Wisdom and Eloquence in Christian Education

A few days ago I read the beginning of Robert Littlejohn and Charles T. Evans book, Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning. Littlejohn and Evans' thesis is simple: Wisdom and eloquence are two essential aspects of Christian education. If you're like me, you might be a bit skeptical. Take the references to wisdom and eloquence in the Christian scriptures for example. There are many places in the Bible that reference wisdom positively (e.g., 2 Ch. 1:10; Pr. 2:6, 9:10, 23:23, 31:26; Col. 2:3; Jas. 3:13, etc.) but what about eloquence? The eloquence texts tend toward the negative. Those texts provide examples whereby God chooses to work through less than eloquent people (Ex. 4:10; 1 Cor. 2:1). Actually, Paul's reference to the the abusive "super apostles" in 2 Cor. 11 appears to highlight the foolishness of their eloquence in comparison to Paul who calls himself an untrained speaker. (2 Cor. 11:6).    

Nevertheless, Littlejohn and Evans make an intriguing case for elevating the status of eloquence alongside wisdom. In their first chapter they write:

After wisdom, eloquence was the second of Augustine’s indicators of a properly educated Christian. Before Homer first composed the lyrical speeches of The Iliad in the eighth century B.C., Westerners valued oratorical skill as a sign of great leadership. Augustine had been a renowned professor of rhetoric at the time of his conversion. Though he was raised by a Christian mother in a rural part of North Africa, his recognition of the superior eloquence of the great Roman orator Cicero (106-43 B.C.) had actually prevented him from being able to appreciate the comparatively rustic, Hebraic style of the Scriptures. Augustine’s first personal encounter with a highly trained Christian orator, therefore, had profound effect. He found himself compelled to listen to and, finally, to believe the gospel as articulated by Ambrose, the towering bishop of Milan (Littlejohn and Evans, 2006, p. 15).

There might be something about a clear articulation of the gospel that requires eloquence. However, the Christian scriptures are filled with examples of wise people who struggled to speak yet where somehow empowered by God's Spirit to communicate the Good News.