Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical Paideia

In re-examining the Christianization of the Roman Empire and
subsequent transformation of Graeco-Roman Classical culture, this
volume challenges conventional ways of understanding both the
history of Christian monasticism and the history of education.
The chapters interrogate assumptions that have framed monastic
practice as pedagogically unprecedented, with few obvious precursors
and/or parallels. A number explore how both teaching and practice
merge Classical pedagogical structures with Christian sources and
traditions. Others resituate monasticism within a longer trajectory of
educational and institutional frameworks, elucidating models that
remain central to the preservation of both Greek and Latin literary
culture, and the skills of reading and writing. Through reexamination
of archaeological evidence and critical rereading of
signature monastic texts, each chapter documents the degree to
which monastic structures emerged in close alignment with urban,
literate society, and retained established affinity with Classical rhetorical
and philosophical school traditions.