Analysis reveals Jerome's views on pagan culture, highlighting philosophical truths and critical perspectives on secular writings.
The image of the vasa domus Dei, repeated on two occasions in the book of the prophet Daniel (Dan 1:2 and 5:4), enables Jerome to formulate an explicit judgement on pagan culture. Drawing extensively on a well-established repertoire, he highlights in one case its positive aspects and in the other its negative ones, and so in CDan 1,1,2b, he underlines the presence, at least in philosophy, of some truths drawn from the doctrine of God; in CDan 2,5,4, he discusses the wicked use the heretics make of the saeculares litterae.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Daniela SCARDIA (2025) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched one closely related paper. Consider it for comparative context: