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A century before Augustine had argued that a training in the classics... WAS ESSENTIAL FOR ANY CHRISTIAN[emph. mine].Perhaps the most distingushed of Theodorics civil servants ,Cassiodorus,agreed.Cassiodorus(490-585AD) drew on Greek models for his argument that the best traning for higher studies in Christian Theology in the seven liberal arts grammar,logic,...He collected manuscripts both Christian and Pagan and encouraged the monks to copy them ...It was partly thanks to Cassiodorus that an EDUCATION PAGAN CLASSICAL TEXTS WAS ENSHRINED AS PART OF THE CHURCH'S OWN EDUCATION SYSTEM at a time when Secular schooling was in decline....Isidore bishop of Seville...his contribution to scholarship was great...He was a determined advocate of traditional Classical education...insisting that it was better for christians that they read the pagan authors ...Like Cassiodorus in Italy,he set in hand THE COPYING OF MANUSCRIPTS,AND CLASSICAL LEARNING WAS PRESERVED [emph.mine]. CHARLES FREEMAN, EGYPT,GREECE,AND ROME , OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS,1996 (pps 529-531)

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Before Islam,the post-classical world of Greece and Rome as,transmuted by Christianity ,HAD REMAINED ESSENTIALLY INTACT.AFTER ISLAM IT WAS GONE FOREVER ...the monasteries increasingly served as OASIS OF CLASSICAL LEARNING IN THE BARBARIAN DESERT...The conjunction Christian teaching with an appreciation of Greek philosophy and Latin authors had long been accpted in the east especially in Alexandria(485-580AD)...Cassiodorus advocated a system of education where sacred and profane subjects were seen as complementary;and he started a collection of ancient documents. NORMAN DAVIES, EUROPE A HISTORY,HarperPernnial,A Divsion of Harper Collins Publishers,(pps 257-266)

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I could qoute more but it would be overkill.Once again I have demonstrated that Slater's views are realmyths.



Edited by - darwin alogos on 09/01/2002 20:39:27

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Luke,an educated Greek, he was writing within the historical traditions,esatblished by Thucydides and have been present at some the events he records....he shows a DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF ROMAN WORLD.His account of Paul's shipwreck onthe way to Rome, for instance,is a VALUABLE PIECE OF HISTORICAL EVIDENCE IN ITS OWN RIGHT....The doings of Paul and the early Christians are WELL DOCUMENTED IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTELS,composed probably in the 60'sAD,as a sequel to his gospel Luke. CHARLES FREEMAN, EGYPT,GREECE,AND ROME,OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS,1996 (pps487-488)

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And the reason he's called "SIR"is because he was knighted you jackass!

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For the greater part of his life, Sir William Ramsay was Professor of Humanites at the University of Aberdeen,Scotland.He carried on extensive archaeological research in Asiatic Turkey. [By his own addmission he was raised in the deep skepticism of his day concerning the historical integrity of the NT, particularly The Book of Acts]"I began with a mind unfavorable to it[Acts],for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time quite convinced me....I found myself often brought in contact with the book of Acts as an authority for topography,antiquities,and society of Asian Minor.It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvellous truth." SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY,ST PAUL the traveller and the Roman Citizen,BAKER BOOK HOUSE,Grand Rapids,Mich.(p.8)

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Why quote him Slater? I'll tell you why because he at least,unlike you, got off his ass and did some serious research before making pronoucements on the reliability of the NT.

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Like Cassiodorus in Italy,he set in hand THE COPYING OF MANUSCRIPTS,AND CLASSICAL LEARNING WAS PRESERVED

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