Christian views on the classics

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Christian views on the classics have varied throughout history. In the early years of Christianity, the writings of Classical and Hellenistic authors were widely spread by Christian teachers. However, during the Dark Ages, the decline in the study of this literature as a whole, as well as the waning of Christianity's popularity throughout Europe, resulted in the extinction of its effect in Christian life until the spread of Islam—the reintroduction of Classical texts—and the "rebirth" of Ancient Greek and Roman philosophies and arts during the Renaissance, where "artists and philosophers, each in their own way, combined Christian belief and ancient philosophy into a balanced, rational, humanistic system".^[1][2] Today, churches' views are generally consistent with those of Renaissance humanists' in that "Christians should be able to read the classics ... because it is part of the Western heritage ... [and] because it is part of Christianity’s inheritance."^[3]