Remember the Pope's anti-Muslim speech?

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI made a speech in Germany, and quoted a Byzantine emporer who thought Muslims were violent and needed to be opposed (this was at a time when Constantinople was under direct threat of invasion). Now, some Muslims were so outraged that the Pope would characterize Islam as a violent religion that they burned him in effigy and destroyed three churches. Right.

Anyway, turns out that the entire point of the speech has almost nothing to with Islam, and everything to do with Christianity (what a surprise, not). The money quote: "Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats..."

He goes on to detail the history of the de-Hellenization of the Christian faith, and to call for a re-Hellenization. It is a call for a return to reason among Christians, and I agree whole-heartedly. It could even be read (and I, of course, do) as a call for a return to a truly Classical education for Christians.

I encourage all Christians considering the place for the Classics in their curriculum to read this speech in its entirety. Pope Benedict makes an excellent argument in favor of the study of the Greeks.