Description
When Tertullian asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?†he pitted Greek philosophical and rhetorical training (Athens) against the Scriptures and the Church (Jerusalem). And yet, even as Tertullian posed this question, he famously uses some of the rhetorical techniques he warns against. Time and again in the writings of Church Fathers like Sts. Basil, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, we find a tension between the ideal of the simple speech of fishermen-apostles and the powerful, persuasive language that was central to the elite ancient education in which these Fathers had been trained. In this course, we will explore the place of Greek rhetoric and philosophy within the early Church. We will study a range of views about how–or whether–powerful language could be adopted in service of teaching and persuading. We will see what the Fathers found dangerous, but also advantageous, about wielding language as a tool for leading their flocks. To do so, we will examine the dev