"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 disseminatio n of Christianity has not received much attention in recent scholarship. th is article revisits this topic, with special reference to the concept of "c ompetition". Three conclusions result: Christian students and teachers typi cally resorted to pagan schools; the Greco-Roman school system provided Chr istians 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.