ABSTRACT
When we refer to Christian attitudes toward nature, we are referring to the attitudes of a small, highly educated Christian elite. This elite emerged during the second and third centuries of the Christian era as educated Christians, attempting to come to terms with Greco-Roman intellectual culture and entering into dialogue with pagans on critical philosophical and theological issues. In the course of this dialogue, they took important steps toward the definition, refinement, and defense of the fundamentals of Christian belief and practice. Many who belonged to this Christian intelligentsia had been the recipients of a pagan literary, rhetorical, and philosophical education before their conversion to Christianity, and inevitably they brought with them attitudes and ideals acquired in the Greco-Roman schools. Although they frequently turned against significant portions of the content learned in this prior educational experience, especially where it touched upon theological issues, the broad intellectual values and methodology of this pagan schooling had been absorbed too deeply to be easily abandoned.
