Light from Alexandria: Recovering a Vision of Christian Paideia for Education and Formation

In the catechetical ressourcement now underway, the Church is recovering traditional Christian wisdom for her practice of the craft of catechesis. In this new work, Petroc Willey argues that the Church in Alexandria offers a rich and compelling vision of Christian culture to assist in the renewal of pedagogy and the mending of ecclesial life. Under the leadership of Clement and Origen, the Christian community of Alexandria founded a catechetical school that shaped a distinctive Christian paideia in the cultural center of the ancient world. At a time when Christianity was in a minority and controverted situation, and in the context of a wide variety of competing beliefs and practices, the Church in Alexandria established an enduring and powerful Christian witness, drawing together traditions of Jewish wisdom and Hellenistic paideia and philosophy to present Christ as Logos and Pedagogue, as Wisdom, Teacher, and Formator. It is this light from Alexandria that can provide concrete and incisive guidance to foster an evangelizing catechesis and a renewal of Christian culture today.