瓦爾納·耶格爾(Werner Jaeger)，1888年齣生在德國一個新教傢庭，但早年接受的卻是天主教教育，這種背景使他接觸到不同的文化傳統，開闊瞭他的視野，激發瞭他的想象力。1914年他被任命為巴塞爾的古典語文教授(尼采曾任這一教席)，1921年在柏林，他繼承瞭老師維拉莫維茲-莫倫道夫(Wilamovitz-Moellendorff，1848-1931)享有聲譽的教席。在隨後的15年間，他 非常多産，不僅寫瞭好幾本書，校注瞭不少古典著作，而且積極從事復興德國19世紀人文主義傳統的事業。他組織會議，創辦雜誌(《古代》、《戈勞曼》)，承辦公眾演講，並開始撰寫劃時代的宏篇巨著《教化》（Paideia）。由於妻子是位猶太人，1936年他不得不移民美國。首先到達芝加哥，一年後來到哈佛大學，此後一直呆在哈佛直到1960年退休，並於次年去世。

This small book, the last work of a world-renowned scholar, has established itself as a classic. It provides a superb overview of the vast historical process by which Christianity was Hellenized and Hellenic civilization became Christianized. Jaeger shows that without the large postclassical expansion of Greek culture the rise of a Christian world religion would have been impossible. He explains why the Hellenization of Christianity was necessary in apostolic and postapostalic times; points out similarities between Greek philosophy and Christian belief; discuss such key figures as Clement, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa; and touches on the controversies that led to the ultimate complex synthesis of Greek and Christian thought.