Hellenistic Schools In Jerusalem And Paul’s Rhetorical Education

Abstract

This chapter discusses Paul's relation to the Hellenistic educational milieu of first-century Jerusalem, including literacy and grammatical institutions and addresses directly Hengel's assertion regarding rhetorical schools within the city. The largest body of evidence for Hellenistic schools comes from Greco-Roman Egypt. From an economic standpoint, advanced education was expensive, especially rhetorical education, and was reserved for the wealthy, elite social classes of a given city. Due to geographical constraints upon Hellenistic education, it is necessary to consider Paul's location during his formative years in order to set him in proper relation to the Greek education that was available during the first century. A growing consensus is emerging among classicists that sees Greco- Roman Egypt as an appropriate model for evaluating the conditions in Hellenistic cities throughout the Mediterranean. Keywords:Greco-Roman Egypt; Greek education; Hellenistic cities; Hellenistic schools; Jerusalem; Mediterranean; Paul; rhetorical education