No Child Left Behind: Knowledge and Violence in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Recent studies have discerned a wide gap between the apparently low opinion of education in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the high regard for paideia under Rome. I shall argue instead that the Infancy Gospel of Thomas expresses ambivalence toward paideia. The extracanonical gospel describes the c...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
2009
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2009, Volume: 17, Issue: 1, Pages: 27-54 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Recent studies have discerned a wide gap between the apparently low opinion of education in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the high regard for paideia under Rome. I shall argue instead that the Infancy Gospel of Thomas expresses ambivalence toward paideia. The extracanonical gospel describes the childhood of Jesus in episodes that gesture to the productive and troubling consequences of the widened flow of Greek culture under Rome. Like other writings of the period, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is attuned to the routine brutality of imperial justice and education. The article has two specific goals: first, to put the gospel in relation to important cultural problems of the day, and second, to shed light on the gospel’s classroom episodes. The unruly and violent star of the narrative fashions new knowledge that mimics tradition: he is almost but not quite a student of paideia, almost but not quite a student of the “law.” |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.0.0246 |