"Pluck the rose but shun the thorns": The ancient school and Christian origins

Although early Christianity had a "scholastic" dimension at an early stage, the place of the Greco-Roman urban institution of the school in the lives of Christians and the role of education in the development and dissemination of Christianity has not received much attention in recent scholarship. This article revisits this topic, with special reference to the concept of "competition." Three conclusions result: Christian students and teachers typically resorted to pagan schools; the Greco-Roman school system provided Christians with education in grammar and rhetoric that they put to good use in undermining paganism; and, to some extent, the schools may have provided a forum for proselytizing on the part of some Christian teachers and pupils.