Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education approaches fundamental questions about the role and function of education in late antiquity through a detailed study of the thought of Dorotheus of Gaza, a sixth-century Palestinian monk. It illumines the thought of a significant figure in Palestinian monasticism, clarifies relationships between ascetic and classical education, and contributes to debates about how different educational projects related to late-antique cultural change. Dorotheus appropriates and reconfigures classical discourses of rhetoric, philosophy, and medicine and builds on earlier ascetic traditions. Education is a powerful site for the reconfiguration and reproduction of culture, and Dorotheus' educational programme can be read as a microcosm of the wider culture he aims to construct partly through his adaptation and representation of classical and ascetic discourses. Key features of his educational programme include the role of the notion of godlikeness, the governing role of humility as an epistemic virtue intended to organize affective and ethical development, and his notion of education as life-long habituation. For Dorotheus, education is irreducibly affective and transformative rather than merely informative at the individual and communal scales. His epistemology and ethics are set within an account of the divine plan of salvation which is intended to provide a narrative framework through which his students come to understand the world and their place in it. His account of ways of knowing and ordering knowledge, ethics and moral development, emotions of education, and relationships between affect, cognition, and ethical action aims towards transformation of his students and their communities.

About the Author
Michael Champion is Associate Professor in Late Antique and Early Christian Studies at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University. He also directs ACU's Node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. After studying classics, late-antique studies, and theology in Melbourne and London, he taught Classics and Medieval Studies at the University of Western Australia. His research explores early Christianity, late-antique philosophy and cultural history, history of emotions, history of education, and the history of violence.

Reviews
This study traces the roots of Dorotheus's understanding of asceticism in classical culture and the distinctive ways that he developed this to provide an account of the ascetic life that has entered into and influenced the Christian monastic tradition. * John Richard Binns, Church History *
Rich in information, based on a well-grounded bibliography and focusing on a subject that is now very topical, Michael W. Champion's book entitled Dorotheus of Gaza and Ascetic Education,...is not only an important tool that should be used by the scholars interested in the message or the work of the author presented, but also reading matter that will enrich any type of reader and will give them the opportunity to find possible solutions to the crises of education in contemporary society. * Iuliu-Marius Morariu, The Recensiones *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198869269
Author Michael W. Champion
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 160mm * 20mm