Bildung, Elite und Konkurrenz
Book Description
This scholarly exploration delves into a fascinating period of intellectual and spiritual transformation during the Roman Empire, when the boundaries between traditional philosophy and emerging Christian thought were being fiercely contested. Katrin Pietzner examines how philosophers of the imperial era served as influential guides in the art of living, functioning as advisors, critics, teachers, and spiritual counselors whose practical wisdom was highly sought after.
The book reveals a compelling dynamic that emerged in the mid-second century, as Christian thinkers began to master and utilize the same cultural practices that had long been the domain of pagan philosophers. These Christian intellectuals skillfully employed traditional educational methods while simultaneously working to establish an alternative scholarly community that challenged existing power structures.
Pietzner illuminates the tensions that arose when pagan philosophers, particularly Platonists like Celsus, felt threatened by this new competition for intellectual authority. The author demonstrates how these established thinkers developed specific strategies to exclude their Christian rivals from the educated elite, often by labeling them as uncultured and socially inferior.
Through careful historical analysis, this work shows how Christian experts paradoxically gained intellectual influence precisely because they were dismissed and marginalized. Their outsider status became a source of strength, allowing them to reshape the role of the intellectual in Roman society while navigating complex cultural and spiritual territories.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Long (> 400 pages) (~13 hours)
📄 Length: 479 pages
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Philosoph
- ✓ Explore Apologetics, history, early church, ca. 30-600
- ✓ Explore Rome, intellectual life
- ✓ Explore Wettbewerbsverhalten
- ✓ Explore Christianity and culture
- ✓ Explore Intellectual life
- ✓ Explore Heidentum
- ✓ Explore Education
