Church fathers destroy education and art
peter terry
"Stephen Quist" <qui...@bogus.msei-co.com> wrote in message
news:ap5q7.308$QQ6.1...@news.uswest.net...
>
> "peter terry" <namb...@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
> news:3ba7...@news.iprimus.com.au...
> >
> > "bam" <b...@digital.net> wrote in message
> > news:bJBp7.535716$ai2.41...@bin2.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com...
> > >
> > > > James' attitude toward the bible rather reminds me of
> > > > the caliph who burned the library at Alexandria with words
> > > > to the effect that "if it is of God, it is in the Koran, if it is
> > > > not in the Koran, it should be burned"
> > >
> > That's exactly what the fanatical early fathers said before Christians
burnt
> > down the great gnostic libraries of Alexandria.
> >
> sez who?
>
** The Church burned enormous amounts of literature. In 391 Christians
burned down one of the worlds greatest libraries in Alexandria, said to have
housed 700,000 rolls.
(The new Colombia Encyclopedia,61, and Eisler, The Chalice and the blade.)
** All the books of the gnostic Basilides, Porphyry's 36 volumes, papyrus
rolls of 27 schools of mysteries, and 270,000 ancient documents gathered by
Ptolemy Philadelphus were burned.
(Graham. Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, 444).
** Ancient academies of learning were closed. Education for anyone outside
of the church came to an end. And what little education there was during the
Middle Ages, while still limited to the clergy, was advocated by powerful
kings as a means of providing themselves with capable administrators. (
Jeffrey Burton. Russell, a History of Medieval Christianity, 103.)
** The church opposed the study of grammar and Latin. Pope Gregory the l, or
Gregory the Great, a man thought to have been one of the greatest architects
of the medieval order objected to grammatical study. He writes: " I despise
the proper construction and cases, because I think it is very unfitting that
the words of the celestial oracle should be restricted by the rules of
Donatus ( a well known grammarian).( Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance
of the 12th century, 96.)
** Gregory the Great also condemned education for all but the clergy as
folly and wickedness. He forbade laymen to read even the bible. He had the
library of Palatine Apollo burned, "lest it's secular literature distract
the faithful and the contemplation of heaven." ( Barbara G Walker, The
Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, 208.)
** The Fourth Council of Cartharge in 398 forbade Bishops to even read the
books of gentiles. ( Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century, 95.)
** The church father Jerome and early monastics in the fourth century
rejoiced that the classical authors were being forgotten. And his younger
monastic contempories were known to boast of their ignorance of everything
except Christian literature.(John H Smith, The Death of Classical Paganism,
247.)
** After Christians had spent years destroying books and libraries, St. John
Chrysostom, the preeminent Greek father of the Church, proudly declared,
"Every trace of the old philosophy and literature of the ancient world has
vanished from the face of the earth. ( Walker, The woman's encyclopedia of
Myths and Secrets, 208)
** Monastic libraries the only libraries left, were composed of books of
devotion. Even the most significant of monastic libraries carried little
aside from books on Christian theology. While monks did copy manuscripts,
such work was not esteemed for its intrinsic value but rather considered
part of the prescribed manual labour, necessary in the effort of "fighting
the devil in pen and ink," in the words of the Christian Cassiodorus. (
Haskins, The Renaissance of the 12th Century, 34.)
** The early Roman church had devastating impact upon artistic expression.
According to Roman Christianity, art should enhance and promote the RC and
it's values; it should not simply serve as an individuals creative
exploration and expression. New works of art which did not concur with the
churches ideology would not be created again before the renaissance. Marble
statues of ancient Rome were torn down, most notably Gregory the Great, and
made into lime. Architectural marbles and mosaics were either made into
lime or went to adorn Cathedrals all over Europe and as far away as
Westminster Abbey in London. The ravaging of marble works accounts for the
thin ornate slabs with ancient inscription still found in many churches
today. (Boorstin, The Discoverers, 581.)
PeterT