Katarina Pålsson: Vir ecclesiasticus: The rhetorical use of “pagan” learning in Jerome's theological polemics and “orthodox” self-presentation

While Jerome in many senses was indebted to non-Christian learning, an important rhetorical strategy in his heresiology, as well as in his self-presentation as an orthodox teacher, was to clearly distinguish “pagan” philosophy from the faith of the church. Both “Origenists” and “Pelagians” were rhetorically associated with “pagan” thought and accused of having introduced non-Christian ideas, thus defiling the “orthodox” faith. Jerome's critique was, however, not only concerned with the content of their ideas, but also with their methods: According to him, they relied – as the philosophers – on human reason and rational argumentation, rather than accepting the divine revelation and the confession of the church. These “heretics” were presented as an intellectual elite, teaching esoteric doctrines among themselves and withholding these in public, using ambiguous speech in order to deceive the simple-minded. Against this, Jerome presented himself as a vir ecclesiasticus, publicly confessing the simple faith of the church, and refuting the arguments of the philosophers with the Scriptures. While one part of this rhetoric is an identification with the simple and unlearned Christians, it also becomes clear that Jerome sees himself as a kind of protector of the unlearned, saving them, through his own learning, from being caught in the snares of the heretics.