On the Origins of the Alexandrian School: Rhizomes, Episcopal Legitimation, and a Tale of Two Cities

Abstract

This article revisits an important and much-discussed question: how and why was Christian learning in second- and third-century Alexandria institutionalised, leading to what came to be known as the “Catechetical School”? Its contribution to scholarship lays in that it focuses on cultural, ideological, and ecclesiastical developments under the Antonines and the Severans, placing the Alexandrian case within a broader context. Building on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the rhizome, our examination seeks to map the complex web of interactions among the Christians themselves, as well as between Christians and non-Christians, so as to understand more deeply the mechanics behind the institutional establishment of the Alexandrian School. Berger and Luckmann’s theory on the relationship between institutions and knowledge frames our analysis of episcopal legitimation and the reception of the Alexandrian School’s origins by Eusebius of Caesarea. As will be argued, the early history of the School is largely “a tale of two cities”, in the sense that parallel and transverse processes in Alexandria and Rome reflect the plurality of Christian responses to pressing challenges.