Lecture: “Quintilian and the Rhetoric of Pedagogical Love (Amor)”

WHAT DOES LOVE HAVE TO DO WITH TEACHING?

As part of her visit to the Institute for Advanced Studies at Tel Aviv University as an IAS Distinguished Scholar, Professor Gabriella Gelardini (Nord University) will deliver a lecture titled “Quintilian and the Rhetoric of Pedagogical Love (Amor)”.

This lecture investigates the largely overlooked role of amor in Quintilian’s vision of rhetorical education. The preface to Book 6 serves not as a biographical digression but as a window into his broader pedagogical program. The lecture concludes by reflecting on how Quintilian’s affective pedagogy invites renewed attention within contemporary discussions of emotion, ethics, and educational practice.

  COURSE DETAILS

Where: Room 306, Gilman Building

Date: Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Time: 12:00–14:00

Light refreshments will be served before the lecture. 

The lecture will be conducted in English.

This lecture is open to the public. 

   MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Gabriella is Professor of Christianity, Religion, Worldview, and Ethics at Nord University, Norway. An internationally recognized scholar of the New Testament, her research focuses on the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Gospel of Mark, and early Judaism in Greco-Roman contexts. She received her doctoral training at the University of Basel and has held research positions at leading international institutions, including Harvard University. She has published widely and is actively involved in the international academic community.

   FULL ABSTRACT

QUINTILIAN AND THE RHETORIC OF PEDAGOGICAL LOVE (AMOR)

This lecture investigates the largely overlooked role of amor in Quintilian’s vision of rhetorical education. While the Institutio oratoria is foundational for Roman theories of teaching and moral formation, its emotional and affective underpinnings have rarely been foregrounded. The preface to Book 6 — where Quintilian recounts the devastating loss of his family — serves here not as a biographical digression but as a window into his broader pedagogical program and into his later theorization of emotion in Inst. 6.2.

After briefly contextualizing Quintilian’s career within the intellectual culture of the early Empire, the lecture analyzes the rhetorical construction of this remarkable preface and examines its implications for ancient understandings of sincerity, affect, and the ethics of self disclosure. It then turns to the triad of values structuring Quintilian’s educational model — cura, adfectus, and amor — and situates them within larger Roman debates about humanity, virtue, and the moral responsibilities of the educator.

Against this backdrop, several of Quintilian’s pedagogical strategies are reconsidered, highlighting his insistence on persuasion rather than coercion and his commitment to shaping character as well as eloquence. A comparison with the more widely discussed paradigm of pedagogical eros underscores how Quintilian’s amor offers a more stable, less abuse prone framework. The lecture concludes by reflecting on how Quintilian’s affective pedagogy invites renewed attention within contemporary discussions of emotion, ethics, and educational practice.