwab the historians, and especially from the philosophers, in which virtue itself is praised. For it is of no small advantage that virtue become a habit with a youth, for the lessons of youth make a deep impression, because the soul is then plastic, and therefore they are likely to be indelible (ch. 5).13

nevertheless, Basil states that the “holy scriptures” (Ἱεροὶ Λόγοι) lead through divine words to this “other” life. in its literal meaning: the holy scriptures “will educate us” (ἐκπαιδεύοντες) “through ineffable words” (δι’ἀπορρήτων) to this other life.14 1.4. The Training of “the Eye of the Soul” and a First Hermeneutical Principle although Basil underlines the great educational value of the holy scriptures for this “other life”, he must mention one crucial aspect: there is an important condition concerning the young people and their understanding of the scriptures. as long as anyone is unable to listen (ἐπακούειν) to the deep thoughts (τοῦ βάθους τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν) of scripture—because of his age and immaturity—, he should exercise (προγυμναζόμεθα) “the eye of the soul” (τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμματι) in other writings (ἐν ἑτέροις) which are not altogether different and in which he will be able to perceive the truth “as it were in shadows and in mirrors.” it is remarkable that the young people should concentrate their attention on these “other writings”—the greek, non-Christian-literature—which seem not altogether different from the Christian writings. By this assertion, Basil formulates a first hermeneutical principle which can be paraphrased as follows: first, the young people should be initiated in the non-Christian lore and pay attention to the writings outside Christian literature (τοῖς ἔξω δὴ τούτοις), then they should, at length, give special attention to the sacred and divine teachings (τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ἀπορρήτων ἐπακουσόμεθα παιδευμάτων). 1.5. The Engagement in Life and Literature to illustrate this attitude towards non-Christian literature, Basil explains that they should imitate (μιμούμενοι) those who perform the exercises of military practice, for in this way they acquire their first experience (ἐμπειρίαν) in gymnastics and in dancing, and then in battle (ἐπὶ τῶν

13 Padelford 1902, ch. 5. 14 equally literal the French translation of Boulenger 1935/1965: “C’est à cette vie que nous conduisent les saints Livres par l’enseignement des mystères” (ἐκπαιδεύοντες δι’ἀπορρήτων).

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ἀγώνων) reap the reward of their training (τοῦ ἐκ τῆς παιδείας ἀπολαύουσι κέρδους). By this analogy and the use of the term ἀγών (competition, battle) Basil illustrates the behaviour and engagement required of anyone who—from his perspective—tries to follow the Christian path; in addition, he alludes to saint Paul.15 he underlines that the greatest of all battles lies before them. in preparation for this battle they must do and suffer all things to gain strength. now, in this context of the outlined “battle” condition, Basil turns back to the topic of greek literature. he gives two important and lucid pieces of advice concerning the treatment of greek literature: We must be conversant (ὁμιλητέον) with poets, with historians, with orators, indeed with all men who may further be useful (ὠφέλειά τις) for the concern about the soul (πρὸς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλειαν) (ch. 2).16

secondly, he concludes (ch. 2) with the thesis that if they wished to indelibly preserve the idea of true virtue, they should first be initiated in the non-Christian lore, then extensively give special attention to the sacred and divine teachings. illustrating again this thought with an image in allusion to Plato he remarks: “even as we first accustom ourselves to the sun’s reflection in water, and then became able to turn upon the very sun itself ” (ch. 2).17 1.6. The Four Principles of Reading the four main pieces of advice which Basil gives to the young people in his essay shall be summarized. they all concern the reading of poetry, but they are not limited to it. they can be designated as ‘principles of reading’. after a short explanation i will give an abridged version of the principle which shows its importance to the process and act of reading. (1) The Hermeneutical Principle this first principle (ch. 2) is the most important in Basil’s essay, because it contains a clear statement about the value of non-Christian literature and poetry in Christian education. the young people are advised to dedicate their time and attention to this kind of literature. the daily practice of

15 see Hebrews 12:1 (δι’ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα) and i Corinthians 9:25 (πᾶς δὲ ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος πάντα ἐγκρατεύεται, ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ἵνα φθαρτὸν στέφανον λάβωσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον). 16 Padelford 1902, ch. 2. 17 see Plato Rep. 516b.

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reading and listening to it will prepare them for an understanding of the deeper sense of the holy scriptures. in this way, reading non-Christian literature has a propaedeutic function for the comprehension of the holy and mysterious doctrines. Formulated as a short piece of advice: For the comprehension of the holy scriptures, first read non-Christian literature.

(2) The Principle of Selective Reading this second principle for the reader (ch. 4) is formally a sort of restriction of the first principle. the readers should neither dedicate their whole attention (προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν) to everything stated in poetry, nor to all the poets. this is not a form of general censorship; the students are rather encouraged to be attentive in their use of literature. the young reader should be fully aware of his choice and selection of what he reads. Formulated as a short piece of advice: Pay attention to your choice of passages.

(3) The Principle of Moral Discernment this principle (ch. 4) advises that attention should be paid to the moral aspects in texts. Basil makes a clear distinction between the representations of different subjects in poetry. on the one hand, the representations of actions and speeches of good men (τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν πράξεις ἢ λόγους) should be loved (ἀγαπᾶν) and imitated (ζηλοῦν) with the greatest effort; on the other hand, the young people should take care in the case of the representations of “bad guys” (μοχθηροὺς ἄνδρας). in the latter, they should follow his counsel: “you must flee from them and stop up your ears, as odysseus is said to have fled past the song of the sirens, for familiarity with evil writings paves the way for evil deeds.” Formulated as a short piece of advice: read and imitate the good, flee from the evil.

(4) The Principle of Precaution the selection of passages with regard to moral aspects rests upon the conviction (ch. 4) that the “familiarity (συνήθεια) with evil writings paves the way for evil deeds.”18 Because of this, Basil also draws attention to the

18 Ad Adolescentes 4.11–13: Ἡ γὰρ πρὸς τοὺς φαύλους τῶν λόγων συνήθεια ὁδός τίς ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα. Διὸ δὴ πάσῃ φυλακῇ τὴν ψυχὴν τηρητέον. . . .

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aesthetical attraction of literature: the reader should guard (τηρητέον) his soul (τὴν ψυχήν) with much care (πάσῃ φυλακῇ) that his soul does not receive unknowingly—through the pleasure for letters (μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν λόγων ἡδονῆς)—some contamination like those who imbibe poison with honey. this point of attention could be called the principle of precaution. it deeply reflects the fact that reading affects the soul of the one who listens or reads. Formulated as a short piece of advice: always take care of your soul, while you are reading.

Basil illustrates his opinion that poets should not be praised for several reasons as follows: We shall not praise poets when they scoff and rail, when they represent fornicators and wine drinkers, when they define blissfulness by groaning tables and wanton songs. (ch. 4)19

Finally, he mentions some important theological aspects. they concern the representation of the gods (ch. 4). the young people should not listen to the poets when they portray the gods as being many and not at one among themselves, for that is the case when at one time brother is represented at variance with brother, or the father with his children, or when at another the children engage in war against their parents.20 Basil warns also against the representation of divine adulteries and amours, and especially those of the god whom they call zeus. 1.7. The Parable of the Bees By using the beautiful parable of the bees in chapter four, Basil summarizes his advice as a whole. the parable once more illustrates, among other things, his thesis that Christians could indeed learn many useful things from the greek authors, be it from poets, from historians or especially from philosophers, if they praise virtue: For just as bees know how to extract honey from flowers, which to men are agreeable only for their fragrance and color, even so here also those who look for something more than pleasure and enjoyment in such writers may derive profit for their souls (εἰς τὴν ψυχήν). now, then, altogether after the manner of bees must we use these writings, for the bees do not visit all the

19 Padelford 1902, ch. 4. 20 since Xenophanes of Colophon these are the classical topoi for the criticism of the immoral and anthropomorphic representation of the gods; see diels/Kranz [21] B11, B12 and B14.

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andreas schwab flowers without discrimination, nor indeed do they seek to carry away entire those upon which they light, but rather, having taken so much as is adapted to their needs, they let the rest go. so we, if wise, shall take from these writings21 whatever befits us (οἰκεῖον ἡμῖν) and is allied to the truth (συγγενὲς τῇ ἀληθείᾳ), and shall pass over (ὑπερβησόμεθα) the rest. and just as in culling roses we avoid the thorns, from such writings as these we will gather everything useful, and guard against the noxious. (ch. 4)22

For the reading of homeric poetry in particular, Basil formulates an important rule (ch. 5), which he has heard “from one skilful in interpreting the mind of a poet”—probably one of his teachers in Constantinople or athens. it reads as follows: the whole poetry of homer is a praise of virtue (ἀρετῆς ἔπαινος) and with him all that is not merely accessory tends to this end. so once more he concentrates on the aspect of virtue which has to be seen against the important background of the concern for the soul (τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλεια). 2. Gregory and His Use of Poetry the attention Basil pays to the education of young people can also be found in the reflections of his colleague and friend gregory of nazianzus. gregory, who is known as one of the most educated writers and talented orators of the 4th century a.d., was also one of the greatest theologians of his time. regarding the question of the value of poetry and its place in Christian religious education, he merits special attention, because not only did he write about poetry, but he also wrote poetry himself. about 18,000 verses of his poetic œuvre survive, written in various metres and addressing a great range of topics.23 not only did he use dactylic hexameters, but he also wrote in elegiac couplets, epic dialect, rare homeric forms, iambic trimeter and so on.24 my study will only focus on a few aspects of this abundant work, in order to determine to whom he addressed his poetry, and for what reasons he wrote it.

21 i have modified the translation of Padelford 1902 (“from heathen books”) in accordance with the greek text (παρ’αὐτῶν) “from these writings.” 22 Padelford 1902, ch. 4. 23 see Wyss 1983 and Bernardi 1995, in particular, Chapitre XIV Un Poète Chrétien, 307–27, for some of the theological poems see moreschini and sykes 1997 with a rich bibliography. For an analysis of one of the theological poems (i.i.V. on Providence) see schwab 2009. 24 see mcguckin 2006.

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For this purpose, we should direct our attention particularly to one poem, which is entitled “on his own Verses” (Εἰς τὰ ἔμμετρα).25 this poem, written in iambic trimeters, contains some reflections about his writing. in some ways, it could properly be called “a piece of writing about writing, a work of literary theory or criticism.”26 this interesting poem provides some indications about gregory’s motivation to write ‘in meter’. the four reasons gregory explicitly names are: (1) to moderate his ‘unmeasuredness’, (2) to write for young people, (3) competition with foreigners in literature and (4) his own consolation. among these reasons it is noticeable that again—as in the case of Basil— the young people and their religious education play an important role.27 a fifth reason is mentioned indirectly. the four reasons will be presented in the order in which they occur in the poem: (1) the first reason (lines 34–37a) gregory mentions is to control his own ‘unmeasuredness’ (τὴν ἐμὴν ἀμετρίαν). this can be seen as an ascetical exercise. he does not write as much when he has to respect the meter. First, by working for others, i wished, so to subdue my own unmeasuredness; indeed, though i write, i don’t write much When toiling on the meter.28

(2) gregory intends to write for the young people (τοῖς νέοις, lines 37b– 46). he specifies the group of young people as “especially those who love to read” (ὅσοι μάλιστα χαίρουσιν λόγοις). his poetry should serve as some kind of cheering medicine (φάρμακον), “guiding the trustful to things more worthy” (εἰς τὰ χρησιμώτερα). similar to Basil, gregory tries to give orientation to young people. the medium of orientation is his poetry, to sweeten (γλυκάζων) “by artful means the tartness of the commandments” (τῶν ἐντολῶν). the direction of his orientation is the contest and competition for the good (πρὸς τὸ καλόν). secondly, for the young, especially such as love to read, i’d give this as some kind of cheering medicine,

25 Poem 2.1.39. 26 gilbert 2001, 12. 27 For a more detailed account of the four reasons see schwab 2009, 26–30. 28 the english translation is from gilbert 2001, 153–56.

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andreas schwab guiding the trustful to things most worthy, sweetening by artful means the commandments’ tartness. and the harpstring’s tension also likes relaxing, if you want this too: if nothing else take these in place of songs and lyre-tunes. i have given you them for play, if you care to play a bit, Lest some injury should come to you in your contest for the good.29

(3) as a third motivation (lines 47–51) gregory mentions the competition with foreigners in literature (ἐν λόγοις). this motivation, however, is put into perspective: he declares that it was not so important, but nevertheless the desire has influenced him “to see that strangers (τοὺς ξένους) have no advantage over ‘us’ in literature”. it is noteworthy to consider also the two following remarks: that for their sake he speaks in highly-colored language (τοῖς κεχρωσμένοις λόγοις), although beauty for “us” (the Christians) lies in contemplation (ἐν θεωρίᾳ). this explanation amounts to a kind of justification. the reader of this poem gets the impression that gregory tries to justify that he, as a Christian, writes in poetic language. But the following statement is clear: for gregory, the real beauty consists in contemplation. a third thing i know affects me: not so important a thing, Perhaps, but it has influenced me: to see to it that strangers have no advantage over us in literature. For their sake i speak in highly-colored language, even though beauty, for us, is in contemplation.30

(4) the fourth reason (lines 54–57) is a personal one: his consolation. it seems that writing served also as a kind of consolation, when he was stricken with disease. this fourth i found when stricken with disease, as a consolation: like an aged swan to speak to myself with sibilant wings, not a dirge, but a song of transition.31

Following these four reasons, gregory addresses himself hereon to “the wise” (οἱ σοφοί) and mentions indirectly a fifth reason (lines 52–53, 58–63).

29 gilbert 2001, 154. 30 gilbert 2001, 154. 31  gilbert 2001, 155.

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(5) Concerning this fifth reason mcguckin comments: “his fifth and final reason is an invitation to the wise to enter into gregory’s innermost mind”.32 it’s you, the wise we’ve played to now. Let it be given us to play the lion. . . . Besides these, learn, you wise, our inward things. if then you are persuaded, it’s these words’ best use; even those which are in play are words, so give them room: nothing’s too long or overstuffed, nothing is useless, as i do believe. these very words will teach you, if you’re willing.33

it is easy to see the parallel between gregory’s second motivation (the interest in teaching young people) and Basil’s concern for the young people and his educational efforts. 3. A Way of Reading Leads to a Way of Life if we, finally, relate our analytical description of Basil’s treatise and the reported reasons of gregory of nazianzus for his poetry to the analytical approach outlined in the general introduction to this volume on religious education, we may point out the following conclusions: (1) Concerning the contents of religious education, i.e. the question what exactly is transmitted in the process of religious education, Basil rather argues for a method of careful reading instead of giving concrete instructions of a certain religious content. While gregory, by the exposition of his Christian poetry, offers certain moral teachings in accordance with a Christian way of life, Basil only admonishes his readers to be aware of the important modus of reading non-Christian poetry. on the whole, both Basil’s methodological instruction as well as gregory’s poetic project can be interpreted as the self-positioning of two Christian religious leaders with regard to non-Christian culture in general and to the authoritative texts of its ‘Classical literature’ in particular.

32 mcguckin 2006, 210. 33 gilbert 2001, 155.

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(2) as to the addressees, Basil as well as gregory aim to religiously educate and socialize the Christian youth. one should also pay attention to the fact that especially by writing down and disseminating their ideas on religious education and formation the two authors were possibly read and their ideas noted by a greater public and, in particular, by non-Christian (and also) later readers. in fact, it is noteworthy that the history of reception of Basil’s treatise and its use in the renaissance, for example, was very influential and so important that Werner Jaeger called it “the charter of all Christian higher education for centuries to come”.34 (3) With regard to the educational mediators and agents, i.e. both Basil and gregory, we should point out that Basil presents himself not so much as a bishop with great authority, but rather as a “father” who cares about his children. this aspect emphasizes not only his authority, but also his proximity to young people. more importantly, by his own frequent citing and alluding to classical literature (e.g. hesiod, homer or Plato) as well as his ability to deliver a well educated speech, Basil demonstrates his familiarity with non-Christian culture and literature. in this way, he presents himself as a living model—a model of competence and worthy of imitation. While Basil is able to speak rhetorically on rhetoric and learnedly on religious education, gregory, his friend, tries to serve as a model for imitation with his poetry. the identification and imitation of these ‘living models’ is an attractive concept in religious education as advocated by both ecclesiastical persons. (4) thinking about the educational mediators also requires asking about the media and methods through which the process of religious education are accomplished in our case-study. at first we should mention the importance of the word, language and rhetoric, which play a central role for the educational mediators in our study. With respect to the poetic project of gregory, one could claim that by studying and reciting his poetry young people would easily get acquainted with the transported contents, be it biblical narratives, prayers or also theological and dogmatic issues. By studying and reciting hexameter verses on god as the father, the holy spirit or his divine providence they would be able to gradually deepen their knowledge of and insights into these theological and dogmatic aspects of (orthodox) Christian religion. For this purpose the musi-

34 see Jaeger 1961, 81 and the study of schucan 1973.

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cal and rhythmical aspect of recited greek poetry should also be taken into account. (5) Finally, concerning the intentions and ideals of a religious education as outlined by both authors, we observe that greek literature in general and poetry in particular play an important role in the religious education of young Christians. But whereas the treatise of Basil remains a theoretical reflection on poetry, gregory himself is engaged as a poet who undertakes to educate by his poetry, as well as to guide towards a Christian way of life. While Basil is also convinced that his advised study of greek literature leads to a better and deeper subsequent understanding of the holy scriptures, both bishops are highly engaged and involved in a deeper formation of a religious identity of their own, as well as of their addressees. Both demonstrate in an ideal manner how a Christian, who has himself appropriated all the treasures and fruits of the ordinary paideia, could make use of it. the ‘right use’ of poetry is expressed in Basil’s four principles of reading, which could serve as a guide for the religious education of the young Christian students. the counsel of Basil as well as the poetic industry of his friend gregory rest upon the conviction that at least a certain way of reading will both lead to and support a certain way of life.35 Bibliography Bernardi, J., Saint Grégoire de Nazianze. Le théologien et son temps (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf 1995). Bieri, P., “Wie wäre es gebildet zu sein? ” Festrede an der Pädagogischen hochschule Bern, november 2005. http://www.phbern.ch/fileadmin/Bilder_und_dokumente/01_PhBern/ PdF/051104_Festrede_P._Bieri.pdf. Boulenger, F., Saint Basile. Aux jeunes gens sur la manière de tirer profit des lettres helléniques (Paris: Les Belles Lettres 1935, repr. 1965). Bräutigam, F., Basileios der Grosse und die heidnische Bildung. Eine Interpretation seiner Schrift „Ad adolescentes”, Phd dissertation, university of Jena 2003. demoen, K., “the attitude towards greek Poetry in the Verse of gregory nazianzen”, in J. den Boeft and a. hilhorst (eds.) Early Christian Poetry, A Collection of Essays. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae XXII. (Leiden/new york/Cologne: Brill 1993), 235–52. ——, Pagan and Biblical Exempla in Gregory Nazianzen. A Study in Rhetoric and Hermeneutics (turnhout: Brepols 1996).

35 For criticism and corrections of this essay i am deeply thankful to todd Curtis, Philip van der eijk and sonja Lapraik, university of newcastle upon tyne (uK), as well as to athanassios Vergados and ricarda Wagner (heidelberg).

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gilbert, P., On God and Man. The Theological Poetry of St Gregory of Nazianzus (Crestwood, ny: st Vladimir’s seminary Press 2001). hose, m., Poesie aus der Schule. Überlegungen zur spätgriechischen Dichtung, (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 2004, heft 1) (munich: Beck 2004). ——, “die entstehung der christlichen Poesie”, in r. Kussl (ed.), Präsenz der Antike (speyer: Kartoffel-druck 2006), 75–103. Jaeger, W., Paideia. Die Formung des griechischen Menschen, 3 vols. (Berlin/new york: de gruyter 1933, 1944, 1947). ——, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (Cambridge, ma: Belknap Press harvard university Press 1961). mcguckin, J., Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, ny: st Vladimir`s 2001). ——, “gregory: the rhetorician as Poet”, in J. Børtnes and t. hägg (eds.), Gregory of Nazianzus. Images and Reflections (Copenhagen: museum tusculanum Press 2006), 193–212. moreschini, C. and sykes, d.a., St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Poemata Arcana (oxford: Clarendon Press 1997). naldini, m., Basilio di Cesarea, Discorso ai Giovani (oratio ad adolescentes), con la versione latina di Leonardo Bruni (Florence: Cardini editore 1984). opelt, i., “griechische und Lateinische Bezeichnungen der nichtchristen. ein terminologischer Versuch”, in Vigiliae Christianae 19 (1965), 1–22. Padelford, F., “essays on the study and use of Poetry by Plutarch and Basil the great”, in Yale Studies in English 15 (1902), 99–120. rousseau, P., Basil of Caesarea (Berkeley: university of California Press 1994). schucan, L., “das nachleben von Basilius magnus ‘ad adolescentes’. ein Beitrag zur geschichte des christlichen humanismus”, in Travaux d’ Humanisme et Renaissance, CXXXiii, geneva: Librairie droz 1973). schwab, a., Gregor von Nazianz. Peri Pronoias. Über Vorsehung (tübingen: narr Franke attempto Verlag 2009). Wyss, B., “gregor ii (gregor von nazianz)”, in: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 12 (1983), 793–863.

Locating Young StudentS in BYzantine churcheS: a chapter on primarY and SecondarY reLigiouS education in BYzantium nikos Kalogeras during the period of Late antiquity, pagans and christians alike expressed their disagreement on both theoretical and practical grounds concerning— among other domains—several aspects of everyday life. new modes of social structure and of political expression appeared and constant change transformed the greco-roman world in a rising christian empire. despite disagreements and disputes, christians used several tools from classical culture, thought and literature in the formation of christian education and schooling. among the theorists of christian education, church Fathers suggested that children should study classical literature, but strive to retain only its “useful” elements. the discourse on the proper education for christian children was primarily reflected in the teaching of John chrysostom and Basil the great. Basil’s writings on the ideal learning prevailed in Late antiquity and still remained effective in the middle Byzantine period when a debate on the usefulness of secular learning broke out among intellectual circles. the ideas of the church Fathers on appropriate education influenced religious writers in the middle Byzantine period. While several christian writers scorned secular learning, a number of them continued to support non-religious types of education. as Byzantine culture retained strong religious elements, religious education outpaced secular learning for years, especially in the early Byzantine period. religious education comprised the transmission of both christian principles and practical knowledge. considering the distinct levels in the function of religious education, this paper examines the education of children and youth in churches and in monasteries in the capacity of instruction and of preparation for their future careers. the second part of this study examines the issue of educational space, especially the location of “classrooms” in ecclesiastical settings. What should not escape one’s attention is that formal, or better “non-home-taught” schooling was a commodity offered very rarely to girls, mainly to those born to the elite families, and only in its secular form. education was a means for the achievement

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of power and authority to which women did not have access. as far as religious education is concerned, a number of those girls wishing to enter monastic life would acquire some type of instruction in nunneries. on the contrary, ecclesiastical education was strongly career-oriented, providing educational opportunities exclusively for boys, since only boys where destined for outstanding careers in the political system. in addition, women could not constitute members of the clergy in Byzantium. as early as Late antiquity, congregational churches had become the major centres for christian assemblage in urban as well as in rural settings. in the fifth and especially in the sixth century, local churches contributed much to the organization of primary schooling. the church assumed most of the formal elementary teaching in the Byzantine empire. in many towns and villages, church schools were the only places where children could receive their education, since the number of secular schoolteachers had gradually decreased throughout the sixth century.1 churches contributed much to the organization and the shape of schooling, since education was a means for the church to expand its power.2 the transformation of the urban élite in the sixth century, the deterioration of the curiales, and the rise of bishops were only some of the reasons that made ecclesiastical education the preeminent type of elementary schooling in Byzantium. modern scholars of Byzantine education cannot avoid using modern terms when studying ancient phenomena. as far as education is concerned, the situation becomes more complicated, since modern terms project their meaning on older systems with different organizational frameworks. the boundaries between stages of learning in antiquity are so vague that the use of such terms is risky. however, this typology proves to be inevitable at times, since the terms constitute common codes for a better epistemological communication among historians.3 therefore, the terms “primary”, “secondary”, and “tertiary”, although eventually

1 For the drop in the number of teachers at all levels of learning in several parts of the Byzantine empire by the 6th century, see the statistical analysis in moffatt 1972, 69–101. the only exception to the decrease of teachers was constantinople, which maintained various and strong educational opportunities at a certain level. according to Lemerle 1962, 5–6, the dark period for Byzantine education began not in the 7th but in the 6th century, due to Justinian’s anti-pagan legislation. 2 See Lane Fox 1994, 126–48. 3 See marrou 1956, 218ff and 241–42. For a different point of view see Kaster 1983, 323: “the tripartite sequence, especially in its neat distinction between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ levels, does not accurately reflect what our sources tell us.”

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anachronistic, when applied to ancient education, are used to facilitate scholarly discourse. according to the “tripartite” classification of education in the Byzantine empire, the primary level included the learning of the “rudiments”, at home or at a school, secular or ecclesiastical. “Secondary education” coincided with the study of grammar under the tutelage of a professional school-teacher, a grammatikos, or under a non-professional teacher in ecclesiastical or monastic schools, while “tertiary education” comprised the subjects of the so-called trivium and the quadrivium. an educated Byzantine knew that the first stage of education included reading, writing, elements of the psalter, perhaps some arithmetic, and maybe chanting, depending on the type of education. For teaching reading and writing, tutors often used religious texts or literary genres with a religious content. however, fragments of ancient greek texts were not excluded. Formal primary education usually began as early as the end of early childhood (πρώτη ἡλίκια), which corresponds to the age of seven. Before the end of the πρώτη ἡλικία, however, several children had the opportunity to begin informal schooling at home with their parents. For a large number of them, education began and ended there. For those who continued on to a formal primary education, the starting age of schooling varied between five and eight.4 the duration of elementary education was not defined by any civil law, since there were no rules for the function of children’s schools. the first level of learning lasted approximately until the age of twelve. it was usually named ἱερὰ γράμματα (sacred letters) after the religious character of the elementary curriculum.5 the term sacred letters may allude to either home-taught education received from parents or tutors.6 elementary schools did not function in the same way in all areas and periods of the Byzantine empire. Literate or educated parents instructed

4 St. gregorios of dekapolis began his schooling when he was eight years old. St. theodoros of Sykeon began his lessons at the διδασκαλεῖον of Sykeon when he was eight. St. andreas of crete and St. gregorios of akragas who are reported to have received an ecclesiastical education began the process of learning at the age of eight. St. gregentios of arabia began his schooling at the age of seven. St. Stephanos the younger went to a church school when he was six; so did theophano, the future empress, and St. nikolaos of Sion. 5 d. demetrakos, Μέγα Λεξικὸν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς Γλώσσης, vol. 2 (1950), 1689, writes that in medieval greek and in modern greek ἱερὰ γράμματα coincide with Ἁγία Γραφή. on the various definitions of ἱερὰ γράμματα, see galatariotou 1991, 153–55; moffatt 1977, 88–90. 6 guilland 1953, 63.

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their children in letters and in moral training. education at home was very common for girls and also for boys who did not have the opportunity to pursue elementary learning at schools close to their residence. at the age of twelve, those few graduates who were financially and intellectually able to further their education proceeded to the study of grammar, which constituted the second stage of learning.7 good grammatical skills promoted the acquisition of a good command of the written and spoken language. the study of grammar lasted approximately until the age of fifteen, depending on the students’ progress. after the instruction in grammar, students who wanted to attain further knowledge proceeded to a number of specialized subjects of ἐγκύκλιος παίδευσις (circular education), such as law, rhetoric and philosophy. the content of education in Byzantine schools varied according to the type of schooling, meaning secular or religious. religious education did not confine itself to the transmission of theoretical knowledge and to the tenets of the christian faith. as early as Late antiquity church schools functioned as the only educational opportunity for many young Byzantines who did not have the financial means to afford private education or whose place of residence did not provide opportunities for secular instruction, due to the deterioration and impairment of secular schooling in many regions of the empire, including urban areas of major cities. therefore, church schools and later, in the middle Byzantine period, monastic schools came to incorporate, to a certain extent, secular subjects in their curricula. the textbooks that children used in religious environments at the elementary level were the psalter and the Scriptures, principally the old and the new testament. Secondary ecclesiastical education in the middle Byzantine period included grammar and various other secular subjects, known as the components of ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία. Students in churches as well as in monasteries learned reading, writing and grammar from religious texts. grammar was often embedded in the curricula of religious institutions. the teaching of grammar contributed much to the revival of classical learning in the ninth and tenth centuries. the need for more trained scribes encouraged the teaching of grammar in monastic schools. thus, monasteries managed to produce a number of copyists who worked in the famous monastic scriptoria of the middle Byzantine period. Byzantine monasteries were intellectual units that under-

7 Lemerle 1971, 100–01.

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took the difficult task of education and the preservation of knowledge, and did not only offer elementary education. the practice of copying manuscripts, calligraphy (καλλιγραφία) and shorthand writing (ταχυγραφία) constituted part of learning in Byzantine monasteries.8 the rewriting of grammar manuals in the ninth century that were illustrated by examples from christian literature reveals the new character of learning. Byzantine grammarians were primarily concerned with teaching rather than writing grammar manuals. the writing of grammar books was necessary because it would facilitate teaching and make it more effective. their grammatical works were intended for classroom use and certainly were inspired and culled from their teaching experience. Since they considered grammar to be a lay subject, some of them urged young christians to discontinue their education after learning of basics. however, the writing and rewriting of grammar books by christian scholars in the middle ages proves that many educated christians were aware of the value of grammar in the construction of logos. For this reason, they wrote their own grammar manuals for teaching purposes, retaining from their non-christian predecessors only those elements they deemed useful. the grammarian george choiroboskos, whose activity can be placed in the second half of the ninth century, composed his grammar book using passages from the psalms. his manual served as a schoolbook in the middle Byzantine period and had a considerable impact on grammarians of the high middle ages and the renaissance. especially in the iconoclastic era, the learning of grammar helped the worshipers of icons formulate their arguments in the rhetorical polemics against iconoclasts. education in Byzantium aimed at preparing the élite children to become good christians as well as effective administrators and officials. in the process of acquiring the attributes of christian identity, graduates of elementary and secondary schools were equipped with the religious tools that in combination with grammar and rhetoric constituted a strong weapon in the hands of Byzantine children, those “Byzantines in the making” who would eventually take in their hands the fate of the State and, as adults, use it to make their own decisions about the future of the Byzantine State.

8 Lemerle 1971, 102, argues that spelling, grammar, shorthand writing, calligraphy, music, and maybe poetry and metre constituted part of monastic education.

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the primary purpose of monastic schools was to instruct future monks in piety and letters. in his rules, Basil the great tried to initiate an innovation and suggested, with some hesitation, that monasteries should accept lay children (παῖδες βιωτικοί) whose parents wanted them to pursue a monastic education.9 it was Basil who introduced and educated children in monastic schools for the first time.10 When he became bishop of caesarea, he organized a boarding school in which he accepted boys and girls of various ages. he established an upper and a lower school addressed to older and to younger children respectively. Younger children were separated from older ones, and boys lived apart from girls. upon completion of their studies, the children decided whether they wanted to enter monastic life. in the late fourth century, John chrysostom supported this concept, suggesting to christian parents that they bring their children to the ascetics around antioch after reaching the age of ten, so that they would be far removed from worldly dangers.11 however, “twenty years later he himself (i.e. John chrysostom), having grown wiser and more experienced, expressly repudiated this viewpoint”.12 Four centuries later, we are informed that the famous school of the monastery of Stoudios was intended only for novices who would receive the tonsure after a period of moral and literary training.13 Fasting, praying, and chanting constituted parts of the training of novices. S/he who entered the monastery should be able to endure the rigors of monastic life. the rules had to be followed without exception.14 monastic education aimed at giving children the equipment to become good monks.15 clerical and monastic communities selected qualified members from the rank of ἀναγνῶσται (lectors) to serve as teachers of children. in addi-

   9 Basil the great, Reg. brev., PG 31, col. 1288, question 292. See also mango 1980, 148. 10 in his school, Basil accepted both orphans and children with living parents. See miller 1996, 127.   11 John chrysostom, Adv. opp., iii, 17 and 378. 12 marrou 1956, 332; also John chrysostom, Inan. gl., 19.2–3. 13 See Lemerle 1971, 115 and n. 94; also apostolopoulou 1995, 527. 14 theodosios punished a student of his with permanent expulsion because he could not sustain the rigors of monastic life: Life of Theodosios, 237. [For a complete bibliographical reference of Saints’ Lives and of other hagiographical texts, see the bibliographical list at the end of this paper.] 15 marrou 1956, 336: “in the sixth and seventh centuries . . . all the schools, both monastic and secular, . . . were, so to speak, merely technical schools designed to produce monks or clerics”. although this notion is plausible, it cannot be fully accepted.

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tion to their proficiency in teaching both christian and secular texts, they should be affectionate and display fatherly behavior towards their students.16 tutors in religious institutions acted as “fathers in letters” and offered children moral training together with literary instruction.17 the parental behavior of teachers vis-à-vis their students in Byzantium reveals a humanistic approach in educational practice and reflects the metaphor of the relationship between the christ-teacher and his disciples (i.e. the apostles). the education of youth as well as the spiritual and vocational training of novices was probably the most appreciated task in monastic communities. monks regarded teaching as the highest service that they could perform. Literary education in monasteries was not considered an end in itself, but a means of access to the psalter, the Scriptures and the hymns. monastic teaching in Late antiquity focused on spiritual rather than on intellectual learning. monasticism brought back into christian tradition the virtues of the simple and unlettered.18 although complete illiteracy was condemned, advanced knowledge was considered disastrous for “true wisdom”, which, according to the monastic ideal, was the unification with god. according to monastic values, wise was s/he who considered himself ignorant regardless of her/his actual erudition.19 the teaching of advanced letters could turn the usefulness of education into a prison.20 programs of education were not the same in all church schools. Several schools offered both primary and secondary education and “employed” good teachers. although students in churches and in monasteries are attested to have had only one advisor, several vitae relate that in some cases students had two instructors at the same time or one for each level of learning.21 in the late sixth century gregory of akragas had two different   16 in the chapter on the responsibilities of teachers (περὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου τῶν παίδων) from his famous rules theodore the Stoudite prescribes that teachers ought to be paternal and affectionate towards young children (νήπια) or they would be severely punished: pg 99, col. 1745B–c; also moffatt 1986, 713.   17 Kaster 1988, 65. also Seiber 1977, 14–15: “the essence of the ‘spiritual fatherhood’ was monastic and entailed the complete abdication of self-will and responsibility to an experienced brother by the novice.”   18 marrou 1956, 330: “these desert people were less concerned with learning than with forgetting the poetry and secular knowledge they had picked up in the schools before their conversion.”   19 Life of Kyriakos, 230. 20 See Lemerle 1969, 12. the Life of Benedict, col. 125, informs us that the latter left school and went to a monastery in order to avoid the corruption of secular education.   21 in the church of melitene St. euthymios the great had two teachers at the same time: Life of Euthymios, 11.

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instructors for his primary and secondary education, both specialists in their fields.22 according to his vita, when the local bishop, potamion by name, accepted the child gregory in the church school of akragas, he called damianos, a pious man, who took over the elementary education of gregory. the ritual of admission entailed a speech delivered by the bishop to the teacher damianos and a response by the teacher in the presence of the bishop. the two speeches are formal in tone and unique in Byzantine literature. in addition, they reveal the leading role of teachers as agents in ecclesiastical education.23 2. Ecclesiastical Education ecclesiastical education was the preeminent type of elementary schooling in Byzantium. ecclesiastical schools taught both primary and secondary education and addressed a broad range of social strata as opposed to monastic schools, which were attended by children with an orientation towards a monastic career. in several towns and villages of the Byzantine empire church schools were the only places where children could receive their education, since private schoolteachers had gradually decreased in number by the sixth century. christian teachers outnumbered their pagan colleagues at primary and secondary levels. in contrast, teachers of higher education in the early Byzantine period were mostly pagans. From the fourth up to the sixth century the proportion of christian to pagan teachers who taught at all educational levels demonstrated an increasing ratio at the expense of the latter.

22 Life of Gregory of Akragas, 145–47; also, Life of Euthymios, 11. 23 Life of Gregory of Akragas, 145.18–146.31: master damianos, i am setting this child before you, having god and the whole church as witnesses, so that you may take care of him, and teach him the sacred letters, which have the power to stimulate the mind of all men towards repentance through the grace of the holy Spirit. and damianos, falling in front of the bishop’s feet, replied: may the will of god be fulfilled in us, holy and most honoured father. and then he placed his hands upon the child, and said: ‘may the grace of god and Father of the only-begotten Son, and the only-begotten Son himself, who was in the bosom of the Father, the true god from the true god and may the power of the most holy and life-giving Spirit be incessantly with you, my child, in order to enable you to escape the many wily devices of the enemy.’ and when everyone responded amen, damianos received him from the hands of the bishop, and with everyone’s blessings [prayers/entreaties], his parents returned to their home, . . . praying for him.

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ecclesiastical education was the education of both the humble and the wealthy. church schools were open to children and youngsters who were oriented towards both secular and religious careers. the church accomplished its educational duty through a limited number of media and methods. the first textbooks that children read in churches were the psalter, the Scriptures and the Bible. teachers of children in ecclesiastical schools were educated clerics who taught their classes on church premises. however, due to lack of space, classes were not conducted in classrooms in a strict sense, but were held in parts of the church building or within its precinct considered to be suitable for teaching, such as in the narthex or in vestibules.24 Schools of elementary education were not located in specific places. When sources refer to elementary schools (σχολεῖον or διδασκαλεῖον), one should imagine a room in a church, in a monastery, or, in the case of secular education, in a public building in which a teacher introduced children of various ages to the world of wisdom.25 Sometimes classes were held in the open, since instruction required only student(s) and one teacher, and there was not always a need for special classroom infrastructure (e.g. seats) in order to conduct classes. as for ecclesiastical education, one may well assume that not all parish churches in cities, towns and villages were in a position to offer classes and to host pupils on their premises. in large congregational churches where space was not an issue, a number of places in the interior or the exterior of the church could be used to host classes. the size and the type of the church (monastic or congregational) determined which areas could serve as classrooms. archaeology provides almost no evidence on buildings or rooms specifically used for schooling purposes. the reason is that these were not classrooms in a strict sense.26 Sources, especially literary ones, may attest which parts of the church premises were used for teaching during the intervals 24 John moschos, Pratum Spirituale, PG 87, col. 2929. nikolaos mesarites (c. 1163–after 1214) uniquely described in a vivid way the school of the church of the holy apostles in constantinople with its teachers and students (advanced and beginners) in action. See nikolaos mesarites, Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, ed. downey 1957, esp. 866 and 899. also Saradi 1988, 390: “secular higher education is not heard of again until the middle Byzantine period.” 25 the terms διδασκαλεῖον and γραμματοδιδασκαλεῖον may also mean a school for adolescents. the term appears on four papyri from egypt; in two out of the four, the terms denote schools for young men and not for children. See cribiore 1996, 17. 26 to my knowledge there is only one inscription that could elucidate this issue. the inscription in question was found by g. Soteriou during his excavations in nea anchialos in 1930. i reserve the right to comment on this piece of evidence in a future study.

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between other religious activities. there are only a few testimonies that help us identify the position of schools in congregational churches in Byzantium. due to the fragmentary nature of the source evidence on this issue, this paper is drawing on testimony from a wide chronological span in the Byzantine period, in order to arrive at a set of conclusions: an inscription that was found by the greek archaeologist g. Soteriou during an excavation in nea anchialos is our starting point.27 the inscription was originally published in the Acta of the hellenic archaeological association in 1930.28 a complex of large basilicas from the early christian period was discovered on the site, and the inscription in question was part of the largest and most significant basilica, namely basilica c, the socalled basilica of the archbishop (ἀρχιερεύς) petros.29 the stone preserving this epigraphic evidence was among the first finds from the excavation in basilica c and served as a suffix to an ionian capital of a column in the stoa of the atrium.30 the inscription reads: ΜΟΣΧΟΣ ΙΠΠΟΣΤΡΑΤΟΥ ΠΕΡΓΑΜΗΝΟΣ ΠΑΙΔΟΤΡΙΒΗΣ ΠΡΟΞΕΝΟΣ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΩΝ _______________ ΤΟΝ ΟΙΚΟΝ

the lines in length and in width are evenly written and only the word ΠΑΙΔΟΤΡΙΒΗΣ is written in smaller, irregularly shaped letters, spaced closer together. more specifically, the word ΠΑΙΔΟΤΡΙΒΗΣ, which was written on the second line, was the last to be written and, as far as may be judged, it constitutes a later addition, correction or interpolation of an original word, which is now impossible to discern.31 27 the inscription was found on the site of nea anchialos in the vicinity phthiotides thebes, a site which is in close proximity to the modern greek city of Volos. See Soteriou 1930, esp. 34–35. 28 Soteriou continued to explore the nature and the content of this inscription in later reports in the same series; see Soteriou 1935. 29 in the southern aisle of the church there is a dedicatory inscription which reveals a large-scale restoration of the building, undertaken by the archbishop petros, who must have been a well-known ecclesiastical dignitary (κλυτὸς ἀρχιερεύς) of the region, with the purpose to “elevate” the church (ΠΑΕ 1970, 46): Ὁ τῆς μελίσσης/ τῆς σοφῆς διδάσκαλος/ τῆς πνευματικῆς/ Ἀρχιερεὺς κλυτὸς φανεὶς/ Πέτρος τὸ σεμνόν/ ἔργον ἀξιοπρεπῶς/ ἔδειξε καὶ τοῦτο/ πρέπον εἰς ναὸν θεοῦ 30 the dimensions of the suffix that contains the inscription are 54 × 35 × 14 cm. it is written in capital letters, the size of which is 3 cm in height. 31 the stoa in question is 13.4 m long and 7.3 m wide and was paved with a partly ruined floor mosaic.

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the reason why this inscription is of particular importance to this paper is twofold: first, because it preserves the word ΠΑΙΔΟΤΡΙΒΗΣ, which signifies a schoolteacher; second, because it is known in which part of the basilica the inscription was found.32 the stone was found at the south stoa of the atrium, and the side bearing the inscription faces towards the inner part of the stoa. Soteriou dated the initial construction of the room in question sometime in the 5th century a.d. and suggested that a later restoration took place sometime during the Justinianic period: “two pilasters were built, one in the eastern and one in the western part in such a way that the newly constructed room was separated from the rest of the stoa and a door, which served as a passage to the room, was opened on the western part and was flanked with two columns.” Following this line of argument, Soteriou assumed that Μόσχος Ἱπποστράτου, the teacher (παιδοτρίβης) presented on the inscription was the person who undertook the necessary architectural modifications of the place and “founded” the construction (οἶκος). this was the reason, he argued, why the inscription was affixed to the column: to bear his name in commemoration of this act. Soteriou held that this was a dedicatory inscription put up to commemorate a restoration activity that took place in the atrium of the basilica during the reign of Justinian and under the auspices of Μόσχος in order to transform the specific room of the atrium into a didaskaleion.33 the presence of a floor mosaic in the same room is of particular importance. this floor mosaic is structured in a geometric pattern and contains images of a variety of animals, such as birds and fish schematically drawn among branches of trees, floral motifs (helices and ivy leaves) and repeatedly the sign of the cross in 55 small (11 cm x 5 cm) squares.34 the significance of the mosaic lies in its central depiction: the central and largest square depicts an owl (γλαῦξ), the ancient greek symbol of wisdom and learning and this leaves little doubt that this particular room was used for teaching. phthiotides thebes was a very important place in Late antiquity, with ten basilicas, several secular and religious buildings from the early christian period, public and private buildings, streets, shops, a gymnasium, a

32 the term παιδοτρίβης generally signifies the secular, ecclesiastical or monastic tutor of elementary education. See Kalogeras 2000, 154, esp. n. 120. 33 the word οἶκος is commonly used in greek inscriptions from antiquity as well as modern times to denote the grave, the tombstone. in this inscription it most probably designates the grave of the deceased, the “post mortem house”. 34 For a detailed description of the floor mosaic, see Soteriou 1940, 19–20.

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palaestra, a port, an acropolis and cemeteries. Basilica c was the largest, the richest and the most lavishly decorated among the basilicas of nea anchialos. this is clear from the constant restorations this basilica underwent in its time. on the basis of the inscription, we may also consider it as certain that a church school was run there. it cannot be determined whether this was the only church school of the area. What may be argued with certainty is that a school was run in the church and that it was located in all probability in the room with the owl depiction, which was part of the atrium. due to its nature and capaciousness, the atrium and the stoas that surround it have been attested as a place that hosted classes for children and youngsters in a much later text, the Ekphrasis of the church of the holy apostles in constantinople by nikolaos messarites (1163–1214).35 messarites was born in constantinople in about 1163 or 1164 to a family that belonged to the court aristocracy. his Ekphrasis of the church of the holy apostles is an excellent source on this monumental church of the Byzantine capital.36 he provides a thorough description of the church, starting from the exterior and continuing to the interior, including a description of the rooms as well as the decorative elements. it is of great value for our knowledge about the practice of Byzantine education, since he provides a vivid description of the several schools of the church and a detailed picture of the schooling groups in full action. the author begins the Ekphrasis with a description of instruction in the elementary curriculum taking place in a three-sided colonnaded peribolos.37 a few pages later messar-

35 it is also possible that the place of “classrooms” in churches depended on the climatic conditions of an area. 36 another ekphrasis of the church of the holy apostles was written by constantine rhodios. constantine’s work focuses primarily on the architecture while messarites is mainly interested in presenting a description of the images of the church. 37 See nikolaos mesarites, Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, ed. downey, esp. 865–66 and 899 (ch. 8): “on this side, then, there are open seats of the muses of learning (i.e. schools) toward the east and toward the church . . . in these the teaching of the grammarians takes place, and books are spread open to lay out the preparatory steps of the study of grammar and youthful beginners are constantly reading their lessons and pacing up and down through the enclosure of the stoa. others are carrying their papers under their arms and reciting orally what is written in them, since they have previously graven these things on the tablets of memory through continuous reading; others again, . . . Still others, those who have achieved the higher and more complete stages, weave webs of phrases and transform the written sense into riddles, saying one thing with their tongues, but hiding something else in their minds. and you may see still others who sit crouched over syllables and spend their whole lives chopping up words and squeezing them and shaving little words, who beat little boys and because of this power make themselves high and mighty and are filled with pride . . .”

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ites depicts the school of higher education, which was situated in a place adjoining the peribolos atrium, the pronaos. the above descriptions are significant because they are evidence of the rich educational activity at all levels of learning taking place at the front of the church of the holy apostles (proaulia). the evidence that archaeology and art history provide on the everyday practice of education is fragmentary compared to that deriving from literary texts; however, even this little testimony allows for further assumptions. one of the few and most characteristic examples that may serve as a starting point in this venture are two mosaics found in the large basilica of St. demetrios in thessalonike with depictions of children.38 the first portrays two children approaching Saint demetrios. to the saint’s left are two figures, a boy and a beardless young man. St. demetrios is situated in the middle of the picture and steps on a low pedestal, in the frontal orans posture. this this pose symbolising devotion to the church has religious connotations, but the presence of the saint in this scene is probably metaphoric, since it was used to signify both the literal and the moral instruction one could attain in the church through liturgy but also through formal learning. the depiction of children in the decoration of these specific areas aimed to remind adults of the remote period of their own childhood and to make children reflect on what a god-beloved child might be.39 the second mosaic depicts St. demetrios with two children and probably constitutes the continuation of the previous one. it dates from the first half of the seventh century and depicts two children in a frontal position embraced by the saint. St. demetrios wears his traditional dress, his right arm is raised in a gesture of invocation (for the sake of the children?) and his left hand rests on the shoulder of the older of the two children. the mosaic lies in the Western side of the northern pier and is visible to the laity who followed the liturgy. the two panels seem to narrate a unified story: St. demetrios appears first in the narthex, meets the children at the entrance of the church, and places them in the interior of the church as if to pray for them and introduce them to christian teachings. even though definite conclusions about the purpose of the aforementioned mosaics cannot be drawn, nor about their place within the church,

38 For a full description and interpretation of the mosaics, see hennessy 2003 and 2008, 88–91, and Spieser 1984. 39 on the various attitudes of the Byzantine society towards children, depending on their anticipated behavior by adults, see Kalogeras 2001.

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one may surmise their message. the selection of these depictions goes beyond the purported high social background of the children in question.40 it signifies the relationship between the church and its young members and reminds the audience of the church’s role in the spiritual and cognitive formation of children and youngsters. art historical evidence about the virtual presence of children in the narthex of St. demetrios is sustained by literary evidence that refers to the physical presence of children in the narthex of the church of the Virgin mary in the chalkoprateia area in constantinople. a miracle account written by a certain elias, clergyman at the church of St. Sophia in constantinople, sheds light on the issue of the position of didaskaleia in Byzantine churches. this text bears the following headline: “Written by elias, presbyter and oikonomos at the great church (i.e. hagia Sophia) on the miracle performed in the church of the all holy and immaculate Virgin.” the account describes a miraculous incident that falls in the patriarchate of tarasios (787–797). the author provides information about the topography of the church, known also from archaeological evidence. the text reads: “there is a church in constantinople, the so-called chalkoprateia, which is close to the great church of god where the patriarchal throne is located.” the introduction to this miracle account functions also as an ekphrasis of the church. the author provides a description of its decoration for which golden tesserae were used to chronicle the Life of the Virgin since birth. the narrative continues with the description of the Virgin Βρεφοκρατοῦσα depicted in the apse of the bema, which, as he says, was destroyed by constantine V, the iconoclast emperor, but was restored under patriarch tarasios. Soon after the description of the Virgin’s mosaic, he continues with the narration of an incident/miracle concerning a boy who was on his way to his school in the church of hagia Sophia.41 the author and eyewitness of the event, who was a child or a young man (παῖς; he does not betray his exact age) when the incident occurred, refers in his narration to the school of the Virgin at the chalkoprateia which was located in the narthex of the church.42

40 cormack 1985, 81–82 connects the rich garment of the boy in the first panel to his social provenance.   41 Lackner 1985, 835–60, esp. 852. 42 on the architectural planning of the theotokos in chalkoprateia, see mathews 1971, 28–33.

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Scholars have suggested a number of different places inside or outside churches that may have served as didaskaleia. Selecting a narthex for the hosting of classes would be a natural and reasonable choice, since these were not located in the “heart” of churches and classes, therefore, would not disturb the faithful who attended the liturgy. there was not just one, specific place in churches reserved for educational purposes. the type of architecture, weather conditions and the time of year affected the choice church administrators made regarding the room to be used for teaching. it is highly unlikely that classes were held in the same place in the large basilicas of the early christian period, the domed cross-in-square churches of the middle Byzantine period and the small-scale churches such as single-nave churches of the Late Byzantine period. presumably, the position of schools changed according to the respective historical period and the architectural type of churches. as the dimensions of churches changed, space diminished and with it, the number of rooms in the churches reduced. therefore, the function of the rooms could change, and perhaps one room was assigned more than one function. this was most likely the case for the aforementioned church of the holy apostles, the atrium of which certainly served for a number of purposes. parts of the precinct, narthexes or vestibules usually functioned as schoolrooms for a number of reasons.43 the meaning of this choice is, i believe, that children-students, who were ‘christians in the making’ should symbolically and essentially wait on the borders of the church until the moment arrived when they had internalised its dogmas and become good christians. ecclesiastical schools taught both primary and secondary education and addressed a broad range of social groups. church schools were open to lay children as well as to those who were oriented towards an ecclesiastic career. children who pursued an elementary education at a church school could later receive secular schooling. Secular and religious elements were obviously intermingled in the everyday life of students and teachers on the premises of church schools.

43 John moschos, Pratum Spirituale, pg 87, col. 2929. nikolaos mesarites (c. 1163–after 1214) uniquely described in a vivid way the school of the church of the holy apostles in constantinople with its teachers and students (advanced and beginners) in action. See his Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, ed. downey, 866 and 899. also Saradi 1988, 390.

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church schools changed the map of education and schooling in Byzantium. in the sixth century ecclesiastical schools took over much of the schooling in Byzantium, which was earlier provided by private teachers or by family members. they hosted children of various social strata. teachers in churches or in monasteries did not constitute a specific religious order. By the fourth century “the role and function of the didaskaloi had become increasingly absorbed and subsumed by members of the clergy, reducing the title itself to a mere honor without any clerical, that is to say institutional value”.44 the majority of teachers at religious institutions came from the minor order of lectors (ἀναγνῶσται).45 they were workers for the sake of the community and for the sake of god. teachers and students in religious institutions developed bonds of love, respect and parenthood. Students were involved in father-child relationships with their preceptors. children were expected to be obedient and show respect to their tutors, who in turn were expected to be affectionate and to serve their students as spiritual fathers. tutors in religious institutions acted as “fathers in letters” who offered children moral training together with literary instruction.46 ecclesiastical and monastic teachers were not professional instructors and were paid no salary for their services like their secular colleagues, the γραμματισταί, or the γραμματικοί. parents who entrusted their offspring to monasteries were asked by the abbots from paying frequent visits to their children thereafter, since they already had acquired another father, a “father in letters” who was none other than their instructor.47 private initiative was the major force that promoted the formation of educational practices in Byzantium. the fate of childhood education was left to parents, but also to churches and to monasteries that provided much of the teaching for those children oriented towards becoming monks.

44 See elm 1994, 248. 45 See gryson 1982, esp. 65–68, where he argues that the order of “lecturers” may be the stunted remnant of the former didaskaloi. 46 Kaster 1988, 65: “First, good language and good mores are assumed to be inseparable.” See also Seiber 1977, 14–15: “the essence of the ‘spiritual fatherhood’ was monastic and entailed the complete abdication of self-will and responsibility to an experienced brother by the novice. also, the relationship of master to servant was in many ways similar to that of spiritual fatherhood.” 47 after daniel the Stylite was accepted in the monastery, the abbot asked his parents to rarely go and see him; see Life of Daniel the Stylite, 6.

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after the eighth century, the role of monasteries as intellectual centers became more important and one aspect of this change was the teaching of secular subjects such as philosophy, poetry and rhetoric together with the psalter, the Scriptures, and chanting. ecclesiastical education played the most important role in Byzantine society, since schools functioned even in small churches. ecclesiastical schools educated not only prospective clerics but also lay children who could not employ private tutors. it would be no exaggeration, if one said that churches and monasteries were the cradle of schooling in Byzantium. religious education played a considerable role in Byzantine society, since it prepared children to become proper Byzantines, nurtured according to christian ethics. Bibliography Primary Sources a. Saints’ Lives euthymios (d. 473), Vita by cyril of Scythopolis (BHG 647), ed. ed. Schwartz, Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte und Untersuchungen 49. 2 (Leipzig: J. c. hinrichs 1939), 5–85. Salos, andreas (d. 457–474, if not fictitious), Vita by nicephorus, presbyter of the church of St Sophia (BHG 115z), ed. L. rydén, The Life of St. Andrew the Fool, 2 vols. (Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 4/1–2) (uppsala: acta universitatis upsaliensis 1995). Salos, Symeon (d. 6th century), Vita a Leontio Neapol. (BHG 1677), ed. a.-J. Festugière, Leontios de Néapolis, Vie de Syméon le Fou et Vie de Jean de Chypre (paris geuthner: 1974), 1–222; L. rydén, Das Leben des heiligen Narren Symeon von Leontios von Neapolis (uppsala: almquist and Wiksell 1963). Stylites, daniel (d. 493), Vita (BHG 489), ed. h. delehaye, Les saints stylites (Subsidia Hagiographica 14) Brussels/paris: Société des Bollandistes/a. picard 1923), 1–94. Sabas of palestine (d. 532), Vita a Cyrillo Scythopolitano (BHG 1608), ed. ed. Schwartz, Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte und Untersuchungen 49.2 (Leipzig: J. c. hinrichs 1959), 85–200. Kyriakos (d. 556), Vita a Cyrillo Scythopolitano (BHG 463), ed. ed. Schwartz, Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte und Untersuchungen 49. 2 (Leipzig: J. c. hinrichs 1939), 222–35. nikolaos of Sion (d. ca 564), Vita (BHG 1347), ed. g. anrich, Hagios Nikolaos (Leipzig: teubner 1913), 3–55; also ihor Ševčenko and nancy patterson Ševčenko, The Life of Saint Nicholas of Sion. The Archbishop Iakovos (Library of Ecclesiastical and Historical Sources 10) (Brookline: hellenic college press 1984). gregentios, Bishop in arabia (d. fourth quarter of the 6th c.), Vita et disputatio cum Herbano Iudaeo (a Palladio ep. Negrae) (BHG 705), ed. a. Vasiliev, VizVrem 14 (1907, 1909), 39–66; also Leges Homeritarum (BHG 706h), ed. Boissonade, Anecdota graeca 5 (1962), 63–116. gregorios, Bishop of akragas (d. early 7th century or a contemporary of the emperor Justinian ii?), Vita a Leontio presb. et hegum. S. Sabae Romae (BHG 707), ed. a. Berger, Leontios Presbyteros von Rom: Das Leben des heiligen Gregorios von Agrigent, (Berliner Byzantinische Arbeiten 60) (Berlin: akademie Verlag 1995); also Vita a Niceta Paphlagone (BHG 708), PG 116, 189–269. theodore of Sykeon (d. 613), (BHG 1748), ed. a.J. Festugière, Vie de Théodore Saint de Sykéôn (Subsidia Hagiographica 48) 2 vols. (Brussels: Société des Bollandistes 1970).

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Stephanos the Younger (d. 764), Vita, passio et miracula a Stephano diac. CP (BHG 1666), ed. m.-F. auzépy, La Vie d’ Étienne le Jeune par Étienne le Diacre (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs 3) (Birmingham: Variorum 1997). michael, Synkellos of Jerusalem (d. c. 846–847), Vita & Vita (a Nicephoro Gregora?) (BHG 1296–1297), ed. m. cunningham, The Life of Michael Synkellos (Belfast: Belfast Byzantine enterprises, 1991). Stoudites, nikolaos (d. 868), Vita (Bhg 1365), PG 105, 863–925. b. Other Literary Sources Basil of caesarea, On Greek Literature, ed. n. Wilson (London: 1975). chrysostom, John, Sur la vaine gloire et l’ éducation des enfants, ed. a.m. malingrey (paris: cerf 1972). mesarites, nikolaos, Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, ed., trans., commentary, and introduction g. downey, in TAPA 47 (1957), 855–924. presbyteros, elias, ed. with commentary W. Lackner, “ein byzantinisches marienmirakel” in Byzantina 13/2, (1985), 835–60. theodore of Stoudios, Testamentum, PG 99, 1813–24. Secondary Literature apostolopoulou, S., “Νικόλαος Στουδίτης, ὁ διανοούμενος μοναχὸς τῆς Μονῆς Στουδίου” in Diptycha 6 (1994–95), 525–42. cormack, r., Writing in Gold: Byzantine Society and Its Icons (London: g. philip 1985). cribiore, r., Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (ASP 36) (atlanta: Scholars press, 1996). elm, S., “Virgins of God”: The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (oxford: oxford university press, 1994). galatariotou, c., The Making of a Saint: The Life, Times, and Sanctification of Neophytos the Recluse (cambridge, uK: cambridge university press 1991). gryson, r., “L’ autorité des docteurs dans l’ Église ancienne et médiévale”, in Revue Théologique de Louvain 13 (1982), 63–73. guilland, r., “La vie scholaire à Byzance”, in BullBudé 1 (1953), 63–83. hennessy, c., “iconic images of children in the church of St demetrios, thessaloniki”, in a. eastmond and L. James (eds.), Icon and Word: The Power of Images in Byzantium [Studies presented to Robin Cormack] (aldershot: ashgate 2003), 157–72. ——, Images of Children in Byzantium (aldershot: ashgate 2008). Kalogeras, n., Byzantine Childhood Education and its Social Role From the Sixth Century until the End of Iconoclasm, ph.d. dissertation, the university of chicago, 2000. ——, “What do they think about children? perceptions of childhood in early Byzantine Literature”, in Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 25 (2001), 2–19. Kaster, r., “notes on ‘primary’ and ‘Secondary’ Schools in Late antiquity”, in TAPA 113 (1983), 323–46. ——, Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity (London: university of california press 1988). Lackner, W., “ein byzantinisches marienmirakel”, in Byzantina 13/2 (1985), 835–60. Lane Fox, r., “Literacy and power in early christianity”, in a.K. Bowman and g. Woolf (eds.), Literacy and Power in the Ancient World (cambridge, uK: cambridge up 1994), 126–48. Lemerle, p., “Byzance et la tradition des lettres helléniques”, (Belgrade: Académie Serbe des Sciences et des Arts, Conférences ii) (1962), 1–12. ——, Le premier humanisme byzantin. Notes et remarques sur enseignement et culture à Byzance des origines au X e siècle (paris: presses universitaires de France 1971). ——, Elèves et professeurs à Constantinople au X e siècle (paris: institut de France 1969). mango, c., Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome (London: Weidenfeld and nicolson 1980).

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marrou, h.-i., A History of Education in Antiquity, trans. g. Lamb (new York: Sheed and Ward 1956). mathews, t.-F., The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy (university park, pa: the pennsylvania State university press 1971). miller, t., “the care of orphans in the Byzantine empire”, in c. Jorgensen itnyre (ed.), Medieval Family Roles: A Book of Essays (new York/London: garland publishing 1996), 121–36. moffatt, a., School-Teachers in the Early Byzantine Empire: 330–610 A.D., ph.d. dissertation, university of London, 1972. ——, “Schooling in the iconoclast centuries”, in a.a. Bryer and J. herrin (eds.), Iconoclasm (Birmingham: centre for Byzantine Studies 1977), 85–92. ——, “the Byzantine child”, in Social Research 53 (1986), 705–23. Saradi, h., “the demise of the ancient city and the emergence of the mediaeval city in the eastern roman empire”, in Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views 32/7 (1988), 365–401. Seiber, J., Early Byzantine Urban Saints, (BAR Supplementary Series 37) (London: 1977). Soteriou, g., “Ἀνασκαφαὶ Νέας Ἀγχιάλου”, Πρακτικὰ τῆς Ἀρχαιολογικῆς Ἑταιρείας (ΠΑΕ) (1930), 30–35. ——, “Ἀνασκαφαὶ Νέας Ἀγχιάλου”, ΠΑΕ (1935). Spieser, J.-m. Thessalonique et ses monuments du IV e au VIe siècle (athens/paris: École française d’athènes/de Boccard 1984).

Formation For Wisdom, not Education For KnoWlEdgE E. rozanne Elder 1. The Cistercians the first and future cistercians left the Benedictine abbey of molesme, wrote the anglo-norman monk-historian orderic Vitalis, because [a]fter several years at molesme, [abbot robert] made a careful examination of the rule of saint Benedict, and once he had consulted the documents of other holy fathers, he called the brothers together and addressed them in this way: “dear brothers, we made profession according to the rule of our holy father Benedict. But—it seems to me—we are not keeping it fully. We observe many things which are not enjoined in it and we negligently omit many of its precepts.” there ensued a long and heated discussion (which orderic imaginatively reproduced), and in the end, robert failed to convince most of his monks of the need for reform. so he, “quite set in his opinion, withdrew from them with twelve like-minded brothers who had decided to keep the rule of saint Benedict strictly to the letter . . .”.1 in their zeal to follow the rule of Benedict “to the letter”, however, the first cistercians quietly but deliberately set aside one provision of that rule. chapter 59 of the rule allows noble parents to enroll their young sons in monastic life, and even allows these parents to sign the document of profession—which a mature monk was required to write out and/or to sign in his own hand and by his own hand to lay on the altar2 in token of his voluntary self-offering. Within Benedict’s ‘school of the lord’s service’3 in which all professed members of the community were life-long pupils, all adult members were responsible for the upbringing

1 orderic Vitalis, writing about 1135, The Ecclesiastical History, Viii.26 chibnall 4:312, 322: Post aliquot annos sancti Benedicti regulam diligenter perscrutatus est: aliorumque sanctorum documentis patrum perspectis conuocans fratres sic afflatus est: ‘Nos fratres karissimi secundum normam sancti patris Benedicti professionem fecimus, sed ut michi uidetur non eam ex integro tenemus. . . . dicentibus abbas in sua satis pertinax sententia recessit ab eis cum xii sibi assentientibus, . . . qui sancti decreuerant regulam Benedicti . . . ad litteram seruare penitus. [my translation.] 2 rB 58.20. 3 rB Prologue 45.

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of these boys.4 “[l]ittle boys and adolescents” were to be supervised in chapel, at table, “outdoors and everywhere,” “until they reached the age of understanding”.5 Benedict provided for their nutritional needs;6 their daily discipline;7 and—probably for the sake of older monks—their sleeping arrangements.8 and because they “cannot understand the seriousness of the penalty of excommunication”—Benedict’s usual punishment for infractions—he allowed corporal punishment.9 many Benedictine schools included both boys intended for monastic life and boys who would leave to find their way in the world, or more likely, the church.10 into their ‘school of charity’ the cistercians did not admit children. any education within a cistercian cloister was restricted to novices: none of the boys is to be taught his letters within the monastery or in the places belonging to the monastery, unless he is a monk or a novice who has been received for testing. these are permitted to study during the time for reading.11

the minimum age for entry into a cistercian monastery, the text continues, was to be fifteen;12 this was soon raised by general chapter to eighteen, the age “set by our fathers”13—mid-adolescence for us, but adulthood in the middle ages, when teenagers were knighted, married, or left home for apprenticeship or higher education.14 the third abbot of cîteaux, stephen, “called Harding”, knew the system of child oblature from personal experience. He had been—as William of

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malmesbury reports—“from childhood a monk of sherborne, but when he reached adolescence worldly nettles gave him an itch and, having come to loathe those [monastic] threads, he took off first for scotland and then for France” where he “labored at the liberal arts for several years” before working his way to molesme and finally to cîteaux.15 His youthful experience likely convinced him of the imprudence of consigning children to a disciplined life before they reached the age of consent. during the ‘golden age’ of cîteaux, from 1098 to 1150, during which the cistercians grew from one monastery with twelve (or, according to other sources eighteen or twenty-one) members to an order of 333 abbeys with some 11,500 monks,16 the spiritual and intellectual leaders had all received their educations outside the monastery: Bernard of clairvaux at the school of the canons of saint-Vorles at chatillon-sur-seine;17 aelred of rievaulx probably at his home in Hexham, perhaps at durham, and then at the court of King david of scotland,18 William of saint thierry at the schools of liège, reims, and perhaps—though probably not—at laon, and guerric of igny “almost certainly” at the cathedral school of tournai.19 those who entered cistercian monasteries were adults. most of those who entered to become monks were clerici, they knew how to read and write latin when they entered. illiterate peasants who joined them became, not ‘monks’ but conversi, laybrothers; “brothers and participants in our spiritual as well as temporal goods and equal to the monks”20 in theory, if not always in practice.21 Conversi were not obliged to the recitation of the divine office, but had their own simple office. they were not eligible to become choir monks22 or to be ordained to the priesthood. this division between literate monachus and illiterate conversus is, however, a little too simple, especially in the context of a society which

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equated clericus with literate, and in which some noble parents saw no reason to educate their knightly sons but who recoiled from seeing these same sons mixed in with peasants in the cloister. By at least 1188, the cistercians found it necessary to require that “lay [that is, illiterate] nobles coming to the monastery shall be not lay brothers, but monks.”23 the resulting monachus laicus, the illiterate monk who could not read or speak latin at entry,24 needed some instruction in basic latin grammar in the choir novitiate, and this was provided during the periods ordinarily reserved for lectio divina.25 other than this, however, the school of charity did not have internal schools for members, nor did they have external schools. How then can one speak about cistercian education? 2. regula Benedicti and the Uniqueness of Persons those charged with ‘formation’—the monastic word for education— knew that each monk is unique.26 once clothed in the habit and living according to the monastic horarium, all monks may look alike and act much alike, but abbots and novice masters believed that each monk will develop—through discipline, lectio divina, and prayer—at his own rate into the person god created him uniquely to be. they assumed that incoming novices were intelligent beings capable of learning the practical skills of monastic living and of perceiving the theological rationale for their ‘conversion of life’; that they were willing to accept the limits and the responsibilities of monastic life in ‘obedience’ to the rule and to the abbot; and that, once professed, they would remain for the rest of their lives in ‘stability’ within the monastery of their profession.27

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3. Cistercian Formation ‘Formation’ comes from the latin forma, used, like idea, to translate Plato’s eidos. Forma “is one of the most fundamental concepts in Bernard [of clairvaux]’s thought,” writes Flemish scholar Wim Verbaal. “it does not only mean ‘example’ or ‘pattern’ . . . but instead refers to something akin to the Platonic idea: a higher, more spiritual signification of being in the mind of god to which man has to conform”28 “to reach out to [god] is to be formed,” wrote the Benedictine become cistercian William of saintthierry; and man’s formation by god is his moral foundation; his life itself is god’s love.29 like all Benedictines, the early cistercians regarded formation as coterminous with their vocation; it was an on-going, life-long process, a preparation, not for some career in or beyond the cloister, but for the contemplation of god face to face.30 the monastic ‘curriculum’ aimed not at acquiring knowledge “for the sole purpose of knowing, [for] that is shameful curiosity”, nor in order “to become well-known, [for] that is shameful vanity”, nor again “in order to sell its fruits for money or honors, [for] that is shameful profiteering”. the cistercian educational program—according to Bernard of clairvaux—had two goals: “to know in order to edify . . . [which] is charity; [and] . . . in order to be edified, and this is prudence.”31 this echoes christ’s commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself ”, and if self-edification sounds somehow selfish, loving self is the prerequisite to loving anyone else, and loving self means knowing oneself honestly and completely32 and realizing what both self and neighbor are capable of becoming. again, in Bernard’s words: then you experience yourself as you are, when by that experience of love of yourself and of the feeling that you feel towards [god], you discover that you are an altogether unworthy object even of your own love, except for the sake of Him without whom you are nothing. as for your neighbor, whom

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e. rozanne elder you are obliged to love as yourself: if you are to experience him as he is, you will actually experience him only as you do yourself. He is what you are, that is, human. that you may experience him as he is. . .you must experience him not for what he is, because he [too] is nothing, but for what he will perhaps become. . . .33

Each day brought a new opportunity and a new imperative for growth. “We must necessarily mount or descend”, warned Bernard of clairvaux. “if we try to stop, inevitably we fall.”34 to analyze cistercian formation, we need first to look at the raw material—the monk, the human person—who must be docile, that is, capable of being taught—and then to look at the formation process in terms of twelfth-century theological anthropology. Fortunately for us, twelfth-century cistercians were fascinated with ‘the soul’ and left behind a number of treatises35 on what the human person is and how he advances from ‘what he is’ to ‘what he will perhaps become’. 3.1. The Human Condition in Antiquity and Scripture the presuppositions on which cistercian—indeed medieval—education was founded came from two sources: scripture and patristic exegesis of it; and from classical philosophy filtered, again, through the church Fathers.36

33 Bernard, sc 50.iii.6–7 (sBop 2:82; Pl 183:1023–1024a): Deinde sapies etiam ipse tu tibi prout es, cum te senseris nil habere prorsus, unde te ames, nisi in quantum Dei es: quippe qui totum unde amas, in illum effuderis. Sapies, inquam, tibi prout es, cum ipso experimento amoris tui, et affectionis quam ad te ipsum habebis, nihil dignum te esse invenies, quod vel a te ipso ametur, nisi propter ipsum, sine quo ipse es: nihil. Jam vero proximus, quem vere te oportet diligere tanquam te ipsum, ut tibi et ipse sapiat prout est, haud aliud profecto sapiet tibi, quam tu tibi, qui hoc est quod tu: est enim homo . . . Proinde ut tibi et ipse sapiat prout est, sapiet tibi, non quidem quod est, qui utique nihil est; sed quod futurus forsitan est. 34 Bernard, Ep 254.5 (sBop 8:159 [Pl 182:461c], [sicut scala Jacob] . . . ubi nullus residens, nullus subsistens apparuit, sed vel ascendere vel descendere videbantus universi . . . sic necesse sit et spiritum aut proficere semper, aut deficere. 35 William of st thierry, nat corp; aelred of rievaulx, De anima; isaac of stella’s letter to alcher of clairvaux De anima. For background on the cistercian treatises de anima and their theological anthropology, see talbot 1952; michaud-Quantin 1949, 15–34; mcginn 1972 and mcginn’s more recent mcginn 1996). For a more practical view of cistercian novitiate training, see letter V, to oswald, of adam of Perseigne (d. c. 1221 Bouvet); Ep 1 in Pl 211:583–589). adam lists six points within which “is contained almost the whole education of the devout soul” (Pl 211:588B: In hoc certe scenario tota pene consistit devotae mentis eruditio . . .) and asserts that they are aimed at the three Benedictine vows. the first two points, faith and the fear of god, help establish stability; love of virtues and imitation of the novice master’s demeanor led to conversion of manners; and the attentive solicitude of the novice master and friendly colloquies between master and novice help in obedience (Pl 211:588B–c). 36 see michaud-Quantin 1949.

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3.1.1. Scripture From scripture the cistercians—and their contemporaries—learned that the physical and the spiritual universe have been created by god, who has filled that creation with corporeal and animate beings of various species.37 among these creatures, as the pinnacle of creation, god created humankind; “He said: ‘let us make man in our own image and likeness’ ”, and he gave human beings mastery over creation.38 3.1.2. Fathers of the Church scripture was not the only material available to the monks for their lectio divina, however. the contents of medieval cistercian libraries have been the subject of recent investigation.39 a favorite author, not surprisingly, was saint augustine of Hippo. drawing heavily on him, twelfth-century thinkers differentiated between image and likeness. the image, they generally taught, is man’s innate capacity for god. the human likeness to god, “the perfection of the human being”,40 on the other hand, was usually defined by the Fathers of the church and therefore by the cistercians as the actualization of that image41 within the uniquely rational human mind.42 at the same time, the cistercians—like their contemporaries, the magistri at cathedral schools and the canons regular—were deeply conscious that human persons who bear the triune image of god within their souls are not the imago Dei, but are created ad imaginem et similtudinem Dei.43 christ is the imago genita; man is the imago facta.44 in man, the image is the capacity for full participation in christ. in Bernard’s words:

37 gen. 1:24: Producat terra animam viventem in genere suo, iumenta et reptilia, et bestias terrae secundum species suas. 38 gen. 1:27: et ait: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram, et praesit . . . omni . . . quod movetur in terra. For discussions of this, see e.g. William of st thierry, contemp. 17 (cccm 165; Pl 376d), nat am 3 (cccm 179–180; Pl 382c); nat corp 2 (Pl 713d–714a, 717c, 721c, 722B, 724d, 725c), meditative orationes 12.23 (cccm 89; Pl 246d). 39 see, for example, Bondéelle-souchier 1991; Vernet 1979–1997; Peyrafort-Huin 2001; Bell 1992; Hillgarth 1959. all surviving, identifiable medieval manuscripts, not simply those of the early twelfth century, are listed, making the accurate dating of the various documents especially important in assessing the works available to twelfth-century monks. 40 William, Ep aur 259 (cccm 281); iii.16 (Pl:348c): Et haec hominis est perfectio, similitudo Dei.   41 Bell 1984, 112 and Javelet 1967, 1:288.  42 Ep aur 199 (cccm 270); 2.2.4 (Pl 340c): ob imaginem conditoris et capacitatem rationis. Bell 1984, 98. “that image is the rational soul, or mens, with its attendant memoria.” 43 gen. 1:26. 44 see William, nat corp 27 (cccm 112; Pl 721cd); nat corp 51 (cccm 121; Pl 708d); Meditativae orationes Vi, esp. 11–12 (cccm 36); (6.8; Pl 180:224c). see also Bell 1984, 99.

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e. rozanne elder . . . the soul is made not only in the image of god, but in god’s likeness. in what does this likeness consist, you ask. take first the image. the Word is truth; the Word is wisdom, the Word is justice. these constitute the image. the image of what? of justice, of wisdom, and of truth. For the image, the Word, is justice of justice, wisdom of wisdom, truth of truth, just as he is light of light and god of god. the soul is none of these things, because she is not the image. Yet she is capable of them and yearns for them, and is probably therefore ad imaginem.45

the image of the triune god exists, according to William of saint thierry, “within the mind, [where] we retain the trinitarian impress of memory, reason and will.”46 these three faculties constitute the very substance of the human soul.47 “the whole of the soul”, wrote Bernard of clairvaux, “is nothing other than reason, memory and will.”48 as god is three in one and one in three, so too the three faculties of the image of god in man are inextricable: they can be distinguished in operation yet they are one in substance;49 an impairment or improvement of one therefore affects all. the vocabulary of this image sometimes shifts, both in augustine and in those who relied on him: reason may be ‘understanding’; will may sometimes be ‘love’,50 because love (amor)51 is “a vehement and well ordered”52 will.

45 Bernard, sc 80.2 (sBop 2:277–278; Pl 183:1166d–1167a): . . . quid enim animae et Verbo? . . . Nempe non ad imaginem tantum, sed ad similitudinem facta est. In quo similis sit quaeris? Audi de imagine prius. Verbum est veritas, est sapientia, est justitia: et haec imago. Cujus? Justitiae, sapientiae et veritatis. Est enim imago haec justitia de justitia, sapientia de sapientia, veritas de veritate, quasi de lumine lumen, de Deo Deus. Harum rerum nihil est anima, quoniam non est imago. Est tamen earumdem capax, appetensque et inde fortassis ad imaginem. 46 William, passim. see e.g. nat corp 3 (cccm 88:180; Pl 184:382) and nat amoris 105 (cccm 88:140; Pl 180:722. see also aelred, De anima 1.32 (cccm 694; talbot, 79): Igitur hec tria, memoria, ratio, voluntas, aut ipsa anima sunt aut certe in anima. their source is augustine; see below, n. 50. 47 For example, William, Ep aur 2.198 (cccm 88:270f ); 2.2.4 (Pl 340); aelred, De anima 1.30–31 (cccm 694). 48 De conversione ad clericos, 11 (sBop 4:87; Pl 182:841a): Denique tota ipsa nihil est aliud quam ratio, memoria, et voluntas. 49 nat corp 51 (cccm 121; Pl 707). 50 augustine, De Trinitate 10.11.17 (memoria, intelligentia, voluntas); 15.22.42 (memoria, intellectus, amor); Sololoquia 12.15.24 ([intellectus] scientia, voluntas); 14.12.115 (memoria dei, intelligentia dei, amor dei). For this summary i am indebted to F. Vanfletern, “thematic reflections of the De Trinitate”, a paper given at the international medieval studies congress at Kalamazoo in 1978.   51 nat amoris 4–5 (cccm 180–181; Pl 382d–383). cf augustine, De Trinitate 14.8.11 (ccsl 50a:436; Pl 42: 1045). on this point, see Bell 1984, chapters 1 and 3. 52 nat amoris 6 (cccm 180; Pl 383a): . . . vehementer volendo amor efficitur. cf. De contemplando Deo Vii.14 (cccm 88:162–163; Pl 180 375a): Nihil enim aliud est amor, quam

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3.1.3. Philosophy through augustine53 and Boethius,54 and those who quoted them, the early cistercians were also familiar with the tree of being described by Porphyry (c. 232–c. 305) in his introduction to aristotelian logic, the Eisagoge. translated into latin both by Boethius and by marius Victorinus,55 the Eisagoge traced the tree of being from its root, substantia, the generalissimum genus from which all species are derived. substance can be incorporeal or corporeal (pure spirit or embodied); if corporeal it can be animate or inanimate (besoulled or, like a rock, inanimate, unbesoulled); if corporeal and animate, it can be sensate or insensate (medieval people thought oysters, for example, had no physical senses); if corporeal, animate, and sensate, it can be rational or irrational; if corporeal, animate, sensate and rational, it can be mortal or immortal. the single corporeal, animate, sensate, rational, mortal species is homo, humankind,56 in which all concrete, specific human persons participate. like rocks, trees, and dogs, human beings have bodies, they are corporeal; like trees and dogs human beings are animate; an anima, life-force, indwells and quickens their physical body just as god indwells the universe, everywhere and everywhere entire;57 the anima is present in the tiniest finger, but the soul is not diminished by physical amputation.58 uniquely in corporeal creation, the human anima is rational; “ . . . there can be no sense in the human body without the soul, nor can there be a soul without the senses. For as soon as a man begins to live, he begins to have a human soul and to be a rational and mortal animal.”59 the soul is “an incorporeal reality, . . . adapted to vivifying the body.”60 in short:

vehemens et bene ordinata voluntas. Ep aur 234 (cccm 276); 2.2.10 (Pl 344d–345a: Voluntas, naturalis quidam animi appetitus est, aliud in Deum, et circa interiora sua; alius circa corpus, et circa exteriora et corporalia. Haec cum sursum tendi, sicut ignis ad locum suum, hoc est, cum sociatur veritati, et movetur ad altiora, amor est.  53 augustine, De quantitate animae, 33, 70–76 (Pl 32:1073–1077). 54 Pl 64:9–70 (translation), 71–158 (commentary).  55 Fourth century grammarian and neo-platonist.  56 aelred, De anima 1.50 (cccm 700; talbot 85).  57 William, nat corp 27 (cccm 112); 1.8 (Pl 702c): Anima enim spiritualis est substantia ad imaginem Dei facta, Deo simillima, sic quodam modo se habens in corpore suo, sicut Deus in mundo suo, in corpore scilicet ubique existens et ubique tota: tota in naturalibus, tota in spiritualibus, tota in animalibus operationibus.  58 aelred, De anima, 1.8 (cccm 687; talbot, 68).  59 aelred, De anima 1.11 (cccm 687–688; talbot, 68). 60 William, Ep aur 198 (cccm 270); 2.2.4 (Pl 340B): Anima est res incorporea, rationis capax, vivificando corpori accommodata. William is speaking here of the human soul, whose unique quality is to be rationis capax. see below.

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human beings share corporality with rocks; corporality and animation with trees, and corporality, animation, and sensation with puppy dogs. unlike rocks, trees, and puppy dogs, however, only human are endowed with reason.61 melding classical and christian teaching, twelfth-century scholars held that human beings were created by god in his own image and likeness spiritually and as corporeal, animate,62 sensate,63 rational, and originally immortal beings; “the bodies of the prelapsarian human beings [homines] were animal, yet spiritual, yet they were not the kind that had to die . . .”.64 3.2. Consequences of the Fall But, as we all know, Eve and adam lost immortality, not only for themselves but for all their progeny.65 that augustinian root of all sin, concupiscence—pleasure-prone self-centredness, which existed, though it was not irresistible66 before the fall—infected man’s body, causing it to become mortal. But sin affected not only the body. Physical hunger did not drive Eve and adam to nibble forbidden fruit; they chose to disobey god by eating it. that unnatural abuse of their will constituted the first sin and resulted in both physical mortality and the deformity of the trinitarian likeness within the human spirit. the image remains, as does a residual involuntary likeness left to man “as evidence of a better and still worthier likeness that has been lost”,67 a likeness which is capable of being re-formed and restored. “the form of the past adam and that of the future adam . . . [are] not altogether uniform. they are similar in genus but contrary in species.”68

 61 in the christian scheme of things, angels were also rational, but incorporeal. 62 gen 2:7: et factus est homo in animam viventem. 63 gen 3:8: Et cum audissent vocem Domini ei deambulantis in paradiso ad auam post meridiem . . . 64 William of st thierry, rm iV, ad rm 7:24 (cccm 103–104; Pl 180:623a): Primorum enim hominum corpora ante peccatum licet animalia, nondum spiritualia, non tamen talia erant, quae necesse esset mori. . . . 65 gen. 3:19: In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane, donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptus es; quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris. 66 according to William, rm iV, ad rm 7:8–9 (cccm 94; Pl 615c): Erat enim et ante peccatum concupiscentia, sed non omnis erat. 67 William, Ep aur 260 (cccm 281); iii.16 (Pl 348): Est autem Dei similitudo quaedam quam nemo vivens nisi cum vita exuit, quam omni homini in testimonium amissae melioris et dignioris similitudinis creator omnium hominum reliquit; . . . 68 William, rom iii ad rom 6.4 (cccm 80; Pl 604d): Jam ergo forma Adae praeteriti et futuri . . . non omnino uniformi, simili quidem per genus, per speciem uero contraria.

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after the fall, no one is born who does not die. after the fall, the soul is cut off from the vision of god. “it is as if [god] said, ‘depart from me, from my likeness, into a place of unlikeness; from yourself [i.e. your natural being] to the byways of concupiscence and curiosity’ ”,69 i.e. physical deformity and spiritual deformity. after the fall, the material, now mortal, body has become a constant weight (pondus)70 pulling human beings down below the level of rational being to that of irrational creation. memory has blurred, reason falters, will is mutable. Postlapsarian ‘man’ has forgotten god’s true being, he wills not so much what god wills as what pleases himself, and his love therefore is directed primarily not at god—who is love71—but at self and at trifles. the natural godward progress of the human anima has been arrested; paradise has been lost.72 in Bernard’s turn of phrase, because adam and Eve abused their freedom of will, we, their progeny are not, as were they, able not to sin (posse non peccare); we are instead unable not to sin (non posse non peccare).73 William of st thierry summarized the human spiritual condition by writing: the soul, as the philosophers of this world say, is a simple substance, a natural species, an organ distinct from the matter of the body and its members and having the power (virtus) of life. according to our, that is the church’s, learned teachers, the soul is spiritual and its own substance, created by god, life-giving, rational, immortal, but changeable between good and evil.74

the mutable anima of fallen man is tugged in two directions: towards physical indulgence, carnality, and non-being; and toward Pure spirit, god, and its own perfection in god. For mortal, mutable human creatures to sink willfully below the level of rationality is ‘evil’ because it is contrary to nature. to become what human beings were created to be is ‘good’, conversely, because it is natural, that is, as god created it to be. Fortunately, along with the soul, human beings retain within themselves the potentiality, the power (virtus), to turn from fallen carnality to

69 William, cant Xii.60 (cccm 50; Pl 494 aB): Ac si dicat: Abi a me, a similitudine mea, in locum dissimilitudinis; a te vero in devia concupiscentiae vel curiositatis. cf. Meditativae Orationes 4.8 (cccm 22; Pl 180:216d). 70 on the augustinian notion of pondus, the ‘gravity’ which draws the body to materiality and the soul to god, see nat amoris 1; Pl 180:379c. 71 Jn 4:8. 72 Exp rm iV, ad rm 7:24 (cccm 103–105; Pl 622–623). 73 De gratia et libero arbitrio 3.6 (sBop 3:170; Pl 182:1013). 74 William of st thierry, nat corp 51 (cccm 121; Pl 707d–708d). Anima, sicut philosophi hujus mundi dicunt, substantia est simplex, species naturalis, distans a materia corporis sui organum membrorum; et virtutem vitae habens. Porro secundum nostros, id est ecclesiasticos doctores anima spiritualis propriaque est substantia, a Deo creata, vivificatrix, rationabilis, immortalis, sed in bonum malumque convertibilis.

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their true, i.e. created form. “Virtue is . . . twofold, by it man seeks continuously for his maker and, having found him, adheres to him inseparably.”75 But although human beings sense a need for god, they no longer know where to look. although they were created uniquely in the image of god, they do not understand how uniquely honored they are.76 in their ignorance, they either under- or over-esteem themselves, and so “become like any other animal, not understanding that they received more than [other animales] have.”77 cistercian formation aimed to remedy that ignorance. to explain in a few pages the cistercian formation, which is in fact the re-formation of what is considered de-formed, i would like to concentrate on the innate trinitarian image within the human soul: the gifts of memory, reason, and will. as we have seen, these human faculties constitute the substance of the soul and are, like the triune god, distinguishable in operation yet one in substance.78 the reformation of the divine likeness within the human person therefore requires the restoration of the soul to its created, pristine state, a state in which “ . . . no forgetfulness corrupts memory, no error casts a shadow over knowledge, and no cupidity obstructs love”79 and, we need add, thereby will. 3.3. The Trinitarian Impress: Memory, Reason, Will 3.3.1. Memory the memory [wrote aelred of rievaulx] is like a vast hall containing almost countless treasures, the images of various physical objects which have been carried into it by the senses. in the memory are stored and separately labelled all those things that have been borne through its doors by the eye . . . the ears . . . the mouth . . . the nostrils . . . and the sense of touch . . .80

75 Bernard, dil ii.3 (sBop 3:121; Pl 976B): Porro virtus et ipsa aeque bifaria cognoscetur, si auctorem consequenter inquirimus, inventoque inseparabiliter inhaeremus. 76 Bernard, dil ii.4 (sBop 3:122; Pl 976d): Homo factus in honore, cum honorem ipsum non intelligit, . . . 77 Bernard, dil ii.4 (sBop 3:122; Pl 976d): Fit igitur ut sese non agnoscendo egregia rationis munere creatura, irrationabilium gregibus aggregari incipiat, dum ignara propriae gloriae, quae ab intus est, conformanda foris rebus sensibilibus, sua ipsius curiositate abducitur: efficiturque una de caeteris, quod se prae caeteris nihil accepisse intelligat. 78 William, nat amoris 2 (cccm 180); 2.3 (Pl 382d). aelred, De anima 1. 30–31 (cccm 693–694). 79 aelred, Speculum caritatis 1.5.15; cccm 1, Aelredi Rievallensis. Opera Omnia, 1. Opera Ascetica (turnholt: Brepols, 1971) 18. 80 aelred, De anima 2.3 (cccm 707; talbot, 95): Est enim memoria ingens quedam aula, continens quasi innumerabilies thesauros, diversarum scilicet rerum corporalium ymagines

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When the senses are inactive, human beings draw on the imagination, “that power of the soul which perceives the corporeal forms of bodily things which are not present”.81 stored memories of things sensed, things experienced and things understood, vividly or dimly become available to the human imagination which lies “on the border line between the material and the spiritual levels of reality”.82 By the imagination, “that is, the mind imaging”,83 human beings either draw on sensory experience to envisage a divine being which is (in modern terms) a projection of themselves, an all-powerful Being capable—like a feudal lord—of dispensing justice and largess in exchange for loyal service, a being able to be dealt with ‘man to man’, or else they remain ignorantly content with a god who is ‘unknowable, unthinkable, and incomprehensible’. imagination veils the understanding by substituting an imagined creature for the unimaginable creator, warned gilbert of Hoyland.84 But, as William of saint thierry found from his own experience, to attempt to skip over imagination and human senses in a dash for spiritual enlightenment stifles both love and understanding.85 reliance on the imagination, the senses and the memory is essential to learning about god, but better to conceive of meta-sensory reality a second faculty is needed. 3.3.2. Reason “reason is the eye of the soul”.86 reason is the distinctively human faculty which enables man to move beyond corporeal reality by employing and abstracting from sensory data, to “perceive the incorporeal forms of corporeal things. For it abstracts from a body those things founded in a body, not by an action but by reflection (consideratione) . . .”.87 it is reason which sets man apart from brute beasts, governed by instinct but incapable of per sensus invectas. Ibi recondita sunt omnia et distinct servata, queque ibi suo aditu ingesta sunt . . . per oculos, per aurem . . . per aditum oris . . . per aditum narium . . . per tactum. 81 isaac of stella, letter on the soul; Pl 194:1181: Imaginatio autem ea vis animae est, quae rerum corporearum percipit formas, sed absentes. 82 mcginn 1977, 56. 83 William, Meditativae orationes 2.11 (cccm 89:11; Pl 180:210B): . . . imaginatio, id est mens imaginans. 84 sc 45.7; Pl 184:241a. 85 see Meditativae orationes 5 (cccm 89:27–32; Pl 180:219–222). 86 William, Speculum fidei; 4 (cccm 89a:82; Pl 180: 366c): Aspectus autem animae ratio est. cf. ibid. 3 (cccm 82; Pl 365d): Oculus vero animae mens sive ratio est. . . 87 isaac, letter on the soul, 15 (Pl 194: 1184aB): Ratio itaque ea vis animae est, quae rerum corporearum incorporeas percipit formas. Abstrahit enim a corpore quae fundantur in corpore; non actione, sed consideratione, et cum videat ea actu non subsistere, nisi in corpore, percipit tamen ea corpus non esse. Nempe natura ipsa corporis secundum quam omne corpus

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reason.88 after the fall,89 reason is normally restricted to what the senses and the imagination can tell it. restlessly curious, reason is one of two spiritual senses which together constitute intellectus, the understanding, “by which [the mind] senses whatever it senses”.90 Properly used, reason enables the growth of innate virtus, the will tending towards its natural goal (locus). 3.3.3. Will coupled with reason is will, “a certain natural appetite of the rational soul”.91 But “our will is crooked and twisted, it must be rectified and directed according to the pattern of the divine Will,” as guerric of igny told his monks.92 reason, the power of discernment, must direct it. Bernard of clairvaux defined the will as “a rational movement governing the senses and appetites” and added: the will has reason as its handmaid wherever it is involved, not that it always moves by reason but that it never moves without reason, so that it does many things by [reason] against [reason], i.e. by its ministry but contrary to its counsel.93

But let us look a little more closely at the will in itself. “as regards its nature,” aelred wrote, “the will is a great good and can never be anything else but good. But the use of it, which depends on the way it is inclined, can be good or bad. . . . therefore the will, according to its nature, is simply a will, but the right use of it makes it a good will and the perverse use [of it] an evil will”.94

corpus est, translation, Bernard mcginn, cF 24:168 on the theological anthropology of isaac, see mcginn 1972. 88 aelred, De anima 1.19 (cccm 1:690–691;talbot 74–75). 89 see William, De contemplando deo 23 (Pl 180:376d), nat amoris 5 (Pl 382c); nat corp 2 (Pl 713d–714a, 717c, 721c, 722B, 724d, 725c), Meditativae orationes 12 (Pl 180:246d), cant 1 (Pl 473c), 52 (Pl 494a), 54 (494c), 74 (503c), Ep aur 2.2.5 (Pl 342a), Exp rom 3.5 (Pl 595a), 5.8 (Pl 636c), De sacramento altaris 1 (Pl 180:374a). 90 Speculum fidei 99 (cccm 119; Pl 180:391B). 91 William, Ep aur 234 (cccm 276); 2.2.10 (Pl 344d–345a: Voluntas naturalis quidam animi appetitus est . . . 92 guerric of igny, Liturgical Sermons 4.4 (Pl 185:24): . . . si qua est in nobis prava et distorta voluntas, corrigatur, et ad regulam divinae voluntatis dirigatur. 93 De gratia et libero arbitrio 2.3 (sBop 3.6; Pl182:1003B): Porro voluntas est motus rationalis, et sensui praesidens, et appetitui, Habet sane, quocumque se volverit, rationem semper comitem et quodammodo pedissequam; non quod semper ex ratione, sed quod numquam absque ratione moveatur, ita ut multa faciat per ipsam contra ipsam, hoc est per eius quasi ministerium, contrarius consilium sive judicium . . . 94 aelred, De anima 2.25 (cccm 715; talbot 106): Duobus uero modis uoluntas intelligitur, secundum naturam et secundum affectum, id est, secundum quod est, et secundum

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Homo dissolutus95—dis-integrated man—is perversely prone to focus the will, and therefore love (amor), upon self and transitory trifles, rather than on god, its natural object. self-serving choices, once made, became habitual. “something done once makes for greater pleasure, pleasure demands repetition, repetition creates a habit of the will, habit injects a necessity to servitude”.96 reason and will work together. “this is why,” wrote aelred of rievaulx, a word has been formed from these two faculties, i.e. reason and will, a word called ‘free will’. By this one word two things are signified . . . freedom, which resides in man’s will, and judgment, which belongs to his reason.97

adam and Eve, alone among created beings, were endowed with free will or free choice. they sinned, not because they were able to sin, but because they chose to sin, and in doing so they lost the other freedoms they had been given, freedom from misery and freedom from sin.98 Yet after the fall, humankind retains this freedom of will; “the rational will is so free that it cannot be compelled to do anything, not by man, the devil, and angel or any other creature. . . . the will can never be forced.”99 Yet free choice (liberum arbitrium), having once been misused, is subsequently often misused100 either through ignorance or through arrogance.101 Yet despite ignorance, irresolution, and willful disobedience, humankind retains the trinitarian impress of memory, reason, and will which “derives from nature, not from will or effort”.102 Fallen man remains capable of free

quod afficitur. . . . Uoluntas igitur secundum naturam simpliciter uoluntas est, rectus usus eius bona uoluntas, usus eius peruersus mala uoluntas.    95 aelred, De anima 13; Bernard, Sermones de diversis 103 (sBop 6/1:373; Pl 183:730).    96 William, rm iii, ad rm 6:16 (cccm 86; Pl 609B): . . . quod semel patratum maiorem facit uoluptatem; uoluptas requirit iterationem; iteratio facit uoluntariam consuetudinem; consuetuo seruitutisi necessitatem.    97 aelred, De anima 2.28 (cccm 717; talbot 108): Quocirca . . . ex his duobus, uoluntate scilicet et ratione, illud confectum est nomen, quod dicitur liberum arbitrium, quo uno nomine quo significantur, . . . libertas quam homo habet ex uoluntate, iudicium quod habet ex ratione. . . .    98 Bernard, De gratia et libero arbitrio Vii.21 (sBop 3:181; Pl 1014B): Nam etsi peccavit [homo] ex posse quod accepit, non tamen quia potuit, sed quia voluit.    99 aelred, De anima 2.29 (cccm 717; talbot, 109): Tam libera est rationalis voluntas, ut nec ab homine, nec a demone, nec ab angelo, nec ab aliqua creatura cogi possit . . . Numquam igitur voluntas cogi potest . . . 100 Bernard, De diligendo Deo ii.2; sBop 3:121; Pl 182: 975d): Praecipua dico, non quia excellentiora, sed quia necessariora; sunt quippe corporis. Quaerat enim homo eminentiora bona sua in ea parte sui, qua praeeminet sibi, hoc est in anima quae sunt dignitas, scientia, virtus. Dignitatem in homine liberum arbitrium dico: in quo ei nimirum datum est caeteris non solum praeeminere, sed et praesidere animantibus.  101 dil ii.4 (sBop 3:122; Pl 977a). 102 Ep aur 260 (cccm 282; Pl 348): . . . cum naturae, non uoluntatis eius sit vel laboris.

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choice; humankind is capax rationis,103 and therefore capax Dei. and on this tenuous base, the program of monastic formation is founded. 4. Monastic Education a twelfth-century cistercian monastery, like a modern montessori school, provided a controlled environment and within it the personal freedom to grow at one’s own rate. Everything which the monks needed to grow from the persons they were when they chose to enter the monastery to the persons they were to become, had to be in place, ready to be appropriated as each monk, in his own time, was ready to receive it. all human beings are made in the image of god; all human beings are capable of recovering the likeness of god, but medieval cistercians were convinced that the best place to achieve the necessary reformation was the cloister. “do you want to know why stability of place is so necessary if you are to continue in wisdom, take root, and eventually bear fruit?” guerric of igny asked. “ask your holy Father Benedict and he will tell you that ‘the cloister of the monastery and stability in the community’104 is the proper place to cultivate nearly all the virtues.”105 “Without long and hard labors”, human beings cannot attain the perfection, the full image and likeness of god, for which they were created, and which they would have enjoyed “had not nature been corrupted in its beginnings through malice”.106 monastic recruits, like all human beings, are creatures simultaneously natural and unnatural; gloriously capable of self-less generosity, and basely capable of acts more heinous than those of brute beasts (as watching the evening news soon convinces us). the gloomy fact that some observers of the human scene fail to distinguish between “nature and its defects, between the dignity of creation and the penalty of transgression”,107

103 see n. 57 above. 104 rB 4.78. 105 guerric of igny, Liturgical Sermons 22.2 (Pl 185:100aB): Vis autem scire quam sit necessaria stabilitas loci ut in sapientia moreris, ut radicari et fructificare possis] mora temporis? Interroga Patrem tuum Benedictum, et annuntiabit tibi quia claustrum monasterii, et stabilitas in congregatione, locus idoneus sit ad ferendum omnium fere fructus virtutum . . . 106 William, nat corp 58 (cccm 123); 2.1 (Pl 710c): Quae ex principio perfecta esset, si in suo principio corrupta natura per malitiam non fuisset. Propterea nascimur ut pecudes; nec continuo, nec nisi cum magnis et diuturnis laboribus relucere potest in nobis Factoris imago . . . 107 aelred, De anima 2.20 (cccm713; talbot 104): . . . non distinguentes inter natural et uitium, inter dignitatem creationis et poenam transgressionis. . . .

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should not mislead us. cistercian education was life-long and designed to maximize the natural dignity and minimize the effects of the fall. When novices arrived at the abbey gates, their first task was to learn the manners of god’s city and to unlearn their old ways and relearn god’s way. “deform me from the form of the world, to which i have conformed myself” prayed one monk, “conform me to your citizens, lest i appear deformed among them.”108 monastic formation was designed to burnish the image and actualize the likeness of god, for “likeness to god is the perfection of the human person. to refuse to be perfect is to fall short” of the purpose of creation,109 it is to prefer the region of unlikeness to the heavenly homeland. 4.1. Educating the Body the first thing in need of re-formation is the body, forever unnaturally trying to dominate the soul and thereby perpetuating disorder. Just as the vine-dresser must prune the vines if they are to produce good fruit,110 and as the doctor must subject the patient to restrictions if he is to regain health,111 so the monk must be trained so that his mind becomes capable of mastering the body and the body resigned to accepting that mastery. Young men enter a monastery filled with good intentions, but they are impetuous, curious, and unsettled.112 these novices are like little sparrows,113 a noisy, flighty little bird which in the middle ages had a reputation for fickleness. When such a beginner prays, “ . . . he seeks only a god like himself, one who gives whatever he is asked, but not himself.”114 “the first thing novices must learn is physical discipline: they must learn to guard their speech and their eyes, control their gait and their hands, temper their laughter and their curiosity, honor the seniors, love

108 med 4.17 (cccm 25; Pl 180:218B): Deforma me a forma saeculi cui me conformaveram; conforma me civibus tuis, ne inter eos deformis appaream. cf Meditativae orationes 5.19 (cccm 32; Pl 222a): Deforma me a saeculo, cui me conformavi; forma et conforma me gratiae tuae ad quam confugi, et da cordi meo formam placitae tibi poenitentiae. 109 William, Ep aur 259 (cccm 281); XVi.259 (Pl 348): Et haec hominis est perfectio, similitudo Dei. Perfectum autem nolle esse, delinquere est. 110 Bernard, sc 58.10 (sBop 2:133). 111 William, Ep aur 97 *cccm 249); iX.26 (Pl 324). 112 Ep aur 188 (cccm 268); 2.2 (Pl 338d): . . . juvenum naturaliter calidus sanguis, et fervidus animus, aetas labilis, curiositas, inquieta . . . 113 Ep aur 187 (cccm 268; Pl 184:337d): Passer, inquam, naturaliter animal vitiosum, mobile, leve, importunum, garrulum, ac pronum in libidinem. 114 William, cant. 13–14 (cccm 25–26).

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the juniors, and obey the superiors”.115 Because “every superfluity is a corrupting passion,”116 they must accept poverty, silence, obedience, humility, cheap clothing and a restricted diet as bulwarks against worldly habits.117 along with “the affliction of the outer man”,118 the “passions of the flesh”, the affections and emotions, which were considered half physical and half fanciful, must be “stilled or extinguished”. the novice, “lacking the guidance of reason, the attraction of love, and the moderation of discretion”119 needs to be shaped by the discipline of obedience. the surrender of self-will, that “love of one’s own will” that was implanted in the human heart in the dread hour of the primal transgression, when man, thinking to achieve mastery became instead a slave, is “difficult” but imperative.120 through obedience, monks aim at simplicity, single-mindedness, at having “a will utterly directed to god”, but at this stage their will is “not yet so formed by reason as to be love . . . not yet so enlightened as to be charity.”121 Even the simplicity of cistercian visual space formed part of the discipline. “our surroundings contribute not a little to our inner being, once they are arranged and adjusted to the likeness of our mind and correspond to our intentions,” wrote William from his austere cistercian cloister,122 which did not include the intriguing but distracting carved capitals common in Benedictine houses and secular cathedrals, the capitals which set Bernard on a satiric rampage at “ridiculous monstrosities” at which “one could spend the whole day gazing fascinated . . . instead of

115 William, nat amoris 8 (cccm 183; Pl 385aB). 116 William, nat corp 56 (cccm 123); ii.2 (Pl 710B): Omnis enim superfluitas corruptrix passio est. 117 aelred, sermon 3.7, In nativitate Domini; cccm 2a28. Pl 195:22Bc. 118 aelred, Speculum charitatis, Praefatio, 6 (cccm 1:4) and 2.6.16 (cccm 1:73); (Pl 195:503 and 2.6; Pl 552c). 119 William, Ep aur 68 (cccm 242; Pl 319d): . . . qui non habet uel rationem ducentem, uel affectum trahentem, uel districtionem moderantem . . . 120 Bernard, Sermones de diversis 41.4 (sBop 6/1:247; Pl 183:656a): Ab illa enim primae praevaricationis angustia innatus est homini amor propriae voluntatis, quae voluntatem sui Creatoris relinquens, ibi subdita est servituti, ubi voluit dominari. Difficile est ergo suam relinquere voluntatem, et alterius voluntati deservire. 121 William, Ep aur 49 (cccm 238; Pl 317a): . . . est simplicitas perfecta ad Deum conuersa uoluntas . . . Vel simplicitas, sola est ad Deum uoluntas, scilicet nondum ratione formata, ut amor sit, id est formata uoluntas, nondum illuminata, ut sit caritas . . . 122 Ep aur 513 (cccm 260; Pl 332c): Conferunt etiam non modicum interioribus nostris exteriora nostra, ad similitudinem mentis aptata et composita, et bono proposito suo modo responentia.

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meditating on the law of god.”123 the stories told (by William) of Bernard riding along lake geneva oblivious of its beauty or unaware of the vaulting of citeaux,124 were hagiographic exaggerations. as michael casey has demonstrated, Bernard had a keen eye for his surroundings.125 Bernard’s point in criticizing cluniac architecture, and William’s point in telling the stories—beyond the hope of having Bernard canonised once he died— was one basic to cistercian re-formation, the outer eye must be restrained if the inner eye is to develop126 because “every sense experience changes the one experiencing it in some way into that which is sensed or else there is no sensation.”127 in the act of seeing, the seer is himself changed. a wealth of visual images distracts, engenders curiosity, and ties the mind to corporality. this is why “the novice should be taught . . . to keep as far away as he can from material objects or their representations when he thinks of god.”128 once the body and its senses have grown used to discipline and sensual appetites are under control, then, in the words of aelred of rievaulx, the anima passes by the power of the mind beyond all physical creatures and “soars above the power of imagination.”129 in the scheme of William of saint thierry, the person who was “animal man” (reliant on the senses) advances to become “rational man”, capable of disciplined reason.130 more than one cistercian therefore differentiated between the feminine anima, the soul as life-force potentially capable of likeness to god, and the masculine animus, the fully rational soul, which is steadfast and immortal, shall exist even “though ceasing to exist in the body does not cease to exist”.131

123 Apologia ad Guillelmum abbatem, Xii.29 (sBop 3:106; Pl 182:916a): . . . ridicula monstruositas . . . totumque diem occupare singula ista mirando, quam in lege Dei meditando. 124 Vita prima Bernardi 1.4.20 (Pl 185:238–239). 125 casey 1985, 1–20. 126 Ep aur 104 (cccm 250). see casey (n. 122), pp. 2–3. 127 William, Nat corp 41 (cccm 117); 1.8 (Pl 706a): Omnis enim sensus sentientem transmutat quodammodo in id quod sentitur, alioquin non est sensus. 128 William, Ep aur 173 (cccm 265); 4i.xiii.173 (Pl 336a): Docendus est etiam in oratione sua sursum cor levare, spiritualiter orare, a corporibus vel corporum imaginibus, cum Deum cogitat, quantum potest recedere. 129 De anima 3.9 (cccm 734–735): At in vi intellectuali omnem corporalem excedens creaturam, omnem vim ymaginariam transcendens. . . . 130 cant, iii.10 (cccm 24; Pl 477c). Tres ergo status esse oratium uel orationum manifestum est: animalem, rationalem, spiritualem. see also Epistola aurea, passim. 131 E.g. Ep aur ii.198 (cccm 270); 2.2.4 (Pl 347d): Quae ubi perfectae rationis incipit esse, non tantum capax, sed et princeps, continuo [Col.0340C] abdicat a se nomen generis feminini, et efficitur animus particeps rationis, regendo corpori accommodatus, vel se ipsum habens spiritus. Quamdiu enim anima est, cito in id quod carnale est, effeminatur: animus

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4.2. Re-forming the Spirit With this background, we come at last to the subject: how does monastic ‘formation’ achieve its intended ‘re-formation’ of the soul to the likeness of god? 4.2.1. Memory to re-focus distorted memory, that is, to remedy ignorance of god, the novice studies the revealed Word of god: the life of god-incarnate and the written scripture. the monastic day is filled with scripture. one hundred fifty psalms are recited each week at the divine office. long scriptural and patristic lessons are read aloud at Vigils and short chapters of scripture recited at all the other daily offices. Lectio divina, what we would call reflective, personal reading, involved the physical senses of sight, hearing, and speech—for medieval monks read aloud. they saw, they spoke, they heard the word. those in the first stages of formation were advised to concentrate on the life and teachings of christ, and on those scriptural and patristic passages which convey a moral meaning (that is, lessons applicable to self).132 this contact through the senses and the mind with the Word of god informs both rational and affective faculties. “is salvation compatible with ignorance about god?” asked Bernard of clairvaux. and he answered: “certainly not. You cannot love what you do not know, nor have what you do not love.”133 4.2.2. Reason reading is followed by meditation, a reasoned reflection on what has been read. Employing reason in meditation requires letting go of physical images to achieve what we might call abstract thinking, to conceive of reality without sensory images. this was Bernard’s point in his diatribe against cluniac architecture. “You may have overcome carnal concupiscence, you may have made progress,” he warned his monks, “but until you

vero vel spiritus, nonnisi quod virile est et spirituale meditatur. see also aelred of rievaulx, De anima, 57. 132 Ep aur 171 (cccm 264); XiV.14 (Pl 335cd): Animali vero et novo in Christo homini ad exercitanda ejus interiora melius et tutius proponuntur legenda et meditanda Redemptoris nostri exteriora; et ostenditur in eis exemplum humilitatis, provocatio charitatis, et affectus pietatis: et de Scripturis sanctis et sanctorum tractatibus Patrum moralia quaeque et planiora. 133 Bernard, sc 37.1 (sBop 2:9): Nec enim potes aut amare quae nescias, aut habere quod non amaveris.

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put yourself beyond the likenesses of corporeal images, you will find no rest [in contemplating god as god truly is].”134 Human reason, accustomed to relying on sensory data, is discomfited by moving beyond the physical senses; it balks, “it slips, it stumbles, it sinks”, until “humbled by the yoke of divine authority.”135 a rational understanding of divine revelation requires a willed faith and obedience to the authority of scripture, and these enable the monk to let go, not only of sensory images but also of the words which, like a ship, convey him from faith to vision [speciem] of god.136 Just as the physical senses and human affection provide “chinks in the wall of mortality”137 which blocks mortal men’s view of god, so reason and will, rightly directed, enable them to catch a glimpse of the divine Being who surpasses human senses and human reason. obedience to superiors and to scripture and growing self-knowledge inculcate humility; and “true humility in any ordinary man is to esteem himself as he is, and on the basis of this self-knowledge to abase himself.”138 it was a virtue which the aristocratic Bernard of clairvaux admitted he found very difficult. it was a virtue which Bernard and William of saint thierry thought the self-assertive Peter abelard sorely lacked. 4.2.3. Will those who lack humility, indeed most christians, according to Bernard, are not ready to obey in all things, they have not made up their minds to follow in everything the one who came to do not his own will but the Father’s.139 they distinguish and discriminate, choosing in what things they will obey the one giving orders—or in fact, in what things the person who commands them must obey their wills.140

134 sc 52.5 (sBop 2:93; Pl 183:1031): Transilisti carnem oblectamenta, ut minime iam oboedias concupiscentiis eius, nec tenearis illecebris profecisti, separasti te, sed nondum elogasti, nisi et irruentia undique phantasmata corporearum similitudinem transvolare menti puritate praevaleas. 135 spec fid. 46 (cccm 100; Pl 180:378): . . . humiliata sub jugo divinae auctoritatis . . . 136 spec fid 118 (cccm 126; Pl 396a): Ubi sicut Christus non secundum hominem cognoscetur; sic et hic a desiderantibus aliquatenus eum supra hominem cognoscere verbis quae de eo sunt non nimis inhaereatur, sed eis quasi navigio a fide ad speciem transeatur. 137 William, cant 160–162 (cccm 111–113). 138 William, cant 106 (cccm 78; Pl 511d): Siquidem in puro quolibet homine vera est humilitas estimare de semetipso id quod est, et ex cognitione sui seipsum viliscere sibi. 139 Jn 6:38. 140 Sermo in conversione sancti Pauli, 6 (sBop 4:332): Non est eorum oboedientia plena, non in omnibus parati sunt obsequi, non per omnia sequi proposuerunt eum, qui non suam,

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the ability to will, he wrote elsewhere, is ours because we have free choice; the capacity for carrying out what we will requires something we cannot supply. nature, even fallen nature, gives us the ability to will; god’s grace enables us to will what is good.141 the relationship between nature and grace is synergistic, not static. an undisciplined will, William believed, draws man downward; “a neglected will gives rise to thoughts that are idle and unworthy of god; a corrupted will [yields] perverse thoughts that alienate [us] from god; a rightly-ordered will [brings] thoughts necessary for the living of this life; a dutiful (pia) will thoughts effective in attaining the fruits of the spirit and the enjoyment of god.”142 if the monk voluntarily conforms his will to the divine will as it is revealed by scripture, the rule, and his monastic superiors, then slowly there is formed in his soul “another likeness, one closer to god, because it is voluntary . . . it consists in the virtues” and in “unwearying perseverance in good.”143 By grace, occasional good choices become habitual good choices in those who choose obedience and learn humility. as we saw, in augustinian anthropology will and love are the same faculty at two levels of intensity.144 Just as will and reason operate best in tandem in cistercian anthropology, so at a greater intensity, love145 and reason are considered two eyes by which god may be seen,146 or, in another metaphor, “love and reason are the two feet of the soul.”147 as two eyes focus better than one, so love and reason work best together because “reason cannot see god except in what he is not, but love cannot bring itself to rest except in what god is,” as William wrote. “reason teaches love and love enlightens reason.”148 Bernard saw only two ways of exceeding man’s physical limita-

sed Patris venit facere voluntatem. Discernunt et diiudicant eligentes in quibus oboediant imperanti immo in quibus praeceptorem suum ipsorum oboedire necesse sit voluntati. 141 De gratia et libero arbitrio 6.16; sBop 3l177–178; Pl 182:1010: Velle siquidem est nobis ex libero arbitrio, non etiam posse quod volumus . . . Itaque liberum arbitrium nos facit volentes, gratia benevolos. Ex ipso nobis est velle, ex ipsa bonum velle. 142 Ep aur 2.252 (cccm 280); 3.15 (Pl 347): Sic ergo voluntas neglecta facit cogitationes otiosas, et indignas Deo: corrupta, perversas, quae separant a Deo: recta, necessarias ad usum vitae hujus: pia, efficaces ad fructum Spiritus, et ad fruendum Deo. 143 Ep aur 2.261 (cccm 282); 3.16 (Pl 348d): Sed est alia magis Deo propinqua similitudo, in quantum voluntaria, quae in virtutibus consistit: . . . et perseverante in bono constantia, aeternitatis ejus incommutabilitatem. 144 aelred, De anima 2.28 (cccm 717; talbot 108). see above, p. 194. 145 Amor, affectus, or caritas, depending on the author and the circumstances. 146 nat amoris, 21 (cccm 193); 8.21 (Pl 184:393). 147 isaac of stella, Epistola de anima, Pl 194:1880B. 148 William, nat amoris 21 (cccm 193; Pl 393c): Ratio ergo per id quod non est, in id quod est videtur proficere: amor postponens quod non est, in eo quod est gaudet deficere . . . et ratio docet amorem, et amor illuminat rationem . . .

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tions: understanding/intellect and love: intellectus and affectus;149 William laid greater emphasis on reason’s pivotal role in the transition from faith to love. the three spiritual faculties which constitute the image of god must focus on christ, both as exemplar and as teacher because the human soul “having lost the law of god, must be taught by a man.”150 adam lost the vision of god; Eternal Wisdom took “a form not unfamiliar”151 to human beings to enable human memory to recall what had once been naturally implanted in the soul; incarnate Wisdom encouraged and enabled reason in faith to comprehend a reality which surpasses sensory limitations.152 adam and Eve abused the will and were enslaved to sin; christ’s obedient, voluntary, and unnecessary153 death released the human will from bondage and made it once more capable of truly free choice. reformation to the created state therefore means conformation to christ, who is “the image of the unseen god, the firstborn of all creation”,154 and who is “like us, yet without sin.”155 Both philosophy and scripture taught that change is never self-generating. as aelred of rievaulx expressed it: “anything by nature changeable cannot persevere in good or progress from bad to good, from good to better, without participating in an unchangeable good.”156 a dry log does not become hot unless it is touched by flame. the “flame” that enkindles the re-formation process in the dry log of the christian soul is believed to be Jesus christ. as William wrote, “man cannot will anything good unless he is helped by him who cannot will evil.”157 the human memory, reason, and will must be drawn by god. “man’s part is unremittingly to prepare

149 Bernard, sc 49.4 (sBop 2:75): . . . intellectu unus et alter in affectu . . . 150 nat amoris (cccm 177–178; Pl 381a). Ideoque amissa doctrina sua naturali, opus jam habet doctore homine. 151 William, Meditativae orationes 10.5 (cccm 58; Pl 236a): . . . non ignotam sibi formam . . . 152 see above, n. 148. cf. contemp 20 (cccm 167; Pl 378a). 153 unlike some of his contemporaries, William of saint thierry believed that the death of christ was not necessary, because christ owed nothing to sin. His death was a freely willed act of pure love for humankind and loving obedience to the Father. see Elder 1991, 94–98. 154 col. 1:15. 155 Heb. 4:15. 156 aelred, De anima 2.51 (cccm 725; talbot 120): Nihil enim mutabile fieri potest incommutabile, nisi participatione boni quod non est mutabile. 157 rm iii, ad rm 6:20–21 (cccm 89; Pl 611B): Nec potest homo boni aliquid uelle, nisi adiuuetur ab eo qui malum non potest uelle. cf. r iV, ad rm 7:17 (cccm 100–101) Nam ut non sit, adest uelle, sed iacet, id est impotents est sine auxilio gratiae, cum et ipsum uelle sit opus gratiae.

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the heart by ridding the will of alien affections, the reason or the understanding of anxieties, the memory of idle or absorbing, even of necessary, concerns” so that, when and as god wills, the will may display “pure affection,” the memory “faithful matter” and the understanding “the sweetness of experience”.158 to allow the reformation of their own distorted likeness, human beings must know christ, and knowing christ requires knowing oneself through and through. “Know yourself,” William has christ say, “because you are my image, and thus you are capable of knowing me, whose image you are, and within yourself, you will find me.”159 an initial but transitory sensebased affection for the human Jesus of scripture must steadily grow into a steadfast willed attachment (affectus) to god-incarnate, whose divinity can be perceived by a reason obedient to faith. and in christ, human beings find god, for when christ taught “ . . . that the understanding of the godhead is beyond human beings, he was teaching human beings to think as he thought.”160 Human beings are capax Dei because they are capax Christi, and in christ capable of the fullness of all good.161 When we are conformed [to christ], wrote Bernard, we are transformed.162 When the cistercian Fathers read the κένωσις-hymn in the letter to the Philippians 2:6–8—Although he was in the form of God, [Christ] emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant . . . and being in the form of man he humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross, to the end that he might exalt man to the likeness of divinity163—they took it to mean that the “form of man” now once again exists in the presence of god.

158 Ep aur 251 (cccm 279–280); iii.14 (Pl 347B–c): Sed modus hic cogitandi de Deo non est in arbitrio cogitantis, sed in gratia donantis: scilicet cum Spiritus sanctus, qui ubi vult spirat, quando vult, et quomodo vult, et quibus vult, in hoc aspirat. Sed hominis est jugiter praeparare cor, voluntatem expediendo ab affectionibus alienis, rationem vel intellectum a sollicitudinibus, memoriam ab otiosis et negotiosis, nonnumquam] et a necessariis occupationibus; ut in die bona Domini, et in hora beneplaciti ejus, cum audierit vocem spiritus spirantis, ea quae cogitationem faciunt, continuo libere concurrant sibi, et cooperentur in bonum, et quasi symbolum faciant in gaudium cogitantis: voluntas exhibendo in gaudium Domini puram affectionem; memoria, materiam fidelem; intellectus, experientiae suavitatem. 159 William, cant 60 (cccm 50; Pl494a): Sed cognosce te, quia imago mea es, et sic poteris nosse me, cujus imago es, et penes te invenies me. cf. Ibid. 62 (cccm 51): O imago Dei, reognosce dignitatem tuam; refulgeat in te auctoris effigies. 160 Speculum fidei 120 (cccm 89a: 127; Pl 180:396 d): Cum enim divinitatis intellectum docuit esse supra homines, suo inde modo docuit cogitare homines. 161 William, nat corp 86 (cccm 133; Pl 717c): . . . plenitudinis omnis boni capax . . . 162 sc 62.5 (sBop 2: 158; Pl 1087c): Transformamur cum conformamur. 163 in the Vulgate: . . . Iesu qui cum in forma Dei esset non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo sed semet ipsum exinanivit formam servi accipiens in similitudinem hominum factus . . .

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in the augustinian neo-Platonic theological anthropology of the early cistercians, the transformation of homo has already occurred. By becoming human, and in obedience and love teaching and dying and rising to new life, god-made-man has lifted homo, the forma, out of the abyss of unlikeness164 and restored it to full likeness to god.165 in christ the human potential for likeness to god has been actualized. in the second adam the uniquely human attributes of memory, reason and will have been reformed.166 Perfect humanity now again exists and is forever present within the godhead. conformed to christ and in christ transformed, man is capable of attaining true wisdom in the “kingdom of charity and the brilliantly radiant seat of Wisdom,” that is, of christ who is the wisdom of the Father.167 this is the goal of monastic formation. “this is the goal for which the solitary strives, this is the end he has in view, this is his reward, the rest that comes after his labors, the consolation for his pains, and this is the perfection and true wisdom of the human person.”168 and in being conformed to christ, the soul achieves a likeness so close that it is called not merely a likeness but unity of spirit. it makes man one with god, one spirit, not only with the unity which comes of willing the same thing but with a greater fullness of virtue, as has been said, the inability to will anything else. it is called unity of spirit not only because the Holy spirit effects it or inclines the human spirit to it, but because it is the Holy spirit himself, the god who is love.169

164 William, cant XVi. 70 (cccm 63): . . . in tantum profundum dissimilitudinis . . . Regio dissimilitudinis was a favorite metaphor. see Bernard, Epp. 8.2; 393.2; William, Meditativae orationes 4; Speculum fidei (Pl 389a), Aenigma fidei (Pl 417d), De sacramento altaris 1 (Pl 180: 3467a). 165 see rom Viii, ad rm 8:35–39 (cccm 129–130). 166 Ep aur ii. 273 (cccm 284); 2.3.19 (Pl 350Bc): . . . deus humiliatus usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis, ut hominem exaltet usque ad similitudinum divinitatis. [citing Phil. 2:8]. 167 i cor. 1:24. 168 Ep aur ii. 276 (cccm 285); 20.276 (Pl 350d): Et haec est destinatio solitarii certaminis, hic finis, hoc praemium, haec requies laborum, consolatio dolorum. Et ipsa est perfectio et vera hominis sapientia;. . . 169 Ep aur ii. 262–263 (cccm282); iii.16 (Pl 349a): . . . haec de qua iam aliquanta dicta sunt, in tantum proprie propria, ut non jam similitudo, sed unitas spiritus nominetur; cum fit homo cum Deo unus spiritus, non tantum unitate idem volendi, sed expressiore quadam veritate virtutis, sicut jam dictum est, aliud velle non valendi. Dicitur autem haec unitas spiritus, non tantum quia efficit eam, vel afficit ei spiritum hominis Spiritus sanctus, sed quia ipsa ipse est Spiritus sanctus Deus charitas . . . cf. augustine, De Trinitate 15.18.32 (Pl 42:1083): Dilectio igitur quae ex Deo est et Deus est, proprie Spiritus sanctus est, per quem diffunditur in cordibus nostris Dei charitas, per quam nos tota inhabitat Trinitas.

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William claimed that the soul “becomes, not god, but what god is, [becoming] through grace what god is by nature”.170 this is not pantheism. Homo remains homo; god remains god, for “it is not required that an image in no way differ from its prototype. For that would be identity, not image”.171 in Bernardine terms, this constitutes the restoration of the ability which even adam and Eve lacked before the fall, the ability not to be able to sin: non posse peccare. But not in this life. Full transformation will occur only after humankind has been repatriated from the “land of unlikeness” to the heavenly presence of god. Bernard has the last word: this will be to have returned home: to have left the homeland of the body for the region of the spirit. this [region] is our god, the supreme spirit, the supreme dwelling-place of blessed spirits. neither the bodily senses nor the imagination will usurp for itself anything there, for there is truth, there is Wisdom, Virtue, Eternity, the supreme good. For a while we are absent from this place and we are in a valley, a valley of tears in which sensuality rules and consideration [i.e. contemplation] is banished. Here the bodily senses exert themselves freely and forcefully but the eye of the spirit is shrouded in darkness. is it a surprise then, if the stranger needs the help of the native?172

did the cistercians think, then, that their monasteries were peopled by exalted spiritual beings? not this side of the grave. monastic sermons and exempla abound with references to human foibles. those who wrote about the re-formation of man knew that the process, like all education, is less a trajectory than a roller-coaster. monks, no less than other human beings are pulled between their physical and their spiritual natures,173 between the sin born of long habit and the innate yearning for god. “the guilt of original concupiscence may be forgiven in baptism,” William wrote, “but the weakness remains until the life to come.”174 Human beings are always

170 Ep aur 263 (cccm 282); 3.2.16 Pl 349B): . . . homo ex gratia quod Deus est ex natura. 171 William, nat corp 73 (cccm 128); 5 (Pl:714a): Sed non exigitur ab imagine ut in nullo eorum quae in principali suo intelliguntur, deficiat. Iam enim identitas esset, non imago. 172 Bernard, De consideratione libri quinque, 5.2 (sBop 3:468; Pl 182:789): Repatriasse erit hoc, exisse de patria corporum in regionem spirituum. Ipsa est Deus noster, maximus spiritus, maxima mansio spirituum beatorum: et ne [Col.0789B] quid hic sibi usurpet sensus [al. add. carnis] seu imaginatio, veritas est, sapientia est, virtus, aeternitas, summum bonum. Unde [al. add. a quo] interim absumus: et ubi sumus, vallis est lacrymarum, in qua sensualitas regnat, et consideratio exsulat: in qua libere quidem et potestative se exserit sensus corporeus, sed intricatus caligat oculus spiritualis. Quid igitur mirum, si ope indigenae advena indiget? 173 on the augustinian notion of pondus, see above, n. 70. 174 rm iV, ad rm 7:19–20 (cccm 101: Pl 621B): Reatus quippe originalis concupiscentiae in baptismo dimittitur, sed usque ad futuram uitam infirmitas permanet . . .

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capable of willful ignorance, delusion, and disobedience. “the concupiscence with which we are born cannot be brought to an end as long as we live,” wrote William. “it can be diminished daily but it cannot be ended.”175 monastic formation, the cistercians knew from personal experience as well as from their study of the long monastic literary tradition, requires a lifetime. Works Abbreviated in the Notes cant

William of saint thierry, Expositio super Cantica canticorum Pl 180:475–546. Commentaire sur le Cantique des Cantiques, ed. m.-m. davy (Paris: Vrin, 1958). cccm 87, guillelmi a sancto theodorico opera omnia, Pars ii. 1997. cccm Guillelmi a Sancto Theodorico Opera Omnia, ed. Paul Verdeyen, corpus christianorum continuatio medievalis, vols. 86–89 (turnhout: Brepols, 1989–2007). contemp William of saint thierry, De contemplando Deo. Pl 184:365–380. Deux traités de l’amour de Dieu, ed. m.-m. davy (Paris: Vrin, 1953). cccm 88:153–173. De anima aelred of rievaulx, De anima, ed. c.H. talbot, corpus christianorum continuatio medievalis 1 (turnhout: Brepols. 1971). see also talbot, below. dil Bernard of clairvaux, De diligendo Deo, sBop 3 (rome: Editiones cistercienses. 1963). Pl 182:973–1000. Ep aur William of saint thierry, Epistola [aurea] ad fratres de Monte Dei. Pl 180 (attributed to guigo the carthusian), 307–354. Un traité de la vie solitaire, ed. m.-m. davy (Paris: Vrin, 1940, 1946). lettre aux frères de mont-dieu, ed. J.m. déchanet, Sources chrétiennes 301 (Paris: cerf 1982). cccm 88. Exp rm William of saint thierry, Expositio in Epistola ad Romanos. Pl 180:547–694. cccm 86. nat corp William of saint thierry, De natura corporis et animae. Pl 180:695–726. cccm 88:103–146. nat amoris William of saint thierry, De natura et dignitate amoris. Pl 180. Deux traités de l’amour de Dieu, ed. m.-m. davy (Paris: Vrin, 1953). cccm 88. Pl J.-P. migne, Patrologia cursus completus, series Latin, 221 volumes. rB Regula Benedicti; Regula monachorum. rtam E. rozanne Elder, “the christology of William of saint thierry”, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 58 (louvain: 1991), 79–112.

175 rm iV, ad rm 7:24 (cccm 104; Pl 623c ): Concupiscentia etiam cum qua nati sumus, finiri non potest quamdiu uiuimus. Cotidie minui potest, finiri non potest . . .

210 sBop sc talbot Waddell, Narrative Waddell, Statuta

e. rozanne elder Sancti Bernardi Opera, eds. Jean leclercq, H.m. rochais and c.H. talbot (rome: Editiones cistercienses, 1957–1977). sermons on the song of songs (by Bernard, John of Ford, gilbert of Hoyland, as identified). aelred of rievaulx: De anima, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, supplement 1 (london: Warburg institute, 1952). see above, De anima. Narrative and Legislative Texts from Early Cîteaux, Studia et Documenta iX. (citeaux: commentarii cistercienses 1999). Twelfth-Century Statutes from the Cistercian General Chapter, ed. chrysogonus Waddell, Studia et Documenta 12 (Brecht: cîteaux commentarii cistercienses, 2002).

in citations of twelfth-century cistercian writers, the most modern critical edition is cited first and then the ubiquitous Patrologia latina. the numbering system, if not indicated for both, is that of the critical edition rather than migne.

Bibliography Bell, d.n., Image and Likeness. The Augustinian Spirituality of William of Saint Thierry (Cistercian Studies Series 78) (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 1984). ——, The Libraries of the Cistercians, Gilbertines and Premonstratensians (london: the British library Publishing division/toronto: university of toronto Press 1992). Bondéelle-souchier, a., Bibliothèques cisterciennes dans la France médiévale: répertoire des Abbayes d’hommes (Paris: Éditions du centre national de la recherche scientifique 1991). Bouvet, J. (ed.), Adam de Perseigne. Lettres (Sources chrétiennes: Textes monatiques d’occident, 4) (Paris: cerf 1960). casey, m., “Bernard the observer,” in E.r. Elder (ed.), Goad and Nail (Studies in Medieval Cistercian History 10) (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 1985), 1–20. chibnall, m., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis (oxford: clarendon Press, 1969– 1980). donnelly, J., The Decline of the Medieval Cistercian Laybrotherhood (new York: Fordham university Press 1949). dutton, m.l. (ed.), m. del cogliano (trans.), For Your Own People. Aelred of Rievaulx’s Pastoral Prayer (Cistercian Fathers Series 73) (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 2008). Elder, E.r., “the christology of William of saint thierry”, in Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale 58 (1991), 79–112. Ferzoco, g. and muessig, c., Medieval Monastic Education (london/new York: leicester university Press 2000). Hanawalt, B., Growing Up in Medieval London (oxford: oxford university Press 1993). Hillgarth, J.n., “una biblioteca cisterciense medieval: la real (mallorca)”, in Analecta sacra tarraconensia 32 (1959), 89–191. Hoste, a., talbot, c.H. and Vander Plaetse, r. (eds.), Aelredus Rievallensis Opera Omnia, 1. Opera Ascetica, cccm 1 (turnholt: Brepols, 1971). Javelet, r., Image et ressemblance au douzième siècle de Saint Anselme à Alain de Lille (Paris: letouzey & ané 1967). leinenweber, J. (ed.), Bernard of Clairvaux. Advent and Christmas Sermons (Cistercian Fathers Series 51) (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 2007). mcginn, B., The Golden Chain. A Study in the Theological Anthropology of Isaac of Stella (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 1972). ——, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, 2: The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the 12th Century (new York: crossroad Herder 1996).

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——, Three Treatises on Man. A Cistercian Anthropology (Cistercian Fathers Series 24) (Kalamazoo: cistercian Publications 1977). michaud-Quantin, P., “la classification des puissances de l’ame au Xiie siècle”, in Revue du Moyen Age Latin 5 (1949), 15–34. monks of mount saint Bernard (trans.), Guerric of Igny: The Liturgical Sermons 1 (Cistercian Fathers Series 8) (Kalamazoo: spencer 1971). mynors, r.a.B. (ed.), completed by r.m. thomson and m. Winterbottom, William of Malmesbury. De gestis regum Anglorum (oxford/new York: clarendon Press, 1998). Peyrafort-Huin, m. and stirnemann, P., avec une contribution J.-l. de Benoit, La bibliothèque médiévale de l’abbaye de Pontigny (XIIe–XIXe siècles): histoire, inventaires anciens, manuscrits (Paris: cnrs 2001). talbot, c.H., Aelred of Rievaulx. De anima, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, supplement 1 (london: Warburg institute 1952). Vanfletern, F., “thematic reflections of the De Trinitate”, a paper given at the international medieval studies congress at Kalamazoo in 1978. Vernet, P., La bibliothèque de l’Abbaye de Clairvaux du 12e au 17e siècle (Paris: cnrs 1979– 1997). Waddell, c., Narrative and Legislative Texts from Early Cîteaux (Studia et Documenta 9) (cîteaux: commentarii cistercienses 1999). ——, Twelfth-Century Statutes from the Cistercian General Chapter (Studia et Documenta 12) (cîteaux: commentarii cistercienses 2002). Williams, W., Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (manchester: manchester university Press 1952).

Bernard of Clairvaux and religious eduCation: an approaCh from the perspeCtive of the history of religions marvin döbler 1. Introduction 1.1 Position in Reference to Previous Scholarship this article contributes to an ongoing dialogue between medieval history, Church history, theology and history of religions (Religionswissenschaft).1 We wish to show how the history of religions is conducive to the study of the middle ages through the combination of theory and historical work. so while much has been theorized and written about religion and of course much about education and its function and role in medieval monasteries, it is the combination of both which unfolds the hermeneutic potential of the history of religions. With Bernard of Clairvaux we are looking at a foremost figure of the twelfth century whose works are excellently edited2 and subject to a vast amount of secondary literature.3 We also have at our disposal translations in many languages, which—as always once available—foster scholarly discussion.4 Beginning with this remark, the reader may want to pardon the author for just briefly drawing the most significant lines of secondary literature available; the corpus of scholarship on Bernard for so many years now has simply been too enormous to enable the interested historian to follow every single publication, especially in a short article like this. for systematic reasons, i shall have to start with the most recent work, then turn my focus on earlier literature. previously in this volume, e. rozanne elder accurately describes the theory of a monastic formation process as formulated by Cistercian fathers

1 initiated and maintained e.g. by the Center for Cistercian and monastic studies at Western michigan university, Kalamazoo. 2 s. Bernardi opera 1–8, eds. J. leclercq and h.m. rochais (rome: editiones Cistercienses 1957–77) (= sBo); all Bernardine quotations are taken from this edition. 3 this problem has already been signalled by dinzelbacher 1998, 363–70. 4 this phenomenon is pointedly described by Bell 2002, 330.

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of the twelfth century. in her article she portrays monastic religious education from the perspective of twelfth-century theories of this formation process.5 religious education is understood in a narrowly focused manner as shaped by the language of medieval Christianity: formatio of religiosi— a special case of religious experts in our modern sociological terminology. the question of education in the broadest sense interested Bernardine scholars early on, and in post-World-War-i scholarship, it was Étienne gilson who first pointed out the significance of this subject.6 among the many publications following the multi-commemorated 800th anniversary of Bernard’s death in 1953, is one by erich Kleineidam, which outlines the abbot’s attitude towards science and academia very well.7 in the same year, Jean Châttilon published a study about Bernard’s influence on cathedral schooling and the academic disciplines.8 in his lifelong study of Bernard’s works, Jean leclercq necessarily addressed the subject,9 most widely read is his Love of Learning and Desire for God.10 in the english-speaking world, John sommerfeldt has shed new light on Bernard’s thought.11 he discusses the subject of educational and/or instructional background in reference to the division of orders in society—assumed to be equivalent to “church”—,12 and the centrality and role of epistemology in Bernard’s writings.13 all these works tend to analyze Bernard within a dichotomy of Christianity and philosophy: e.g. ‘Bernard and the liberal arts’ or ‘Bernard and philosophy’.14 these concepts are valuable for discerning the incorporation of the body of thought Bernard and his contemporaries had inherited from earlier generations. on the other hand, this dichotomy neglects the fact that the intellectual history of Western Christianity can also be viewed as the reception of the Christian myth by classically trained intellectuals in late antiquity, as the well-known example of Justin shows.

   5 John sommerfeldt also describes monastic formation according to Bernard as ‘education’: sommerfeldt 1965 and sommerfeldt 1991, 45–211.    6 gilson 1934.    7 Kleineidam 1955.    8 Châtillon 1953, esp. 269–74.    9 among his innumerable articles see especially his Recueil d’études sur Saint Bernard et ses écrits, 5 vols. (rome: storia e letteratura 1962–92). 10 leclercq 1982.  11 particularly in his monographs sommerfeldt 1991, sommerfeldt 2004a, sommerfeldt 2004b. see also sommerfeldt 2002. 12 sommerfeldt 2004b, as to the question of church and society esp. 4–6. 13 sommerfeldt 2004a, for the centrality of epistemology as hermeneutical key principle esp. 2–4. 14 further pointed examples are reiter 1993, sommerfeldt 2002 and verbaal 2004.

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augustine of hippo could serve as an example of how both Christian thought and antique philosophy were combined in the emerging culture of early medieval times (or late antiquity, as one pleases). the way in which Wilhelm hiss has struggled with the socratic Bernard and the monk-theologian Bernard suggests that philosophy, theology and science as disjunctive concepts are not conducive to an accurate understanding of Bernard.15 heinrich g.J. storm’s study, on the other hand, on how Bernard grounds his epistemology, illustrates a more fruitful approach, even from the perspective of modern philosophy, because he integrates philosophy and theology.16 therefore, assumptions such as (1) “up to the twelfth century and beyond, the liberal arts have been underlying Christianity’s each and every literary expression,” and (2) “monasticism has both incorporated and transformed the liberal arts into a reading culture” are only partly correct.17 from a historical point of view, in late antiquity an already existing reading culture based on the liberal arts incorporated a new religious movement.18 starting from here, one can describe the synergetic effects when two—by far not homogenous—traditions encounter one another. this article, then, is examining Bernard’s considerations about religious education from a different angle: proceeding from a focused model of religious education as outlined in the introduction to this volume, our approach to Bernard is characterized by a different methodological frame and a differing set of presuppositions. 1.2 Methodological and Hermeneutical Frame When approaching the middle ages, scholars may feel tempted to view everything as determined by religion. the recently published Enzyklopädie des Mittelalters still postulates a definition of religion which would both horizontally (man-man) and vertically (man-god) encompass the whole of human existence:19 religion ist die anerkenntnis von mächten, die das menschenmögliche überschreiten, die also “transzendente” mächte sind. die transzendenten mächte haben dank ihrer überlegenen mächtigkeit allem existierenden und

15 hiss 1964. 16 storm 1977. see along these lines also mojsisch 1985. 17 these are the premises of pranger 2003, esp. 1. 18 Christianity in its heterogeneity is to be analyzed as one religion among others: auffarth 2003. for the development of the artes liberales see hadot 2005. 19 angenendt 2008.

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marvin döbler so auch dem menschen leben gegeben, bestimmen weiter über den verlauf der Welt und das schicksal des lebens. sie bewerkstelligen den Wechsel der sonne und gestirne mit tag und nacht, der Jahreszeiten mit aufblühen und vergehen, ebenso das geschick der menschen mit geburt, heirat, arbeit, herrschaft, Krieg, frieden und tod.20 religion is the acknowledgement of powers which surpass the humanly possible, thus of transcendental powers. through their superior might, these powers have given life to everything existent and therefore also to men, they reign further over the course of the world and the destiny of life. they effect the alternation of sun and stars causing day and night, that of the seasons with blossom and decay, just as men’s fate with birth, marriage, labour, dominion, war, peace and death.21

this definition may remind us of f. max müller’s classical definition of religion which in turn is strongly reminiscent of f.d.e. schleiermacher’s “provinz im gemüte”.22 While müller’s definition centers too much on the religious individual and lacks a social component,23 the attempt cited above chooses to consider the entire human existence as religious insofar as determined by transcendental powers. But despite all criticism, one must concede that it points to the problem and necessity of theorizing religion in medieval studies; numerous lexica simply avoid the lemma “religion” or limit the scope to the semantics of “religio”.24 if the concept “religion” is not thoroughly reflected on, it will lead to a fundamental problem within medieval studies as an interdisciplinary endeavour and, on the level of everyday research, to a hermeneutical weakness. an earlier work by peter dinzelbacher may serve as illustration: in his early considerations on the concept Volksreligion (which may be translated e.g. as ‘popular religion’, ‘everyday religious culture’, etc.) he states that the primary word religion could easily be defined; the deter20 ibid., 323. 21 my translation. 22 schleiermacher 1799, 37. 23 müller 1874, 15. there he defines religion as: “ . . . jene allgemein geistige anlage, welche den menschen in den stand setzt, das unendliche unter den verschiedensten namen und den wechselndsten formen zu erfassen, eine anlage, die nicht nur unabhängig von sinn und verstand ist, sondern, ihrer natur nach, im schroffsten gegensatz zu sinn und verstand steht.” 24 see e.g. the Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge (paris: Quadrige (puf) 2002). the Encyclopedia of the Medieval World (new york: facts on file 2005), 910, randomly lists in its index a number of related entries and generally refers to ‘specific religions’. the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, vol. 2 (paris: du Cerf/Chicago/london: fitzroy dearborn/rome: Città nuova 2000), 1225, limits itself to ‘virtue of religion’. manfred gerwing, Lexikon des Mittelalters, vol. 7 (munich: lexma 1995), 690, gives an account of the semantics of ‘religio’ and therefore limits himself to the textual level.

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minative element Volk would bear difficulties. although his bibliography was at the time up-to-date and carefully assembled, when it comes to the more than a century old discussion about the concept ‘religion’, he merely draws on helmuth glasenapp’s 1957 definition.25 in a more recent popular book on europe in the high middle ages, dinzelbacher does not define religion at all, but speaks of Religiosität—understood as gelebte Religion.26 to clarify his terminology, one must recall an article he wrote in 1997;27 in this well-documented essay he defends his use of Volksreligion and his differentiation between gelebte and verordnete Religion. despite our general criticism of his conception, in essence exclusively framing gelebte Religion from the institutional perspective of verordnete Religion, we find that peter dinzelbacher offers a number of extremely valuable insights; here we can discuss only his fundamental methodological principle. he states that a precise definition of terms like Religion, Religiosität or Spiritualität is impossible, therefore every definitional attempt represents an axiomatic proposal28 the usefulness of which lies in its heuristic function.29 But although he regrets the lack of real dialogue between medievalists working in history departments and scholars working on the same topic in departments of the history of religions,30 his bibliography contains only a bare minimum of titles from the history of religions.31 similarly, John Kitchen shows in his review essay on James C. russel’s Germanization of Europe32 and valerie i.J. flint’s Rise of Magic,33 that there is a tendency among scholars in the discipline to divide themselves into those doing solely historical-philological work and those using an interpretative framework adopted from other disciplines, such as sociology.34 a recent conference in germany was dedicated to highlighting this very problem.35 a proper

25 dinzelbacher 1990, 12. not to mention the problematic distinction between ‘hochreligion’ and ‘Kirchenvolk’ (23) or the normative statement: “die . . . Reformation sowie die letztlich auf die religion gänzlich verzichten wollende ‘religion der vernunft’ der Aufklärung haben sehr vieles vom frommen Brauchtum des mittelalters zestört, haben viele der volksläufigen religiösen traditionen abgeschnitten.”(27). substantially more differentiated in the same volume schmitt 1990. 26 dinzelbacher 2003, 71–91. 27 dinzelbacher 1997. 28 ibid., 77. 29 ibid., 84. 30 ibid., 80. 31 among these russel mcCutcheon or Bernhard maier, see ibid., 94–98. 32 russell 1994. 33 flint 1991. 34 Kitchen 2002, 384–85. 35 legrand 2009.

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analysis of medieval sources from the perspective of the history of religions has to do both: lege artis performed philological work and proper hermeneutical reflections using the inventory of concepts at hand;36 this endeavour is the specific contribution of the history of religions to medieval studies. in this spirit we see peter dinzelbacher demanding exchange between the two disciplines working on medieval ‘religion’; the article discussed shows that our approaches are methodologically not too divergent. yet other examples for such a fruitful combination of philology and theory may be contributed by literary theory, where e.g. niklas luhmann’s functional conception of the category religion is heuristically employed to analyse courtly tales from the high middle ages.37 to shed further light on this methodological proximity, we would like to ask again whether we actually need a precise definition of religion exhaustively enumerating what should be determined as religious. this endeavor is vain, as has often and quite convincingly been demonstrated.38 nevertheless, the approach to a field labelled so distinctively ‘religious’ as we have done in using the term ‘religious education’ requires at least some further consideration of the term’s meaning. first, it is useful to call to mind that we use the word ‘religion’ as a concept on our academic meta-level of language while we are analyzing our historical source material. this points to the necessary distinction between this meta-level and the object level, that of the religious subject. in other words: if Bernard and the scholar use the term ‘religion’ –in Bernard’s case the primary word ‘religio’, in the scholar’s the loanword ‘religion’—they do not need to agree. the meta-level of the scholarly semantic inventory with its terms and the concepts they imply is surely free to go beyond the boundaries of the object level.39 as peter dinzelbacher has pointed out, a restriction would immediately lead itself ad absurdum, because a study of medieval latin texts would have to be written solely in latin, since it is impossible to name the limiting criterion for transferring termini from the object level to the meta-level.40 furthermore, religion per se does not have

36 see gladigow 2005, 37–38. 37 Wagner 2009. 38 see e.g. Berner 2004. 39 as Kurt rudolph puts it: “the ‘self-understanding of the believer’ cannot be a criterion for truth or correctness in the history of religions” (rudolph 1985, 106). also lincoln 1996/2005, thesis no. 13 on p. 10. in the same line ulrich Berner who discusses the difference and the relationship between the object level and the meta-level usages of the term religion. see Berner 2004, 15. 40 dinzelbacher 1997, 82.

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an ens on the object level, the concept simply helps us to understand and interpret what we experience as reality. therefore, the possible objection that our understanding of religion lacks ontological congruency between both levels is inapplicable. secondly, it is then necessary to describe the domain ‘religion’. in our case we might prefer a substantial definition of religion, since a purely functional approach would open the field too far and make it indistinct because it could cover every form of ‘Weltdeutung’. furthermore, it is helpful to make use of Wittgenstein’s concept of “family resemblances”: religion names a class of phenomena which bear family resemblances but do not share a single essence.41 this approach bears some resemblance to William James’ access to the field ‘religion’. he began the second of his gifford lectures with the insight “that the word religion cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather a collective name”.42 he then used the term government to demonstrate how an ontological definition of religion distorts the proper access to this field. if one asks different persons about the essence of government, so William James, one will most likely get a variety of answers: authority, submission, power, army, assembly or system of laws. any one of these shades of government might become more important than others at a given time and, thus William James, “[t]he man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these are unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.”43 We still owe an answer about what religion is: in this article we will call human actions, processes, teachings, etc. religious, insofar as they point to a level of reality which cannot be reached by empirical methods.44 But wherein, then, lies the difference between our approach and the substantial definition we have criticized earlier in this section? We do not postulate an ens of religion, we point moreover to an infinite set of actions, processes or teachings which can be viewed as religious. We consider these faits then ‘religious’ when they point to a trans-empirical level of reality, but they can be non-religious as well—if the actor does not assign

41 see e.g. tanaseanu-döbler 2008, 15–16. also pyysiäinen 2003, esp. 1–5. for utilizing Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language see saler 1993. more concise, saler 1994. 42 James 1902/1985, 30 (=lecture ii). 43 ibid. 44 ibid.

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any religious meaning to them. atheism, on the other hand, would be considered religious, because even the denial of trans-empirical powers necessarily points to a higher inaccessible reality—though (or better through) denying it.45 it is necessary to reflect upon these concepts because this demonstrates that terms like ‘religion’ simply serve as hermeneutical tools. rigidly defined concepts of ‘religion’ are not helpful: philosophy can be religious as religion can be philosophical. therefore, we understand religious education not as narrow doctrinal instruction, pure catechism, but comprehensively as encompassing the entire complex of religious life and practice. 2. Bernard of Clairvaux and Religious Education 2.1. Bernard and Educational Theory: An Ecclesiological Model in the Sermons on the Canticle the fact that Bernard himself received a thorough classical education is well-known,46 as is the circumstance that Clairvaux at the end of Bernard’s life possessed an extensive library.47 at this point, we would like to briefly re-examine Bernard’s model for education within its ecclesiological dimension. a very concise sequence of documents appears in the Sermones 36–38 on the Canticle. Sermo 36 is linked to the preceding sermon: Bernard asks whether every kind of ignorantia should be considered damnabilis. Bernard states that numerous artes—carpentry, masonry or other means of subsistence—are not necessary for salvation. from these artes, Bernard moves on to the artes liberales and stresses that even lacking in them, many have come to salvation: Etiam absque omnibus illis artibus, quae liberales dicuntur,—quamvis honestioribus et utilioribus discantur studiis et exerceantur—, quam plurimi hominum salvi facti sunt, placentes moribus atque operibus: quantos enumerat Apostolus in epistola ad Hebraeos, factos dilectos, non in scientia litterarum, sed in conscientia pura, et fide non ficta. Omnes placuerunt Deo in vita sua, vitae meritis, non scientiae. Petrus, et Andreas, et filii Zebedaei, ceterique dis-

45 for a different position on this question see further löhr 1995. 46 see e.g. evans 1982; for the canons’ school at vorles, see gastaldelli 1987. 47 for Clairvaux’ library see hümpfner 1946, esp. 140–44. furthermore, Wilmart 1947/1949. vernet 1979, 349–56, takes up the fragment given by Wilmart with additional notes.

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cipuli omnes, non de schola rhetorum aut philosophorum assumpti sunt; et nihilominus tamen Salvator per ipsos operatus est salutem in medio terrae.48 even without all those arts which are called liberal—even though they are learned and practiced through rather honest and useful studies—an immense multitude of men has come to salvation, because they pleased [god] through their disposition and deeds: how many does the apostle count in his letter to the hebrews who have become god’s beloved not with the help of academic knowledge but with pure conscience and unfeigned faith. they all have pleased god in their lives: through the merits of their life but not through the merits of their knowledge. peter, andrew, the sons of Zebedee [James and John, mt. 4:21] and all other disciples have not been called from the schools for rhetoricians or philosophers; nevertheless it was through them that the saviour worked salvation on earth.49

none of the disciples were called from schools—and here, with Bernard’s background in mind, we may well read an allusion to cathedral schools—, but even so, the saviour was effective through them. here the goal of all education and science becomes apparent: salus. in this school, not the cathedral school, the disciples have become magistri, not through sapientia but in fide et lenitate. not through sublimitas sermonis or in doctis humanae sapientiae verbis—not through rhetoric or human wisdom— have they shown the paths of salvation50 but per stultitiam praedicationis.51 Bernard plays the disciple’s positively connoted stultitia off against the world’s sapientia. as he contrasts the verba humanae sapientiae with the doctrina spiritūs in Super cantica 36,1, one could assume that he considers the artes liberales to be of no importance. But this is true only in regard to salvation. therefore Bernard in the following considers import and function of knowledge and science: Videar forsan nimius in suggillatione scientiae, et quasi reprehendere doctos, ac prohibere studia litterarum. Absit. Non ignoro quantum Ecclesiae profuerint litterati sui et prosint, sive ad refellendos eos qui ex adverso sunt, sive ad simplices instruendos.52 i might seem perhaps to immoderately mock knowledge and quasi rebuke the learned and forbid academic studies. far be it! i know how many benefits

48 sC 36,1 = sBo ii,3,22–4,7. 49 here and elsewhere my translation except when noted otherwise. 50 one intriguing question is whether vias vitae are only reminiscent of ps. 16:11 and acts 2:28 or if Bernard intentionally wants to point out the multiplicity of Christian ways of life—one is asked to recall his Apologia par. 6. 51 sC 36, 1 = sBo ii, 4, 10–13. 52 sC 36, 2 = sBo ii, 4, 14–17.

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marvin döbler the learned have brought and still bring to the church, either for the rebuttal of her opponents or for the instruction of the simple-minded.

Bernard places enormous value on education in the liberal arts; they serve apologetic tasks as well as a pedagogical mission. his further explanation targets a central theme: pride. “Alia inflans, alia contristans”, Bernard writes, “one knowledge leads to self-importance, the other to repentance”.53 as in the case of food and medicine, modus and ordo should be observed.54 these two concepts—the right measure and the right order—are of the highest importance for Bernard and for the creation of a Cistercian identity.55 three criteria structure knowledge: order, zeal and object. While order allows to discover what is necessary for salvation, zeal adds love; the goal is to instruct oneself or the neighbour.56 Bernard names five intentions for achieving knowledge: infamous curiosity, pride and greed, i.e. the pursuit of selfish gain, which may tempt one to think of plato’s Apologia Sokratous. But he also mentions two positive intentions, love and prudence. love, if the knowledge serves to edify (aedificare) others, prudence, if it serves to edify oneself.57 following Bernard, we discover another central passage which might serve as a key to Bernard’s attitude towards literary studies: Volo proinde animam primo omnium scire seipsam, quod id postulet ratio et utilitatis, et ordinis. Et ordinis quidem, quoniam quod nos sumus primum est nobis; utilitatis vero, quia talis scientia non inflat, sed humiliat, et est quaedam praeparatio ad aedificandum. Nisi enim super humilitatis stabile fundamentum, spirituale aedificium stare minime potest.58 therefore i wish that a soul shall first of all know herself, a claim made by the reason of both usefulness and order. of order, in fact, because our existence comes first for us; of usefulness indeed, because this kind of knowledge does not inflate but humiliates, and it is a certain preparation for edification. a spiritual building can stand nowhere else except on a firm groundwork of humility.

53 sC 36, 2 = sBo ii, 4, 20–5, 2. 54 sC 36, 2 = sBo ii, 5, 2–14. 55 a major theme also in one of his earliest writings, the apology to abbot William. vgl. döbler 2007. for ordo and its semantic development in the course of the 12th century see melville 2003. 56 sC 36, 3 = sBo ii, 5, 15–24. 57 sC 36, 3 = sBo ii, 5, 25–6, 4. 58 sC 36, 5 = sBo ii, 7, 1–5.

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through the delphic call “Gnothi seauton! ” Bernard points to humility as the conditio sine qua non of edifying knowledge.59 self-knowledge leads to knowledge of god and is therefore essential for salvation.60 Bernard readopts this thought in Sermo 37 on the Canticle: humility is the mater salutis, fear of god the initium sapientiae.61 Bernard does not want to see children or the mentally challenged as separated from god’s love: aetas und facultas cognoscendi are—in accordance with the church fathers—necessary preconditions.62 this recalls his treatise On baptism (= ep 77) in which he—in contrast to peter abaelard who argues on the lines of st. augustine—does not see un-baptised nurslings fall into the massa damnata.63 Bernard sums up his estimation of literary studies; they are not to be neglected, but subject to a strict order: self-knowledge and knowledge of god come first.64 the rest of Sermo 37 and Sermo 38 is mainly concerned with practical problems: what if one underestimates one’s own value? this does not affect salvation, so Bernard, pride on the contrary does, of course.65 Sermo 38 expands this thought: humility through self-knowledge shall be a constant reminder that the facility to gain knowledge of god is deficient in this world.66 in Sermo 36 through 38 on the Canticle, the rhetorically and theologically trained Bernard not only drafts an educational model for his monastic environment, but also considers worldly ways of Christian life. he puts forth his theory from a fundamental anthropological premise and an epistemological assumption, never ceding his radical demand for humility. Bernard is not opposing literary studies at all; quite to the contrary, with an eye on the ecclesiological dimension he sees their value, role and function. in an ecclesiological dimension, studies are said to be necessary and important, but not in a spiritual dimension; they are helpful and useful but not necessary for salvation.

59 see also his De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae = sBo iii, 12–59. 60 sC 36, 5–7 = sBo ii, 7, 5–8, 13. 61 sC 37, 1 = sBo ii, 9, 9–12. 62 sC 37, 1 = sBo ii, 9, 12–14. 63 Bernard’s argument is that (1) children “non possunt habere fidem, hoc est cordis ad Deum conversionem” and that (2) they are nevertheless saved, not through their own faith “sed salvantur et ipsi per fidem, non tamen suam, sed alienam. . . . Nec dubium quod macula contracta ab aliis, aliorum quoque fide valeat vel debeat emundari.” ep 77, 9 = sBo vii, 192. 64 sC 37, 2 = sBo ii, 9, 23–10, 15. 65 intensively reflected upon in sC 36, 6–7 = sBo ii, 12, 20–13, 26. 66 the essence from sC 38 = sBo ii, 14, 3–18, 9.

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2.2 Bernard the Dialectician: An Argument Against Gilbert in Sermon 80 on the Canticle in his sermon 80 on the Canticle, Bernard demonstrates how useful a thorough rhetorical and dialectical education is. he points out very clearly that he does not define his position against dialectics, but against novelli or haeretici.67 Bernard vigorously adjures them: Recedant a vobis, carissimi, recedant novelli, non dialectici, sed haeretici, qui magnitudinem qua magnus est Deus, et item bonitatem qua bonus, sed et sapientiam qua sapiens, et iustitiam qua iustus, postremo divinitatem qua Deus est, Deum non esse impiissime disputant.68 let the innovators, my beloved, draw back from you, not the dialecticians, but the heretics who most impiously discuss that the magnitude through which god is great, and in the same manner the goodness through which he is good, but also the wisdom through which he is wise, and the justice through which he is just, finally that his divinity through which he is god are not god.

he is not aiming at dialectici, moreover, in the following passages he himself strikes by means of dialectics against gilbert of poitiers69 and his commentary on Boethius’ opusculum on the trinity.70 We need to look at the argument in full, to see how brilliantly Bernard attacks gilbert: «Divinitate», inquiunt, «Deus est; sed divinitas non est Deus.» Forsitan non dignatur Deus esse, quae tanta est ut faciat Deum? Sed si Deus non est, quid est? Aut enim Deus est, aut aliquid quod non est Deus, aut nihil. Equidem non das Deum esse, sed ne nihilum quidem, ut opinor, dabis, quam usque adeo necessariam Deo esse fateris, ut non modo absque ea Deus esse Deus non possit, sed ea sit. Quod si aliquid est, quod non est Deus, aut minor erit Deo, aut maior, aut par. At quomodo minor, qua Deus est? Restat ut aut maiorem fateare, aut parem. Sed si maior, ipsa est summum bonum, non Deus; si par Deo, duo sunt summa bona, non unum: quod utrumque catholicus refugit sensus. Iam de magnitudine, bonitate, iustitia sapientiaque, idem per omnia quod de divinitate sentimus: unum in Deo sunt, et cum Deo. Nec enim aliunde bonus, quam unde magnus; nec aliunde iustus aut sapiens, quam unde magnus et bonus; nec aliunde denique simul haec omnia est, quam unde Deus; et hoc quoque nonnisi seipso.71

67 the same accusations against peter abaelard in ep. 190,1 = sBo viii, 17, 18–20: Olim damnata et sopita dogmata, tam sua videlicet quam aliena, suscitare conatur, insuper et nova addit. 68 sC 80, 6 = sBo ii, 281, 9–12. 69 see häring 1985. 70 for a summary of this conflict see dinzelbacher 1998, 307–10.  71 sC 80, 6 = sBo ii, 281, 12–26.

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he is god through his divinity, they say, but the divinity is not god himself. or perhaps the divinity does not stoop to being god because she is so great that she maketh god? But if she is not god, what then is she? that is to say, she either is god, or something which is not god or nothing. you do not admit, however, that she is god. But i think that you will also not admit that she is nothing, for you deem her so necessary for god, that not only without her he cannot be god but he is god through her. But if she is something else than god, she must be either lesser, greater or about the same as he is. But how can she be lesser if god is through her? it remains that you must deem her to be either greater or about the same. But if she is greater, she is the highest good, not god; if she equals god, we have two highest goods, not one: from both the catholic mind shies away. already we think of the magnitude, the goodness, the justice and wisdom to all intents and purposes the same as of the divinity: they are one in god and with god. for no other reason is he good but for that which makes him great; and for no other reason is he just and wise than for which he is great and good; finally he is all this at the same time for no other reason than he is god—and that he is also only through himself.

Bernard does not introduce any new theological thoughts here, he simply demonstrates that in his perception gilbert’s explanations are not coherent within the given theological system of thought. Bernard takes over his premises—e.g. from augustine, whom he directly and notably quotes in a following passage72—and uses commonly known, shared and taught principles of logic to build an argument against the bishop of poitiers. here he displays his excellent command of dialectic. through the trivium73 Bernard must have been well acquainted at least with the logica vetus, which contained as central texts aristotle’s Categories, De interpretatione, porphyry’s Isagoge, furthermore with Cicero’s Topics, Boethius’ commentaries on these works, ps.-augustine’s De decem categoriis and augustine’s De dialectica.74 recent—though quite controversial—scholarship suggests that even those works of aristotle which are commonly believed to have been transmitted through translations from arabic texts have also a genuine european chain of transmission and a centre of greek-latin

72 sC 80, 7 = sBo ii, 282, 2–5: Securus et libens pergo inoffenso, ut aiunt, pede, in eius sententiam qui dicebat: «Deus nonnisi ea magnitudine magnus est, quae est quod ipse. Alioquin illa erit maior magnitudo quam Deus.» Augustinus hic est, validissimus malleus haereticorum. 73 he studied at saint-vorles in Châtillon-sur-seine; see vancandard 1897/98, i:63–66; dinzelbacher 1998, 6. 74 see logan 2009, 12–13, who summarizes a possible curriculum of the trivium. for the problem of reconstructing a high medieval curriculum of the artes liberales and further literature see stolz 2004, i:70.

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translation in the 12th century: mont-saint-michel.75 But Bernard is here very close to Boethius’ De Sancta Trinitate (after 512): Boethius begins his chapter 4 with the notion that “ten predicates have come down to us, which can be applied universally to all things, namely substance, quality, quantity, where to, where, when, what something has and how it handles itself, position, to make something and to suffer something.”76 he refers here to aristotle’s categories in the Organon, which he knows thoroughly, as can be seen from his writings, translations and commentaries as well as from his translational work on porphyry’s Isagoge.77 Boethius continues that nothing further than ‘divine’ can be said about divine substance, because it is truly not only substance, but above substantia.78 he provides examples: Deus vero hoc ipsum Deus est; nihil enim aliud est nisi quod est, ac per hoc ipsum Deus est. Rursus ‘iustus’, quod est qualitas, ita dicitur quasi ipse hoc sit de quo praedicatur, id est, si dicamus ‘homo iustus’ vel ‘Deus iustus’, ipsum hominem vel Deum iustos esse proponimus; sed differt, quod homo alter alter iustus, Deus vero idem ipsum est quod est iustum. ‘Magnus’ etiam homo vel Deus dicitur atque ita quasi ipse sit homo magnus vel Deus magnus; sed homo tantum magnus, Deus vero ipsum magnus exsistit.79 But god is god through this very thing; for he is nothing else than what he is, and through that very fact he is god. again, he is called ‘just’, which is a quality, in such a manner as if he were himself that which is predicated, that is, if we say ‘the man is just’ or ‘god is just’ we assert that the man himself or god himself are just. But there is a difference, because a different man is a different just one, but god is the very same thing as ‘just’. also, man or god

75 see gouguenheim 2008. gouguenheim’s work triggered a fierce discussion of which e.g. the volumes by max lejbowicz (ed.) 2009, and ph. Büttgen, a. de libera, m. rashed and i. rosier-Catach (eds.) 2009, give evidence. i thank michel-yves perrin, ephe, for our discussion, the introduction to the controversy and the reference. 76 Boethius, De sancta trinitate 4 = Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae / Opuscula theologica (moreschini), 173, ln. 174–80: Decem omnino praedicamenta traduntur, quae de rebus omnibus universaliter praedicantur, id est substantia, qualitas, quantitas, ad aliquid, ubi, quando, habere, situm esse, facere, pati. Haec igitur talia sunt qualia subiecta permiserint; nam pars eorum in reliquarum rerum praedicatione substantia est, pars in accidentium numero est. 77 a first commentary on porphyry’s Isagoge (504/5), De syllogismis categoricis libri duo (505/6), a second commentary on the Isagoge (507/9); Boethius’ four books of commentary on aristotle’s categories based on his own translation were finished in 511. see gruber 1978, 4–7. 78 Boethius, De sancta Trinitate. 4, 173, ln. 181–85: At haec cum quis in in divinam verterit praedicationem, cuncta mutantur quae praedicari possunt. Ad aliquid vero omnino non potest praedicari: nam substantia in illo non est vere substantia, sed ultra substantiam; item qualitas et cetera quae venire queunt. 79 Boethius, De sancta Trinitate. 4, 174, ln. 206–175, ln. 215.

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are called ‘great’ and so as if he himself were a great man or a great god, but man is only great, whereas god is identical with ‘great’.

While ‘just’ in reference to man is solely predicative, with reference to god it is ontological. But we do not have to look as far as to Boethius; even augustine’s confessiones—besides the direct quotation from De trinitate mentioned above—show an intertextual relationship: in book vii st. augustine formulates (along the same lines as st. anselm a few hundred years later)80 that no soul ever could or will think of something better than god, who is the highest and best good.81 further on he states that this god himself is the highest good, that his will and his power are he himself.82 this surely is the same strictly logical consequence. unfortunately, we cannot discuss the conflict between Bernard and gilbert in greater detail here, but this example should suffice to demonstrate Bernard employs his skills, manifesting his familiarity with and training in dialectics. 2.3 Bernard’s Attitude Towards Philosophers—Against the Sophists as we have seen, Bernard awards philosophy an important ecclesiastical role and is himself willing to use his dialectical tools—as in the case briefly touched upon above—to dispute adverse theological concepts. But why is he often accused of being negatively biased against philosophy? a closer look at a few frequently quoted passages may shed some light on this question.

80 this demonstrates once more the hagiographical character of eadmer’s narrative about anselm finding his argument; see Eadmeri monachi Cantuariensis Vita Sancti Anselmi archiepiscopi Cantuariensis i, xix = southern, 28–31. Just through a close reading of the Confessiones anselm might have come to his argument. although southern in his footnotes (ibid.) tries to prove a textual relationship to Boethius, the line from augustine might have been potentially more influential. moreover, the necessary knowledge of aristotelian terminology could clearly also come through the Confessiones. But he is right insofar as these texts are breathing the same air. anselm himself talks about the authoritative role of augustine in the preface of his Monologion. see logan 2009, 21–24. further gasper 2007, esp. 11–12. 81 augustinus, Confessiones vii, 4 (6) = CCsl 27, 95: Neque enim ulla anima umquam potuit poteritue cogitare aliquid, quod sit te melius, qui summum et optimum bonum es. Boethius expresses the same thought in Consolatio philosophiae 3, 10, 7 = CCsl 94, 53: . . . nihil deo melius excogitari queat. . . . since this is also a predication about qualia, one can—as anselm does more than twenty times in his Proslogion—transfer it to any predicate. 82 augustinus, Confessiones vii, 4 (6) = CCsl 27, 95: . . . quoniam ipse est deus et quod sibi vult, bonum est, et ipse est idem bonum; . . . voluntas enim et potentia dei deus ipse est.

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in sermon 58 on the Canticle Bernard dispraises the loquacitas ventosa philosophorum, the windy talkativeness of philosophers: Philosophorum ventosa loquacitas non bonus est imber, qui sterilitatem magis intulit quam fertilitatem.83 the windy talkativeness of the philosophers is not good rain, because it brings about barrenness rather than fecundity.

Bernard puts much emphasis on ventosa—he is blaming sophistic speech, not philosophical method, thinking or education. another passage may confirm this impression: Sic, inquam, sic singulis quisque sponsae sermo, et ex eo quod suaviter sonat, affectum mulcet, et de sensuum ubertate mentem impinguat et nutrit, et de altitudine mysteriorum, dum intellectum quo plus exercet, plus terret, miro modo tumorem sanat inflantis scientiae. Etenim si unus quispiam ex his forte, qui sibi scioli videntur, curiosius sese dederit scrutinio horum, cum viderit ingenii sui succumbere vires, et redigi in captivitatem omnem intellectum persenserit, nonne humiliatus ad illam vocem, compelletur ut dicat: Mirabilis facta est scientia tua ex me, confortata est, et non potero ad eam?84 thus, i say, thus does every word of the bride caress affection because of its sweet sound, and strengthen and nourish the mind from the abundance of its senses, and from the height of its mysteries the more it exercises the intellect, the more it makes it tremble with fear, and thus in a wondrous manner it heals the tumour of inflating knowledge. for if whoever of these who think themselves knowledgeable should dedicate himself with more curiosity to their scrutiny, when he sees the powers of his talent succumb and all intellect led into captivity—will he then not be humiliated at the sound of that voice and be forced to say: ‘such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, i cannot attain unto it’ (ps. 138:5).85

it is not the intellect Bernard is attacking, his words underline instead the important role of discretion. he is disapproving of a scientia inflans, of an intellect which does not know its limitations. But if this inflated knowledge becomes predominant, so Bernard, it will be humiliated. it is again a lack of humility Bernard is censuring. he is certainly not taking sides against the use of intellect: Quid faceret absque dilectione eruditio? Inflaret. Quid absque eruditione dilectio? Erraret. Denique errabant, de quibus dicebatur: Testimonium illis per-

83 sC 58,7 = sBo ii, 131, 26–27. 84 sC 67,1 = sBo ii, 188, 22–189, 5. 85 for translations of biblical quotations here and elsewhere i have consulted the King James version.

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hibeo, quod zelum Dei habent, sed non secundum scientiam. Non decet sponsam Verbi esse stultam; porro elatam Pater non sustinet.86 What would erudition without love do? it would inflate. What then love without erudition? it would err. finally they erred of whom is said: ‘for i bear them record that they have a zeal of god, but not according to knowledge’ (rom. 10:2). the bride of the Word should not be foolish, however, the father does not suffer her to be presumptuous.

Bernard points to the tension between love (dilectio) on one hand and on the other learning or punditry (eruditio) caused by the human epistemological limitation. it is not in this world that we are fully to receive cognition: . . . dicimus umbras [the shadows of Cant. 2:17] figuras et enigmata Scripturarum, necnon et sophisticas locutiones, cavillationesque verborum, et implicita argumentorum, quae omnia veritatis interim lumen obumbrant. Ex parte enim cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus. Verum aspirante die, inclinabuntur umbrae, quia occupante omnia luminis plenitudine, nulla pars superesse poterit tenebrarum. Denique cum venerit quod perfectum est, tunc evacuabitur quod ex parte est.87 We call shadows the figures and riddles of scripture, and also sophistic phrases and raillery of words and intricate arguments, all things which sometimes obscure the light of truth. ‘for we know in part, and we prophesy in part’ (i Cor. 13:9). But when the day increases the shadows will decline, for when the fullness of light takes over everything no part of darkness will be able to remain. finally, ‘But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away’ (i Cor. 13:10).

another passage again makes very clear that it is merely the unnecessary verbositas, the abundance of words, which Bernard finds reprehensible among philosophers: Itaque nec verbositate philosophorum, nec cavillationibus haereticorum, nec gladiis persecutorum potuit ista aut poterit aliquando separari a caritate Dei, quae est in Christo Iesu. . . .88

86 sC 69,2 = sBo ii, 203, 4–8. Bernard is surely drawing on augustine as his version of rom. 10:2 reveals. see herefore Winkler 1995, 681 (no. 84). in addition to Winkler’s findings—as regards content—one may well see augustine’s sermon 354, 6 (= migne pl 39, 1566) as Bernard’s paradigm: Ergo amate scientiam, sed anteponite charitatem. Scientia si sola sit, inflat. Quia vero charitas aedificat (I Cor. VIII,1), non permittit scientiam inflari. Ibi ergo inflat scientia, ubi charitas non aedificat: ubi autem aedificat, solidata est. Non est ibi inflatio, ubi petra est fundamentum. 87 sC 72,5 = sBo ii, 229, 7–13. 88 sC 79,4 = sBo ii, 274, 20–23.

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marvin döbler therefore, neither through the verbosity of philosophers nor through the sophistry of heretics nor through the swords of persecutors was it or will it ever be able to separate us from the love of god which is in Christ the lord.

the swords of her persecutors, the frauds of heretics and the prattle of philosophers are forces trying to separate the church from god’s love. again, Bernard does not aim at philosophy as education, which has its clear place within the church; but against philosophers who—in his opinion—exceed the limits of humility, who become inflated and “talkative”. letter 108 to thomas of saint-omer confirms this impression. thomas had promised to join Clairvaux, then changed his mind. Bernard tries to persuade him: Quam salubrius disceres Iesum, et hunc crucifixum, quam utique scientiam haud facile, nisi qui mundo crucifixus erit, apprehendit. Falleris, fili, falleris, si te putas invenire apud mundi magistros, quam soli Christi discipuli, id est mundi contemptores, Dei munere assequuntur. Nec enim hanc lectio docet, sed unctio; non littera, sed spiritus; non eruditio, sed exercitatio in mandatis Domini. Seminate, inquit, vobis ad iustitiam, metite spem vitae, illuminate vobis lumen scientiae. Vides quia non recte proditur ad lumen scientiae, nisi iustitiae germen procedat ad animam, et ex quo formetur granum vitae, et non palea gloriae. Quid ergo? Nondum tibi ad iustitiam seminasti, nondum spei manipulos messuisti, et veram te praesumis sectari scientiam? Nisi forte pro vera supponitur illa quae inflat.89 how more salutarily would you learn Jesus, and i mean the cruficied Jesus, a knowledge which no one can grasp, lest he is crucified for the world. you err, my son, you err, if you believe that you can find that among the teachers of the world which only the disciples of Christ, that is, those who despise the world, achieve through the gift of god. for this knowledge is not taught through lessons but through anointment, not through letters but through the spirit, not through erudition but through training in the commandments of the lord. ‘sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap’ (hos. 10:12) ‘the hope of life, kindle for yourselves the light of knowledge’. you see that one does not rightly proceed to the light of knowledge unless the seed of justice proceeds to the soul, from which the grain of life, not the chaff of glory is formed. What now? you have not yet sown for justice for yourself, not yet reaped the handfuls of hope, and yet you presume to follow the true knowledge? unless perhaps instead of the true knowledge one supposes that which inflates.

this passage is a quintessence of Bernard’s previously discussed thoughts. the ultimate object of men’s knowledge is not science or philosophy itself,

89 ep 108,2 = sBo vii, 278, 8–18.

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but Jesus. this knowledge can not be gained through worldly studies, but through the monastic way of live. the goal is not training in the artes liberales, but salvation. Salubrius within the context of sermon 36 on the Canticle quite clearly means: more effective on the path of salvation.90 at first Bernard seems to reject education in the liberal arts when he values unction higher than a lesson, the holy spirit higher than literature and asceticism higher than punditry. But if we examine the sentence closely, we see that the verb is docere. all three—unction, the holy spirit and asceticism—are said to teach Jesus better than lessons, literature or learning. however, we should not overlook Bernard’s words in sermon 69 in Cantica: learning without love inflates, love without learning leads to mistakes.91 Eruditio counterbalances dilectio, analogously the seed of justice (germen iustitiae) is the antidote of worldly fame (chaff of glory, palea gloriae) on the way to the light of knowledge (lumen scientiae). Bernard draws a sketch of an alternative way to the knowledge of god here, a way that his disciples of Christ (Christi discipuli) cannot learn solely with the help of the teachers of the world (mundi magistri). But again, secular education has its role and function within the church: “i do not ignore how useful for the Church the educated were and still are,” he writes.92 how useful a thorough education in the liberal arts is, Bernard demonstrates by employing persius’ satires:93 Sunt namque qui scire volunt eo fine tantum, ut sciant: et turpis curiositas est. Et sunt qui scire volunt, ut sciantur ipsi: et turpis vanitas est. Qui profecto non evadent subsannantem Satyricum et ei qui eiusmodi est decantantem: Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter. Et sunt item qui scire volunt, ut scientiam suam vendant, verbi causa pro pecunia, pro honoribus: et turpis questus

90 sC 36,1 = sBo ii,3,22–4,7: Etiam absque omnibus illis artibus, quae liberales dicuntur,— quamvis honestioribus et utilioribus discantur studiis et exerceantur—, quam plurimi hominum salvi facti sunt, placentes moribus atque operibus: quantos enumerat Apostolus in epistola ad Hebraeos, factos dilectos, non in scientia letterarum, sed in conscientia pura, et fide non ficta. Omnes placuerunt Deo in vita sua, vitae meritis, non scientiae. Petrus, et Andreas, et filii Zebedaei, ceterique discipuli omnes, non de schola rhetorum aut philosophorum assumpti sunt; et nihilominus tamen Salvator per ipsos operatus est salutem in medio terrae. 91 sC 69,2 = sBo ii, 203, 4–5: Quid faceret absque dilectione eruditio? Inflaret. Quid absque eruditione dilectio? 92 sC 36,2 = sBo ii, 4, 15–17: Non ignoro quantum Ecclesiae profuerint litterati sui et prosint, sive ad refellendos eos qui ex adverso sunt, sive ad simplices instruendos. 93 persius, satire i 27. excellent edition with splendid commentary aulus persius flaccus, Satiren, ed. Walter Kißel (heidelberg: Carl Winter 1990), 20; for the commentary see 150–51.

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marvin döbler est. Sed sunt quoque qui scire volunt, ut aedificent: et caritas est. Et sunt item qui scire volunt, ut aedificentur: et prudentia est.94 there are some people who desire to know merely for the sake of knowing, which is an iniquitous curiosity. and there are some who want to know so that they themselves be known; which is iniquitous vanity. all these certainly do not evade the satyrical poet who mockingly sings to this type of person: ‘your knowledge is nothing unless another person knows you know’.95 and again there are people who want to know, so that they can sell their knowledge, to put it thus, for money or for prestigious positions, which is an iniquitous undertaking. But there are also those who want to know in order to edify, which is charity. and again there are those who want to know in order to be edified, which is prudence.

With this brilliant passage Bernard not only delivers the obvious message to avoid curiosity and vanity, he also demonstrates en passant how to make use of antique authors96 to illustrate such statements. But back to his train of thought: prudence has he, says Bernard, who seeks knowledge in order to be edified, love the person who strives for knowledge in order to edify others. and thus he states his primary goal: he wants to educate and to edify. 2.4 Andragogy for Superiors: Abaelard, Aelred and Eugene III Before we turn our interest to Bernard as andragogus throughout his works, we need to address two of his accusations against peter abaelard. although only the drafts of Bernard’s letters have come down to us— not the original letters (if sent)—they may well provide an idea of the accusations discussed and the rhetoric used by Bernard and his circles at Clairvaux.97 Bernard states en passant that abaelard (and arnold of Brescia) corrupt the faith of simple men,98 that abaelard ridicules this faith.99 moreover, he charges abaelard with neglecting the proper care of his subordinates: “Habemus . . . sine sollicitudine praelatum . . .”.100 this care is in Bernard’s view especially indispensable in a superior. ep 331

   94 sC 36,3 = sBo ii, 5, 25–6, 4.    95 translation of persius inspired by lee 1987, 15.    96 see also Jacqueline 1953.    97 for a pointed summary of this complex see Clanchy 2000, 401–02.    98 ep 330 = sBo viii, 267: . . . corrumpunt fidem simplicium . . . the same text element in ep 338,1 = sBo viii, 277; also in ep 338,1 we find a quote from seneca (Ad Lucilium 7,6): . . . rubiginem suam simplicium mentibus affricuit.    99 ep 188,1 = sBo viii, 11: Irridetur simplicium fides . . . 100 ep 332 = sBo viii, 271; also in ep 193 = sBo viii, 44.

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provides more evidence for this assumption. Bernard makes use of (so he assumes) st. paul’s101 dictum and writes: Rudes et novellos auditores ab uberibus dialecticae separatos, et eos, qui, ut ita dicam, prima fidei elementa vix sustinere possunt, ad mysterium sanctae Trinitatis, ad Sancta sanctorum, ad cubiculum Regis introducit, et ad eum qui posuit tenebras latibulum suum.102 he introduces the raw and unfledged, who have just been separated from the breasts of dialectic, and those who, so to speak, can barely bear the first elements of faith, to the mystery of the holy trinity, to the holy of holies, into the cubicle of the King and to him who has made the darkness his hiding place.

he applies it to the secular schools and the monastery, stating that the monks have just been weaned from the milk of dialectic. if we follow this thought, the prima elementa fidei are the first bites of solid food. this metaphor has two dimensions. the first dimension is the spiritual parenthood of the superior who is responsible for nurturing the novices. the second dimension is the gradual growth from dialectic to faith. this means that for Bernard dialectic is just one step behind the monastic formation, although it is not a necessary precondition, as we have seen earlier. But literary education is a good foundation for further development, both monastically and hierarchically. With ep 537 Bernard recommends a young man to pope eugene, stating that he is “pudicu[s], ut aiunt, litteratu[s], pro aetate. Caetera sunt in spe.” this is quite consistent with his ecclesiological presuppositions which we discussed earlier. if we look at ep 523, written in 1142,103 we discover again the monastic dimension. in this letter Bernard asks aelred of rievaulx under obedience to write The Mirror of Charity. he tells us that aelred—far from being without a classical education himself—had turned down his request at first, claiming to have insufficient literary skills at his disposal: Causas tuae impossibilitatis ostendisti, dicens te minus grammaticum, immo pene illiteratum, qui de coquinis, non de scholis, ad eremum veneris, ubi, inter rupes et montes agrestis et rusticus vicitans, pro diurno pane in securi desudes

101 Bernard employs heb. 5:12–14: Etenim cum deberetis magistri esse propter tempus, rursum indigetis, ut vos doceat aliquis elementa exordii sermonum Dei, et facti estis, quibus lacte opus sit, non solido cibo. Omnis enim, qui lactis est particeps, expers est sermonis iustitiae, parvulus enim est; perfectorum autem est solidus cibus, eorum, qui pro consuetudine exercitatos habent sensus ad discretionem boni ac mali. 102 ep 331 = sBo viii, 269–70. 103 see gastaldelli 1992, 1231.

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marvin döbler et malleo, ubi magis discitur silere quam loqui, ubi, sub habitu pauperum piscatorum, coturnus non admittitur oratorum.104 you have shown why it is impossible for you [to write the mirror of Charity]; you have said that you are less of a writer (grammaticus), even nearly illiterate; that you have come to the wilderness out of the kitchens, not out of schools, where you live between rocks and mountains like a boorish peasant, that you sweat for your daily bread wielding the axt and the hammer; there one learns more to be silent than to speak, and under the habit of the poor fishermen the eloquent style of the professional speakers is not allowed.

Bernard, on the other hand, affirms how thankful he is for aelred’s attempt to excuse himself in this fashion: . . . cum dulcius mihi debeat sapere, si id proferas quod non in cuiuslibet grammatici, sed in schola didiceris Spiritus Sancti . . .105 how sweeter a smell it must be for me, if you utter something which you have not learned in some grammar teacher’s school but in the school of the holy spirit.

What he asks aelred to do is not just to write a rhetorically or dialectically brilliant work, he also wants him to enrich it with a monastic dimension. Both his solid education in the artes and his monastic experience enable aelred to follow Bernard’s order. in De consideratione, written a few years later—between 1145, eugene’s election, and Bernard’s death in 1153106— we find Bernard picturing the internal connection and coherence of the (four) cardinal virtues.107 he praises the consideratio—in modern english perhaps more ‘reflection’ than ‘consideration’—as the otium which is as pious as it is necessary. By otium he does not mean just spare time, leisure, ease or repose, but the room and freedom to ponder—in this case on the cardinal virtues. We read Bernard closing this short paragraph: Non mihi hoc loco propositum de virtutibus disputare, sed haec dixerim hortans ad vacandum considerationi, cuius beneficio haec et similia advertuntur. Cui tam pio utili otio nullam in vita operam dare, nonne vitam perdere est? it is not my intention to discuss the virtues here, but i would like to say these things in order to prompt you to reserve leisure for reflection through whose graceful gift all these things and other such can be grasped. if one

104 ep 523 = sBo viii, 487. 105 ep 523 = sBo viii, 487. 106 farkasfalvy 1990a, 612–13. 107 De consideratione i:viii.11 = sBo iii, 405, 8–407, 8.

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does not occupy oneself with this pious and useful leisure, is it anything else but losing one’s life?

Otium receives a strictly positive connotation here, while the word otium has—as Jean leclercq demonstrated—a “history of ambivalence”.108 in the following of De consideratione, Bernard—well aware of this ambivalence—also drafts the negative otium. But when we hear Bernard’s words about the right otium we may well think of pliny the younger’s letter to minicius fundanus: O rectam sinceramque vitam! O dulce otium honestumque ac paene omni negotio pulchrius! O mare, o litus, verum secretumque μουσει̃ον, quam multa invenitis, quam multa dictatis! Proinde tu quoque strepitum istum inanemque discursum et multum ineptos labores, ut primum fuerit occasio, relinque teque studiis vel otio trade. Satius est enim, ut Atilius noster eruditissime simul et facetissime dixit, otiosum esse quam nihil agere.109 o true and sincere life! o sweet leisure, honest and more beautiful than almost every business! o sea, o shore, true and secret shrine of the muses, how many things do you discover, how many you dictate! therefore you, too, on the first possible occasion leave this noise, the ineffective talking and the many vain labours and give yourself up to study or leisure. for it is more profitable, as our attilius most eruditely and at the same time wittily said, to keep your leisure than to do nothing.

pliny conventionalizes otium as the true and sincere life. he values it higher than being occupied by worldly affairs, underlining on the other hand that it does not denote sweet idleness.110 this ideal of our pagan lay philosopher111 of the late first/early second century also shines through augustine’s Confessiones, where the young rhetorician ponders on withdrawing from public life and gathering with friends on a manor in order to otiose vivere.112 later, after his conversion, he took refuge to verecundus’ estate near Cassiciacum, where he and his friends read and discussed mostly philosophical authors and problems; this period of augustine’s life is mirrored in his dialogues in which scenery, themes and form are shaped after the model of Cicero’s dialogues and his idea of otium.113 Bernard

108 leclercq 1963, 27–41. 109 plinius minor ep. i 9 = mynors 1963, 16. 110 on pliny’s conception of otium versus negotium see also Bütler 1970, esp. 41–57.   111 roman philosophy was and still is often wrongly characterized as inferior to the greek. its advocates are e.g. grimal 1978 with his brilliant study on seneca, or maurach 2006. 112 Confessiones vi, 14 (24) = CCsl 27, 89–90. 113 see fuhrer 2008, esp. 75–76.

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is the heir of this long tradition when he reminds the Cistercian pope eugene of the monastic otium. 2.5. Bernard the Educator—Mother and Teacher “i am used to advising both you and my other friends”114—these words originate from Bernard’s first treatise, the apology to abbot William, written probably in 1124/25.115 But if we look at Bernard’s earliest letters,116 we may already discern his passion for teaching. in Epistola 11 (1116/17?) he writes to the Carthusian prior guigo de charitate.117 this instructional letter also serves Bernard as final chapter of De diligendo Deo (Dil).118 the main part of letter 11 was simply attached to De diligendo Deo. While it may never be resolved why Bernard decided not to incorporate the contents of letter 11 into Dil,119 one possible explanation—besides taking Bernard literally120—is that he found this text highly instructive in its original form. the textual evidence may be on our side. Bernard writes: Forte autem alia ibi [i.e. in Ep. 11], etsi non aliena, de caritate locutus sum; et ob hoc quaedam huius huic quoque sermoni subiungere non inutile duco . . .121 maybe i said there other, though not alien things about charity, and therefore i hold it not useless to add some bits of this [letter] to this sermon, too . . .

i tend to read this passage in the light of Bernard’s words from Sermo 51 super cantica, where Bernard explains why his exegesis of Cant 2,5 might seem at first to differ from his interpretation of it in Dil: Scio me hunc locum in libro de dilectione Dei plenius explicuisse, et sub alio intellectu: potiorine an deteriori, lector iudicet, si cui utrumque videre placuerit. Non sane a prudente de diversitate sensuum iudicabor, dummodo veritas

114 Apologia ad Guillelmum Abbatem 31 = sBo iii, 108, 13–15: Quae in vestris laudabilia sunt, laudo et praedico; si quae reprehendenda sunt, ut emendentur, vobis et aliis amicis meis suadere soleo. 115 Apologia ad Guillelmum Abbatem = sBo iii, 80–108. 1124/25 seems to be communis opinio; see van den eynde 1963; van den eynde 1966; leclercq 1980, 646; dinzelbacher 1998, 81. Christopher holdsworth argues for 1121–22; see holdsworth 1994. 116 Both ep 441 and 11 could be the earliest letter we have. for literature and a discussion see gastaldelli 1992a, 1052–53 and 1992b, 1212–13. 117 ep 11 = sBo vii, 52–60. for the central role of charity see newman 1996. 118 sBo iii, 118—154; for ep 11 see 148–54. 119 so guesses farkasfalvy 1990b, 64. 120 . . . praesertim cum facilius ad manum habeam transcribere iam dictata, quam nova iterum dictare. De diligendo Deo xii, 34 = sBo iii, 148, 5–6. 121 De diligendo Deo xii, 34 = sBo iii, 148, 3–5.

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utrobique nobis patrocinetur, et caritas, cui Scripturas servire oportet, eo aedificet plures, quo plures ex eis in opus suum veros eruerit intellectus.122 i know that i explained this verse fuller in the book on the love of god, and in another sense; whether better or worse, let the reader judge, if anyone should like to look at both. for i will certainly not be criticised by a prudent man for the diversity of senses, as long as truth remains our patron in both places, and charity, whom scripture must serve, edifies the more, the more true senses it can unearth from it for its use.

much emphasis should be put on utile in the aforecited passage from Dil. this becomes even more apparent if we read further: Cur enim hoc displiceat in sensibus Scripturarum, quod in usibus rerum assidue experimur? In quantos, verbi causa, sola aqua nostrorum assumitur corporum usus? Ita unus quilibet divinus sermo non erit ab re, si diversos pariat intellectus, diversis animarum necessitatibus et usibus accomodandos.123 for why should this be deemed unpleasant in the senses of scripture which we experience often when we use things? to put it thus, to how many ends do we employ water alone for our bodies? Just so, whatever single divine word will not be wrong if it gives birth to different senses, which are to be adjusted to the different needs and uses of the souls.

Bernard’s explanation is more than just a simple description of allegorical exegesis. if we want to take him seriously as an author, we must take into account the compositional matrix which this passage reveals. this means that—and here Bernard is in good company with augustine124—he tends to compound possible interpretations and metaphors which might serve to access the truth more fully. this could very well have been the case when Bernard simply attached the main section of Ep 11 to Dil. furthermore, the sermons on the Canticle are intended for instruction, but Bernard never misses an opportunity to give advice beyond mere stock epistolary phrases. With letter 441 Bernard asks the prior gualtier to accept a young man at Clémentimpré for the winter to see how well he might adjust to monastic life.125 Closing this short letter of recommendation Bernard writes: Interim vigilate, pigros excitate, nimios reprimite, pusillanimes consolamini; omnibus omnia facti, omnium virtutes vestras facite.126

122 sC 51,4 = sBo ii, 86, 18–23. 123 sC 51,4 = sBo ii, 86, 23–27. 124 Confessiones xii, 18 (27) = CCsl 27, 229–30. 125 ep 441 = sBo viii, 419. for the background of this letter see gastaldelli 1992b, 1212–13. 126 ibid.

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marvin döbler until then be watchful, excite the indolent, check the overexcited, ‘comfort the feebleminded’ (i thess. 5:14); and once you have become ‘all things to all’ (i Cor. 9:22) make yours the virtues of all.

these lines give a good taste of how Bernard frames the role of a superior, playing with the Christian interpretation of the virtutes from antique philosophy as he also does in De consideratione.127 as a spiritual father he deems himself responsible for their monastic education; in his letter to robert, Bernard uses the expression in religionem gignere—following i Cor. 4:15128—to point to this spiritual re-birth of the monk.129 after his spiritual son Bernardo pignatelli had become pope eugene iii, he felt responsible for advising him and wrote a treatise on reflection. he uses metaphors of parenthood to negotiate the relationship between his new pope and father and himself as the former spiritual father.130 in the preface of De Consideratione we find Bernard employing a female metaphor, which we also know from early medieval sources,131 but, as volker mertens has shown, Bernard does not proceed from a simplistic dichotomy of ‘male = good’ and ‘female = bad’.132 . . . matris sum liberatus officio, sed non depraedatus affectu. Olim mihi invisceratus es . . . .133 . . . i am liberated from the duties of the mother, but not robbed of her affection. once you were planted into my bowels . . . .

Bernard names love as the driving force behind De consideratione; surely he wants to measure and exert his influence. perhaps he is sure that eugene will implement Bernard’s ideas of reform even after becoming pope.134 in addition, it may also be observed in this preface how inconsistent Bernard’s terminology can be and how dominated it is by rhetorical considerations:

127 De consideratione i, viii.9–11 = sBo iii, 404–07 and ii, xi.20 = sBo iii, 427–28. 128 for a queer-theory inspired interpretation of i Cor. 4:15 see Brinkschröder 2009, 265–69. 129 ep 1,10 = sBo vii, 8. 130 see the first letter to eugene iii after his election, ep 238,1 = sBo viii, 116: Iam enim filium dicere non audeo, quia filius in patrem, pater est mutatus in filium. Qui post me venit, ante me factus est; sed non invideo, quia quod mihi deerat, in eo me habere confido, qui non solum post me, sed etiam per me venit. see also Brem 1990, 829, and farkasfalvy 1990a, here 612–20. 131 see e.g. nolte 1995, 231–39. 132 mertens 2002. 133 De consideratione, Praefatio = sBo iii, 393. 134 dinzelbacher 1998, 340.

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Quid enim si cathedram ascendisti? Nec si ambules super pennas ventorum, subduceris affectui. Amor dominum nescit, agnoscit filium et in infulis.135 so what if you ascended the throne? even if you should walk upon the feathers of the winds, you could not be led away from my love. love does not know a master, it knows its son even when he wears the episcopal garment.

here he uses the latin amor, a few sentences later he employs i Cor. 13:8 to illustrate his point: “at caritas numquam excedit.”136 then he uses affectus, and afterwards the verb amare and its substantive. the promise of this never-ending love, step after step, assumes a rather threatening character: Ascende in caelos, descende in abyssos: non recedes a me, sequar te quocumque ieris. Amavi pauperem spiritu, amabo pauperum et divitum patrem.137 ascend to heaven, descend to the abyss: you will not recede from me, but i will follow you wherever you may go. i loved the poor in the spirit; i will love the father of the poor and the rich.

and therefore it is not the figure of a teacher Bernard assigns himself, but the role of a mother: Monebo te proinde, non ut magister, sed ut mater: plane ut amans. Amens magis videar sed ei qui non amat, ei qui vim non sentit amoris.138 i will exhort you therefore not as a teacher, but as a mother; evidently as a loving one. i might appear out of my senses, but only to him who loves not, who does not feel the power of love.

in the captatio at the very beginning of De consideratione Bernard creates an image of himself as a concerned mother, but the exhortatio—which forms most of De consideratione—and his discourse on the virtutes reveal the philosophically trained teacher in him. his educational ideal is still monastic, so one may ask with peter dinzelbacher whether it was possible to lead the church as if it were a monastery.139 the mother from whom a child cannot separate might recall augustine’s mother monica, but in Bernard’s opinion, it is the abbatial ideal. in his tenth sermon on the Canticle, Bernard employs the same image: the abbot is depicted as the spiritual mother, nourishing her spiritual children to whom she has given birth in

135 De consideratione, Praefatio = sBo iii, 393. 136 De consideratione, Praefatio = sBo iii, 393. 137 De consideratione, Praefatio = sBo iii, 393. 138 De consideratione, Praefatio = sBo iii, 394. 139 dinzelbacher 1998, 340. see also newman 1996.

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the gospel (genuit in Evangelio);140 this mother is not just a teacher, Bernard declares her responsible for the monk’s whole existence. 3. Conclusion not everything medieval is, but of course it can potentially be religious. our substantive and open concept of religion depends on the intention of the actor and is in this respect quite Weberian. We find Bernard, for example, developing a model of education in which every order of the church has a special need of education. his argumentation is theological, biblical to be more precise. hence, we may call his concept religious. But we must also take the possibility into account that not every 12th century peasant, artisan or philosophus grounded his educational curriculum on this religious system. furthermore, if we look at Bernard not through the dichotomic lense of secular knowledge vs. religious knowledge, Christian knowledge vs. pagan knowledge, theology vs. philosophy, monk vs. dialectic—an approach by which e.g. the conflict with peter abaelard has often been misconstrued141—we see that Bernard propagates an educational ideal which is as differentiated as the social networks he is engaged in. the broad concept of religious education which ilinca tanaseanu and i unfolded in the introduction to this volume, helps us to better understand Bernard’s actions within these networks. he praises the use of the liberal arts for the church, draws a model of monastic education which is not limited to the trivium or quadrivium, a model in which love and eruditio are counterbalanced. he is himself able and willing to employ his dialectical skills when he deems it necessary, as manifest in his rhetoric against gilbert. in De consideratione Bernard describes the otium of (self-)reflection modelled on antique motifs. throughout these efforts he remains a teacher who wants either to correct, instruct or edify his environment. and this also seems to be the way he was perceived by his contemporaries, as early images of him illustrate. these are his seal142 (which James france defends as either authentic or a good copy of the original) and

140 sC 10, 2 = sBo i, 49, 8–23. 141 as by Clanchy 2000, 21–25; differently and valid up to today Borst 1958, who puts more emphasis on the personalities of the two adversaries. it is not simply a conflict between cloister and school, cf. Bell 1996, 153. 142 rouen, musee des antiquites de la seine-maritime; see france 2007, figure 5 (54); 56–64; 361.

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an image in a manuscript143 written before 1135 in the scriptorium of the Benedictine abbey of saint augustine at Canterbury. the seal shows Bernard sitting with a writing tablet and stylus in his left hand (his right in the impression).144 the Canterbury image proves the early popularity of Bernard’s writings even outside the Cistercian order and shows how contemporaries perceived him as a teacher through his writings: he is shown in profile, sitting at a desk, an open book before him, a rasurium in his left, a pen in his right hand; it is the same pose in which the evangelists—and late antique writers—were conventionally depicted.145 two images—also of non-Cistercian provenance—dating from the time after his death in 1153 and his canonization in 1174 underline this impression. Bernard is in the first case depicted with a crozier and a book, which here may be a copy of his Steps of Humility and Pride.146 in the second case he holds a scroll thought to be the letter to aelred of rievaulx (ep 523), in which Bernhard asks him to write The Mirror of Charity.147 in a manuscript of the sermons on the Canticle—written around 1180—we find an image of Bernhard portraying him as the teaching abbot instructing his student monks;148 this motif can often be found in later images.149 and to this day, the doctor mellifluus is considered conducive to theological discourse by those engaged in it.150 for the modern understanding of Bernard it is therefore highly beneficial to underline his role as teacher as i have attempted to sketch. Bibliography a) Sources augustinus, Confessiones, CCsl 27. ——, sermon 354, migne pl 39, 1563–1568. s. Bernardi opera, 8 vols., eds. J. leclercq and h.m. rochais (rome: editiones Cistercienses 1957–77) (=sBo).

143 ms Bodley 530 f 15r; see france 2007, 64–66; 377. also france 1998, 35–36; for the image see there colour plate 7. 144 long debated; for literature see france 2007, 60. 145 france 2007, 64. 146 douai, Bibliotheque municipale ms 372, f 100r. see france 2007, 66–68; 360. also france 1998, 10 (image 7); 36–37. 147 douai, Bibliotheque municipale ms 392 f 2v. see france 2007, 68–72; colour plate 3; 360. also france 1998, 37; colour plate 10. 148 Berlin, staatsbibliothek preussischer Kulturbesitz ms theol. lat. fol. 347 f 1v. see france 2007, 74–75; 363. 149 see france 2007, 339–46. also france 1998, 37–39; colour plate 9. 150 see e.g. allen 2008.

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evans, g.r., “the classical education of Bernard of Clairvaux”, in Cîteaux 33 (1982), 121–34. farkasfalvy, d., “Über die Besinnung an papst eugen: einleitung”, trans. hildegard Brem, in Bernhard Werke deutsch, vol. 1 (1990), 612–23 (=1990a). ——, “De diligendo Deo / Über die gottesliebe: einleitung”, trans. peter dinzelbacher, in Bernhard Werke deutsch, vol. 1 (1990), 58–71 (=1990b). flint, v.i.J., The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe (princeton: princeton up 1991). france, J., The Cistercians in Medieval Art (Kalamazoo: Cistercian 1998). ——, “Medieval Images of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux” (Cistercian Studies Series 210) (Kalamazoo: Cistercian 2007). fuhrer, t., “augustin in mailand”, in id., Die christlich-philosophischen Diskurse in der Spätantike: Texte, Personen, Institutionen (Philosophie der Antike 28) (stuttgart: franz steiner 2008), 63–79. gasper, g.e.m., Anselm of Canterbury and his Theological Inheritance (aldershot/Burlington, vt: ashgate 2007). gastaldelli, f., “i primi vent’anni di san Bernardo. problemi e interpretazioni”, in Analecta Cisterciensia 43 (1987), 111–48. ——, “anmerkungen und historischer Kommentar”, in Bernhard Werke deutsch, vol. 2 (1992) 1046–1155 (=1992a) and vol. 3 (1992), 1062–1245 (=1992b). gilson, e., La théologie mystique de saint Bernard (paris: J. vrin 1934). gladigow, B., “mögliche gegenstände und notwendige Quellen einer religionsgeschichte”, in Chr. auffarth and J. rüpke (eds.), Religionswissenschaft als Kulturwissenschaft (stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2005), 23–39. gouguenheim, s., Aristote au Mont-Saint-Michel: Les racines grecques de l’Europe chrétienne (paris: de seuil 2008). grimal, p., Seneca: Macht und Ohnmacht des Geistes (darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1978). gruber, J., Kommentar zu Boethius De consolatione philosophiae (Texte und Kommentare 9) (Berlin/new york: de gruyter 1978). hadot, i., Arts libéraux et philosophie dans la pensée antique. Contribution à l’histoire de l’éducation et de la culture dans l’antiquité (2nd ed. paris: J. vrin 2005). häring, n.m., “gilbert porreta”, in Theologische Realenzyklopädie 13 (1985), 266–68. hiss, W., Die Anthropologie Bernhards von Clairvaux (Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie 7) (Berlin: de gruyter 1964). holdsworth, C., “the early Writings of Bernard of Clairvaux”, in Cîteaux 45 (1994), 21–61. hümpfner, t., “archivum et bibliotheca cistercii et quatuor primarum filiarum eius”, in Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cist. 2 (1946), 119–45. Jacqueline, B., “repertoire des citations d’auteurs profanes dans les oeuvres de saint Bernard”, in Bernard de Clairvaux, Commission d’histoire de l’Ordre de Cîteaux 3 (paris: alsatia 1953), 549–54. James, W., The Varieties of Religious Experience. f.h. Burkhardt, f. Bowers and i.K. skrupskelis (eds.), The Works of William James 15. 1902 (Cambridge, ma/london: harvard up 1985). Kitchen, J., “going medieval: paradigm shifts and the phenomenological tendency in the Contemporary encounter With medieval religion”, in Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 14.3–4 (2002), 375–414. Kleineidam, e., “Wissen, Wissenschaft, theologie bei Bernhard von Clairvaux”, in B. lortz (ed.), Bernhard von Clairvaux, Mönch und Mystiker. Internationaler Bernhardkongreß Mainz 1953 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz 6) (Wiesbaden: franz steiner 1955), 128–67. leclercq, J., Recueil d’études sur Saint Bernard et ses écrits, 5 vols. (rome: storia e letteratura 1962–92). ——, Otia Monastica, Ètudes sur le vocabulaire de la contemplation au Moyen Age (Studia Anselmiana 51) (rome: herder 1963). ——, “Bernhard von Clairvaux”, in Theologische Realenzyklopädie 5 (1980), 644–51.

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Index Academy 44, 56, 109 n. 45 Adam 112 n. 55, 192–193, 197, 205, 207–208 adolescent 12, 14, 18, 24, 44, 52, 100–101, 120, 171 n. 25, 184 adult 4, 11–14, 26, 51, 52, 100, 120, 167, 175, 183, 185 adult education (see also andragogy)  3, 13 n. 54 Aedesius 102 n. 18, 130–131, 133, 140 n. 163 Aelred of Rievaulx 185, 188 n. 35, 194, 196f, 201, 205, 233f, 241 Mirror of Charity 233–234, 241 Aeschylus 43 age 12, 19, 41, 66, 84–85, 118, 127 n. 122, 130, 152, 165–166, 168, 171, 176, 184–185 age group 12, 13 nn. 52, 58, 15–16, 51–52 Alcibiades 43 alphabet/alphabetic script/letters 11, 46–47 Ammonius Saccas 102 n. 18 anagnostai (ἀναγνῶσται) 168, 178 andragogy (see also adult, life-long learning) 8, 27, 100, 232 anima 190–191, 193, 201 anthropology 7 n. 27, 23, 26, 119, 124, 188, 196 n. 87, 204, 207 antiquarianism 20, 64 Antoninus Pius 93 Antoninus (philosopher) 132 Apollodoros of Athens 119 Apollonius (Chr. philosopher) 93 Aratos 83 archive 46–47 Aries, Philippe 44 Aristotle 15, 56, 81, 88 n. 55, 134, 191, 225f, 227 n. 80 Categories 15, 225–226 De interpretatione 225 Organon 226 Arnold of Brescia 232 ars vitae 28 artes liberales/liberal arts 10, 16, 26, 97 n. 1, 129, 185, 185, 214–215, 220–222, 225 n. 74, 231, 240 trivium 165, 225, 240 quadrivium 165, 240 see also dialectic; rhetoric

Athanasius of Alexandria 111 n. 49 Vita Antonii 15 Aulus Caecina 69 Aulus Gellius 68 Augustine of Hippo 9, 15, 16 n. 73, 17, 93, 138, 189, 190–192, 193 n. 70, 204, 207, 208 n. 173, 215, 223, 225, 227 n. 80, 229 n. 86, 235, 237, 241 Confessiones 15 n. 68, 227, 235 De dialectica 225 Monica 239 Ps.-Augustine De decem categoriis 225 autodidact(icism) 15, 132 n. 138, 137 baptismal instruction, see also catechumenate 16, 101 Basil of Caesarea 102 n. 17, 104, 117, 147 Ad adulescentes 11 n. 44, 23–24, 25, 117, 148–156, 163 Benedict, Ruth 53–54 Benedictine 183–184, 186 n. 27, 187, 188 n. 35, 200, 241 Bernard of Clairvaux 14, 26–28, 185, 187–190, 193f, 196, 200–204, 206, 208, 213–241 Apology 236 On Baptism 223 De consideratione 208 n. 172, 234–235, 238–240 Sermons on the Canticle 237, 241 De diligendo Deo 197 n. 100, 236 Steps of Humility and Pride 241 images of B. 241 doctor mellifluus 241 Bible/Biblical (see also gospel, new Testament) 11, 15, 22, 25, 40, 77–93, 100 n. 10, 101, 160, 171, 240 Biblical faith 77 sacred writings/Holy Scriptures 150, 152, 154, 161 Bildung 3, 4 n. 14, 8, 39–40, 42 bilingual 20, 70 bishop 16 n. 72, 23, 102 n. 18, 111 n. 49, 140 n. 163, 148, 160–161, 164, 168, 170, 225 body 26, 191–193, 195, 199, 201, 208 Boethius 191, 224–227 De sancta Trinitate 226

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book sacred book 19, 63 schoolbook 25, 138 n. 152, 167 see also libri 63, 69, 73 buildings basilica 25, 172–175, 177 Church 25, 164, 171–177 didaskaleion (διδασκαλεῖον) 45 n. 24, 111 n. 49, 165 n. 4, 171, 173 school buildings 16, 45, 171 Byzantium/Byzantine 17–18, 20, 25, 140–141, 163–167, 169–170, 172, 174, 176–179 Caesar 70 Caesius 69 calligraphy 167 canon 16, 52–53, 84, 138 n. 52 catechumenate/catechesis; see also baptismal instruction 9–10, 14, 15 n. 64, 23, 101–102, 107, 111 n. 49 Chaldean Oracles 122 n. 103, 138 Chaldean mysteries 132 charismatic 10 n. 42, 14, 77 child/childhood 3–4, 12, 17–18, 21–22, 25, 26 n. 86, 27, 40, 43–45, 84–85, 100–101, 105 n. 27, 110–111, 115, 117 n. 80, 118, 120, 130, 132–133, 160, 163–171, 174–179, 184– 185, 223, 239 Chrysanthius of Sardes 129, 132–134, 137 Cicero 65–70, 235 De diuinatione 66 Hortensius 15 De legibus 66 De natura deorum 118 Topic  225 Cistercian 26, 183–189, 191, 194, 198–201, 204, 206–209, 213, 222, 236, 241 Classical Greece 14, 18, 39, 43, 48, 56, 99 classical literature 24–25, 105, 107, 117, 122, 140, 159–160, 163 Clement of Alexandria 93 clergy 114, 164, 178 clerici, see also religiosi/priest 185 Clodius 69 cloister 184, 186–187, 198, 200 Codex Justinianus 107 Codex Theodosianus 106–107 cognitive approach 2, 6–7, 29 collegium 19, 63 community 11, 14, 18, 78, 83, 88, 178, 183, 198 competences (see also skills) 2, 9–10, 13, 17, 28, 39, 44

Constantine the Great 103–105, 130–131 Constantine V 176 contemplation 26, 158, 187, 208 conversi 9 n. 38, 185 cult civic 140 family 63 local 140 regional 140 see also mystery, ritual, sacrifice, theurgy, divination, Etrusca disciplina culture 1, 3–4, 10, 15–16, 18–20, 22–24, 27–28, 41–46, 54, 64–66, 73, 78–79, 81–83, 92–93, 99, 103–104, 108, 110–112, 117, 120, 128, 141, 149, 159–160, 163, 215–216 curriculum 15, 25, 100–101, 103, 120, 165, 174, 187, 240 Cynic 21, 82, 85–87, 90–91, 104, 111 Cyprian of Carthago 104 Cyril of Jerusalem 9 n. 36, 15 n. 64, 16 n. 72, 101 damascius 135, 140 n. 164 Life of Isidore 138 delphi 13, 45, 48, 187 n. 32, 223 dialectic 27, 224–225, 227, 233–234, 240 Didache 9 n. 36, 101 dilectio 229, 231 dio of Prusa 87–88 diocletian 103 diogenes (Cynic) 87 diogenes of Oenoanda 120 dionysus 19, 49, 51 divination 19, 63–64, 66, 69, 73, 131–134, 136 dodds, eric Robertson 53–54 douglas, Mary 54 Meister eckhart 40 education adult  3–4, 13–14 classical education 22–23, 25, 29, 41–43, 103, 105, 109–110, 115, 117, 136, 141, 220, 233 definitions/terminology 2–4, 98–99, 186 educand 3, 15, 17 educational agents 3, 14–15, 26, 160, 170 Latin terminology: institutio/educatio/ disciplina 64–65 parents 150, 165, 168, 178, 183, 186 parenthood 27, 178, 233, 238–240

index primary/secondary 3, 25, 164–165, 169–170, 177 secular education 25, 171, 231 transmission 2, 4, 6–7, 9–10, 14–17, 19–21, 28, 47, 48, 52, 63, 65, 68, 83, 92, 98–100, 104, 108, 116, 120, 136, 159, 163, 166, 225 elias (prophet) 89 elite 11–12, 21, 23, 29, 55, 77, 100, 114 n. 68, 115–116, 120, 132–133, 135, 139–141, 163–164, 167 enlightenment 40 sapere, aude! 40 epictetus 87 epicurean 82, 90, 118, 120, 125 episteme 80, 112 epistemology 80, 121, 137, 214–215, 223, 229 eruditio 229, 231, 240 erziehung 3, 8 ethics 10, 16, 29, 53–56, 80, 111, 122, 128, 139, 147, 179 Golden Rule 53 guilt culture 54 shame culture 54 see also formation/will/body/ obedience/eudaimonia Etrusca disciplina 20, 28, 63–66, 68–70, 72–73 etruscan/etruria/etruscus 17–20, 28, 63–70, 72–73 euclid 149 eudaimonia 120, 123–124, 126 eugene III 238 eunapius of Sardes 13 n. 57, 102 nn. 17–18, 105, 127, 129–131, 133–137, 139 Lives of Philosophers and Sophists 129 euripides 43, 48–50, 83 Ion 48 Cyclops 49 eusebius 124 everyday life 2, 53, 163, 177 exegesis 9 n. 38, 12 n. 50, 21 n. 81, 70, 90, 111 n. 49, 122 n. 102, 188, 236, 237 exempla 117, 208 experience 19, 26, 40, 53, 107, 109 n. 45, 150, 152, 167–168, 169 n. 17, 184–185, 187–188, 195, 201, 206, 209, 219, 234, 237 eye of the soul 152, 195 family 12 n. 51, 14, 18, 25, 44, 48, 51, 63, 66, 73, 140 n. 163, 174, 178 family resemblances 219 Ficino, Marsilio 46 Fonteius Capito 69

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formation 4, 10–11, 13 n. 54, 15–17, 23, 25–27, 29, 64, 101, 160–161, 163, 176, 178, 186–188, 194, 198–199, 201–202, 207, 209, 213–214, 233 gender 13–15, 51–52, 163–164, 166, 168, 238–240 General Chapter 184 George Choiroboskos 167 Gilbert of Hoyland 195 Gilbert of Poitiers 224 gnothi seauton! 187 n. 32, 223 god(s) 19, 24, 26–27, 39, 44, 46, 48–52, 55–56, 66, 71, 73, 77–78, 82–86, 88–89, 91 n. 69, 92–93, 100 n. 9, 107–108, 109 n. 45, 110–114, 115 n. 73, 116–119, 121–126, 131–132, 134, 136–137, 140, 155, 160, 169, 170 n. 23, 176, 178, 186–187, 188 n. 35, 189–195, 197–208, 214–215, 221, 223–231, 237 chthonian 49 Olympian 49 gospel (see also Bible, new Testament) 22, 78–79, 83–85, 87, 89, 90–91, 92 n. 71, 131, 240 Gospel of Thomas 84 see also Luke-Acts grammar 25, 63, 165–167, 174 n. 37, 186, 234 grammatistes 14 Gregory of Akragas 169 Gregory nazianzen 23–24, 102 n. 17, 104, 105 n. 27, 107 n. 38, 116 n. 78, 117, 126 n. 118, 127, 147–148, 156, 159 On His Own Verses 148, 157 Gregory Thaumatourgos 1, 24 n. 85 Gualtier (prior) 237 Guerric of Igny 185, 196, 198 Guigo the Carthusian 209 gymnasium 39, 41–44, 173 hagiography 25, 168 n. 14, 201, 227 n. 80 Halacha 80 handbook/manual 15 n. 64, 19, 23, 43, 120, 124 n. 108, 126 n. 118, 127, 129, 138, 167 haruspices/haruspicum responsa 64, 68, 70 Heloise 13, 40 Hekataios of Abdera 81 Hekate 132 Hellenism historical period 85 ‘cultural’ and ‘religious’ (hellenismos; Hellenic) 20, 23, 41 n. 4, 103, 105, 106 n. 31, 107–108, 109 n. 45, 110–114,

250

index

116–117, 124 n. 108, 126, 128, 133, 136, 172 Hengel, Martin 81 Heracles 21, 89 Hermes 46 Hermetic 11–12 Herodotus 43, 45 n. 21, 46 Hesiod 91 n. 70, 107, 150, 160 hiera grammata (ἱερὰ γράμματα) 165 history of religions (discipline) historicity of religion as a cultural phenomenon 4, 30 history of european religions 1, 46 normative vs. descriptive 4, 5–6, 8 n. 31 phenomenology 4, 29 n. 92 Religionswissenschaft 4, 29–30, 213 terminology 4–5 in the context of Medieval History and Church History 213 Homer 22, 53, 91 n. 70, 107, 122 n. 103, 124, 156, 160 horarium 186 Horatius Cocles 68 Humanism 8 n. 32, 41–42, 44, 110 n. 45 neo-Humanism 41 n. 8 Humboldt, Wilhelm 41 Hypatia 13, 135, 138, 140 n. 163 Iamblichus 85, 88, 100 n. 10, 102 n. 18, 109 n. 44, 110 n. 47, 116, 119, 125, 130, 131 Vita pythagorica 85, 88, 100 n. 10 instruction 4, 8–9, 11, 12 n. 50, 13 n. 54, 14, 15 n. 64, 16–17, 23–24, 27, 45, 49, 65–66, 101, 103, 107–108, 114, 116, 124, 126–127, 136–137, 139 n. 160, 141, 159, 163–164, 165–166, 168–169, 171, 174–175, 178, 186, 214, 220, 222, 236–237, 240–241 interculturality 21 intertextuality 16 n. 71, 21, 49 Isidore 70 Jaeger, Werner 39, 41–42, 160 Jesus/Christ 21, 22 n. 82, 26, 28, 40, 77–85, 87, 89–90, 92–93, 131, 189, 202, 205–207, 230–231 Jewish 9 n. 38, 11, 15 n. 64, 20–21, 24, 78–79, 81, 84, 85 n. 31, 90, 92–93, 97 n. 2, 103, 111 John the Baptist 21, 84–85, 87 John Chrysostom 9 nn. 36, 38, 16 n. 72, 97 n. 2, 101, 102 n. 17, 163, 168 John Lydus De ostentis 70

Jovian 118 Jubelruf 78 Julian (emperor) 22–23, 42 n. 10, 97 n. 1, 100 nn. 9–10, 102 nn. 17–18, 103–121, 122 n. 102, 124–141 Against the Cynic Heraclius 98 n. 6, 111 Contra Galilaeos 109 n. 45, 112 n. 55 Hymn to Helios 116 Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 100 n. 9, 111, 116, 118 Letters 117 Julian as pontifex maximus 112, 113 n. 57, 114, 116 Julius Aquila 69 Justin Martyr 92 kingdom of God 77 Klearchos of Soloi 81 koine, cultural and religious 117 with n. 83 Lactantius 103 language etruscan 17–20, 63–70, 72–73 Hebrew 9, 11, 109 n. 45, 221 language training 9 Late Antiquity 10–11, 15 n. 64, 22, 97–99, 102, 103 n. 20, 104–105, 118, 124, 130 n. 134, 148, 163–164, 166, 169, 173, 214–215 law decrees 47 legal texts 10 law of God 55 legal norm 201 sacred laws/leges sacrae 205 learning formal/informal 4, 8, 15, 19, 101 n. 12, 138 n. 153, 163–165, 175 learning by doing 14, 19, 28, 48, 99, 141 life-long 3, 15, 26, 136, 138 n. 153, 183, 187, 199 self-directed 15 Lebensform 2 lectio divina 15, 26, 186, 189, 202 Libanius 102 n. 17, 105 n. 27, 117, 138, 140 n. 163 library 46, 189, 220 libri Etrusci libri fulgurales 63 libri haruspicini 63 libri rituales 63 libri Vegonei/Vegonici 72 likeness (similitudo) 189 n. 40, 192 n. 67, 199 n. 109, 204 n. 143, 207 n. 169

index literacy 16 n. 71, 18, 21, 46–47, 99 n. 8, 100 n. 11 literature 10, 11 n. 44, 14, 16, 22–25, 41, 46, 66, 88, 98–100, 102–103, 105, 107, 109 n. 45, 117, 120 n. 96, 122, 137–138, 140, 148–155, 157–161, 163, 167, 170, 213, 231 Livy 65–68 logos (λόγος) 80–81, 93, 120, 167 Lucretius 70 Luke-Acts 20–21, 79, 82–84, 89–91, 101 n. 13 Luke (evangelist) 84–85, 92 Macrobius 70–71, 128–129, 138 Saturnalia 71, 128 magistrates 63–64 manuscript 167, 241 Marcus Aurelius 93 Marinus 138 Vita Procli 140 Marius Victorinus 191 Marrou, Henri-Irenée 97 Martianus Capella 138 Maximus of ephesus 102 n. 18, 113, 128 n. 122 Megasthenes 81 Melanchthon 93 memory 6–7, 9, 16 n. 71, 18 n. 77, 19, 26, 46, 174 n. 37, 190, 193–195, 197, 202, 205–207 metaphor 27, 55, 169, 175, 204, 207 n. 164, 237–238 Middle Ages/Medieval 10, 13 n. 54, 14–15, 17–18, 25–27, 46, 138 n. 154, 165 n. 5, 167, 184, 188–189, 191, 198–199, 202, 213–218, 225 n. 74, 238, 240 mission 14, 17, 82, 139 monastery/monastic 2 n. 7, 13 n. 54, 17, 25–27, 163–166, 167 n. 8, 168–171, 173 n. 32, 178, 183–209, 213–215, 223, 231, 233–234, 236–240 School of God’s Service/School of Charity 184, 186 monk 2, 9 n. 38, 12, 15, 22, 26–27, 71, 109 n. 45, 139, 168–169, 178, 183–186, 188–189, 196, 198–204, 208, 215, 233, 238, 240–241 monachus 9 n. 38, 184 n. 11, 185–186 see also conversi/religiosi Moses Maimonides 11 Dux neutrorum 11 music 16, 18, 112, 130, 168 n. 8 mystery/mysteries 47, 55, 131–132, 228, 233 telete 55

251

epopteia 55 eleusis 129 hierophant 129, 130 n. 133, 133, 135 mysterisation 28 mysticism 40, 97 n. 2 myth 11 n. 44, 52–54, 99–100, 111–112, 121–122, 124–125, 214 national Socialism 42 new Testament (see also Bible, gospel)  21, 41, 82, 101, 166 nigidius Figulus De diis 70 De extis 70 nikolaos Mesarites 171 n. 24, 177 n. 43 nock, Arthur darby 120 novice 2, 26, 168–169, 178 n. 46, 184, 186, 188 n. 35, 199–202, 233 nussbaum, Martha C. 54, 56 n. 67 (dis)obedience 26, 178, 186, 188 n. 35, 197, 200, 203–204, 205 n. 153, 207, 209, 233 orality 9, 16, 18, 21, 46–47, 56 Orderic Vitalis 183 Origen 1, 22 n. 82, 24, 97 n. 2, 101, 102 n. 16, 103–104 orthodoxy 28, 129, 160 orthopraxy 28, 63 Ostentarium arborarium 70–71 Ostentarium Tuscum 70–71 otium 234–236, 240 Ovid Metamorphoses 89 pagan/paganism (see also Hellenism) 9 n. 38, 11 n. 44, 15, 20, 22–23, 82, 86 n. 44, 88–89, 91 n. 70, 97 n. 1, 99, 100 n. 10, 101–105, 107, 110, 112, 114–117, 119 n. 89, 124–125, 127–129, 134–136, 139–141, 170, 235, 240 paideia 3, 17 n. 75, 20–23, 39, 42, 77, 79, 97 n. 1, 98 nn. 2, 3, 6, 101–105, 106 n. 32, 107–108, 109 n. 44–46, 111, 117, 121, 124, 126, 128–140, 148, 161 apaideutoi 120 enkyklios paideia/ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία 97 n. 1, 109 n. 45, 166 pepaideumenoi 117 see also classical education panegyric 100 Parker, Robert 48 n. 36, 54 Paul 1 n. 4, 20–21, 77, 80, 82–83, 90, 93, 110

252

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pax deorum 63, 69 Pericles 43, 149 Persius Satires 231 Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich 40 Peter Abelard 203 philosopher 1, 10, 12–14, 21, 23, 27–28, 44, 55, 79 n. 4, 82, 85–87, 90–93, 95–100, 102, 107 n. 34, 109 n. 45, 119, 129–137, 139, 152, 155, 193, 221, 227–230, 235 Cynic 21, 82, 85–87, 90–91, 104, 111 epicurean 82, 90, 118, 120, 125 neoplatonic 13, 15, 23, 111, 113, 116, 118–119, 124–126, 128, 130 n. 133, 131 n. 137, 137–139 Stoic 21, 82, 83 n. 25, 89–91, 92 n. 72, 118 wandering 85, 87 philosophisation 28 philosophy 1, 3 n. 13, 7, 10–12, 13 n. 52, 14, 16, 19–24, 26–28, 63, 79, 81–82, 86, 88–90, 92–93, 98–100, 102 n. 16, 105 n. 27, 109 n. 45, 111, 113, 116, 119–120, 122 n. 102, 126, 129–133, 135–137, 139–141, 148, 166, 179, 188, 205, 214–215, 219 n. 41, 220, 227, 230, 235 n. 111, 238, 240 Philostratus Vita Apollonii 85 Piacenza liver 68 pietism (pedagogy of) 40 piety 1, 55, 114, 133, 168 Plato 3 n. 11, 11 n. 47, 12–13, 18 n. 77, 19, 21, 28, 39, 43 n. 14, 44, 55–56, 88 n. 55, 98 n. 3, 109, 110 n. 46, 119, 134, 151 n. 11, 153, 160, 187, 222 Euthyphron 55 Phaedo 91 Phaedrus 18 n. 77, 21 Politeia/Republic 11 n. 47, 13, 98 n. 3, 109 n. 45, 110 n. 46 Timaeus 138 Ps.-Plato Axiochus 92 Platonism/Platonic 28, 92 n.72, 98, 112, 115 n. 75, 119, 121, 125, 136 n. 151, 137, 187 Middle Platonism 110 n. 47, 125 neoplatonism/neoplatonic 13, 15, 23, 99, 102 n. 18, 109, 110 n. 47, 111, 113, 116, 118–119, 122 n. 103, 124–126, 128, 130 n. 133, 131 n. 137, 133, 137–139 Pliny the elder 69 Pliny the Younger 235 Plotinus 102 n. 18, 119

Plutarch 14 n. 62, 119, 122 n. 102 poetry 18, 24, 91 n. 70, 109 n. 45, 122 n. 103, 141, 147–150, 153–154, 156–157, 159–161, 167 n. 8, 169 n. 18, 179 dithyramb 51–52 hymn 52, 56, 83, 90, 91 n. 70, 100 n. 9, 111, 113, 116, 118, 169, 206 paean 52 polis 14, 18, 28, 45, 49, 53 polytheism/polytheistic 24, 80 Pompey 70 Porphyry 103, 119, 125, 130, 134, 137, 191, 225–226 Isagoge/Eisagoge 191, 225–226 postlapsarian 193 Potamion (bishop) 170 prayer 17, 19, 56, 63, 101, 127, 160, 186 priest/priesthood 12, 13, 18, 19, 23, 46–48, 63–66, 68, 85, 90, 112, 113 n. 61, 114–116, 124 n. 108, 126, 132, 185 see also clergy Priscus 69–71, 130 Prohairesius 102 n. 17, 130 n. 133, 135 propaedeutic 24, 154 prophecy/prophetic 71–72, 85, 89, 92 n. 71 Psalter/Psalm(s) 25, 165–167, 169, 171, 179, 202 Q (Logienquelle) 77, 81, 85 rabbi 11 Rabbinic 9–11, 14, 15 n. 64, 16 Judaism 1 n. 4, 9, 11 nn. 45, 47, 16 n. 70, 79–82, 88 n. 55, 92 academy 44, 56, 109 n. 45 ratio/reason 26, 67 n. 11, 93, 107 n. 38, 190, 192–197, 200–207, 222 reader 15 n. 66, 18 n. 77, 21, 24, 79, 84, 87, 89, 120, 123–124, 126–127, 137, 147, 154–155, 158, 160, 237 Reception studies 33 religion religio 41, 216, 218 definition 2, 215–220 dynamics 6–7, 17 embedded religion 28 european 1, 46 historical phenomenon 4, 8 human phenomenon 4, 29 migration 7 pluralisation/plurality 6, 28 religious experts 4, 12, 15, 23, 27, 214 religious groups 1, 101, 103 n. 20, 110

index religious tradition 1–2, 6, 7 n. 30, 9, 11 n. 44, 14, 16–17, 28, 30, 49, 63, 80, 104, 110 transmission of religion 6 religiosi (see also monk) 9 n. 38, 214 religious education addressees/target group/audience 11, 15, 16, 19, 21, 49, 69, 83, 86, 102 n. 17, 118, 120–122, 124 n. 108, 126, 127, 130, 150–151, 159, 161, 176 contents 5, 9–10, 12, 16, 25, 63, 108, 116, 159–160 educator 15, 17, 87, 120 n. 94, 236 infrastructure 15, 25, 171 institutions 9 n. 37, 14, 18, 43–44, 52, 56, 100 n. 11, 101 n. 14, 108, 110 n. 45, 138, 166, 169, 178 intentions and ideals 16–17, 160 media 12, 15–16, 99, 160, 171 mediators and agents 14, 160 methods 2, 5, 8 n. 31, 9 n. 37, 10, 15–16, 28, 37, 99, 104, 137, 159, 160, 171 religious instruction 9 n. 36, 101, 103, 116, 124, 126, 136–137, 141 religious identity 17, 23, 29, 139 n. 159, 140–141, 161 Renaissance 41 n. 8, 110 n. 45, 160, 167 res publica (see also Roman republic) 39 rhetoric 22 n. 82, 23–25, 27, 39, 63–64, 98, 101–103, 105, 107, 109 n. 45, 115, 117, 130 n. 133, 132 n. 138, 133, 137–138, 140, 148, 160, 166–167, 179, 221, 232, 240 ritual 2, 10, 13–14, 16–19, 28, 46, 49–52, 54, 56, 63–64, 71, 99, 108, 114, 125 n. 112, 129, 131, 133, 134 n. 143, 135, 137, 170 see also cult/sacrifice/theurgy Rohde, erwin 58 Roman empire 7 n. 30, 19–20, 22, 28, 46, 67, 72–73, 98 n. 2, 99, 100 n. 11, 103 n. 20, 104, 108 n. 43, 122, 138, 147–148 religion 19, 63–64, 73, 114 n. 68 republic 64, 67 n. 9, 68, 69, 72, 73 Rule of St. Benedict 26 n. 86, 127 n. 121, 183, 186, 204 sacrifice 19, 48–50, 113, 123–125, 132–134, 136 saint (Christian) 25, 101 n. 16, 141, 151 sapientisation 21, 80–81 Sappho 13 Saturninius Salutius Secundus/Salustius De diis et mundo 100 n. 9, 111, 118, 125 n. 114, 128

253

Schleiermacher, Friedrich d.e. 32, 39, 216 schole (σχολή) 18, 43 school see also buildings elementary schooling 11, 40, 100, 164, 170 formal schooling see also formal learning 165 higher schooling 109 n. 45, 115 School of God’s Service 183 School of Charity 184, 186 schoolbook 25, 138 n. 152, 167 science 10, 27, 40–41, 63, 64, 65, 70, 109 n. 45, 110, 214–215, 221, 230 scribe 21, 46, 77, 166 scriptorium 241 secular learning 1, 163 self self-presentation 14, 20 n. 79 self-promotion 14 Seneca 10 n. 40, 69, 88, 91 n. 68, 232 n. 98, 235 n. 111 Ps.-Seneca 89 senses (bodily) 121, 191, 194–196, 201–203, 206, 208 sermon 11, 27, 79 n. 4, 85 n. 35, 208, 210, 220, 224, 228, 231, 236–237, 239, 241 Servius 71 skills (see also competences) 86 n. 37, 98, 130–133, 135 n. 147, 166, 186, 227, 233, 240 Smith, Jonathan Z. locative/utopian worldview 126 social interaction 28 social status 12, 15–16, 23 socialisation 4, 14, 100 society 10, 12, 19, 23, 44, 53–54, 56, 73, 86, 90, 104, 117 n. 83, 139, 175 n. 39, 179, 185, 214 Socrates 43, 55, 86 n. 37, 91, 93, 98, 149 Sopatrus 130 sophist/sophism/sophistic 1 n. 4, 13 n. 52, 53, 98, 130, 135, 228–229 Sophocles 43, 51 Sosipatra 13, 100 n. 10, 131–132, 135 sports athletic training 44 gymnastics 44, 152 military practice/military training  152 stability (stabilitas loci) 186, 188 n. 35, 198 Stephen Harding 184 Stoic 21, 82, 83 n. 25, 89–91, 92 n. 72, 118

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student 10–11, 22–23, 55, 88, 100, 102 nn. 17–18, 107–108, 113, 117, 131, 135, 137–139, 140 n. 163, 141, 151, 154, 161, 166, 169, 171, 177–178, 241 Synesius of Cyrene 109 n. 45, 124 Tages 63, 67 n. 8, 72 Tagetic lore 70 Tarasios (patriarch)  176 Tarquitius Priscus 69–71 teacher 1, 5, 8, 14, 15 n. 69, 21–23, 25, 40–41, 45, 48, 52, 77, 79, 84–85, 87, 91, 97 n. 2, 101–108, 109 n. 45, 113, 117, 124 n. 108, 126 n. 116, 127, 129, 132–133, 135 n. 148, 137–138, 140 n. 163, 156, 164 n. 1, 165, 168–171, 173, 177–178, 193, 205, 230–231, 234, 239–240 teacher-disciple relationship 137 magister 106 n. 31 teaching 1, 4 n. 15, 5, 10 n. 39, 12 n. 50, 16, 21, 23–24, 56, 63–65, 68, 77, 84 n. 30, 91, 102 nn. 17–18, 105–107, 114, 116, 124, 126 n. 118, 127 n. 121, 135 n. 147, 137, 139, 141, 152–153, 159, 163–167, 169, 171, 173, 174 n. 37, 175, 177–179, 192, 202, 206–207, 219, 236, 241 temple Jerusalem 77, 84–85, 92 n. 71 pagan 48, 113, 123 Tertullian 22 n. 82, 92 n. 72, 104, 106 text authoritative 9, 111, 159 holy 9, 21 n. 81, 52, 138, 152, 154, 161 see also exegesis, holy Scripture theatre 18, 28, 49, 51, 56 choregy 51 chorus 51–52, 56, 112 comedy 51–52 play 19, 43, 49 satyr play 49 tragedy 51–52 Themistius 119, 120 n. 94, 135, 139

Theodosius I 105, 129 theology/theological 8 n. 31, 9 n. 38, 15, 19, 23, 41, 52, 63, 77, 89, 91, 116 n. 76, 118–121, 122 n. 102, 124, 126, 128, 136–137, 139, 215, 240 theurgy (see also Chaldeans/Chaldean Oracles) 134 n. 143, 137 Thomas of Saint-Omer 230 Thucydides 43, 45, 107 tolerance 127–128 Torah 9, 11, 90 Pentateuch 80 training 2, 4, 9, 11–12, 13 n. 52, 17–18, 21–22, 26 n. 86, 44, 46, 48, 98, 100–101, 109 n. 45, 114, 116 n. 76, 126 n. 118, 148, 153, 166, 168–169, 178, 188 n. 35, 227, 230–231 translation 19–20, 39, 64–65, 68, 70–73, 213, 225–226 tutor 25, 165, 169, 173 n. 32, 178–179 Umbricius Melior 69 Valens 127, 132 Valerius Maximus 65, 67 Vegoia 63, 72 Veralltäglichung 14 Vettius Agorius Praetextatus 128 visual space 200 Weltdeutung 219 will 19, 86, 91, 132, 134 n. 143, 169 n. 17, 170 n. 23, 190, 192, 193–194, 196–197, 200, 203–207, 227 William of Malmesbury 185 n. 16 William of St. Thierry 14 n. 63, 185–209 wisdom 20–21, 25, 55, 77–82, 84–85, 86 n. 37, 89, 92–93, 122 n. 103, 133–134, 169, 171, 173, 190, 198, 205, 207–208, 221, 224–225 xenophanes 125, 155