Clement of Alexandria

Saint. original name Titus Flavius Clemens. ?150--?215 ad, Greek Christian theologian: head of the catechetical school at Alexandria; teacher of Origen. Feast day: Dec. 5

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Clement of Alexandria

(Titus Flavius Clemens). Died before A.D. 215. Christian theologian and writer. Born of pagan parents, he received an extensive education in philosophy and literature. He taught in Alexandria as an independent Christian teacher, later fleeing to Asia Minor to avoid persecution.

Clement was the first Christian thinker to rank among the highly educated men of his time. He aimed at a synthesis of Hellenistic culture and Christian faith. Approaching his task with optimistic fervor, he did not grasp the profound contradictions between the two ideological worlds to which he belonged. His religious ideal contains features of classical philosophical humanism. The treatises Exhortation to the Greeks and The Tutor, which continue the tradition of the popular-philosophical literature, interpret Christianity as an enlightening doctrine that overcomes pagan superstitions, frees men from fear, and provides an inner independence. The hymn to Christ, with which The Tutor concludes, is one of the first Christian poetic works. His enormous erudition may be seen in the collection of sketches entitled Miscellanies (Stromata), a valuable source for the history of classical philosophy, which Clement, with some reservations, places on an equal level with the Bible. In the discussion What Rich Man Will Be Saved?, the gospel condemnation of wealth is replaced by an abstract philosophical principle of disdain for material things. On the whole, the type of Christianity expounded by Clement did not find a place in medieval thought and was revived only in the philosophy of Renaissance Christian humanism, represented by Erasmus of Rotterdam and T. More.

WORKS

Werke, vols. 1–4. Leipzig, 1905–36.
Werke, 3d ed., vols. 2–3. Berlin, 1960–70. (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte . . . .)

REFERENCES

Mirtov, D. Nravstvennoe uchenie Klimenta Aleksandriiskogo. St. Petersburg, 1900.
Istoriia filosofii, vol. 1. Moscow, 1940. Pages 389–90.
Völker, W. Der Wahre Gnostiker nach Clemens Alexandrinus. Berlin-Leipzig, 1952.
Osborn, E. F. The Philosophy of Clemens of Alexandria. Cambridge, 1957.

S. S. AVERINTSEV

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References in periodicals archive

Arguments for the Understanding of God in Clement of Alexandria: Orphic Infuences in Stromata V

Los argumentos para la comprension de Dios en Clemente de Alejandria: Influjos orficos en Stromata V

Clement of Alexandria and Gnosis: a Dissertation in Review.

Scholarship Overview on Gnosticism and Early Jewish-Christian Writings: (re)mantling Categories about Ancient Religious Phenomena

Clement of Alexandria: "Every woman should feel shame at the thought that she is a woman." St.

LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG

One of the best examples is the view of private property endorsed not only by popes and bishops but also by scholars without episcopal office, such as Clement of Alexandria and Thomas Aquinas.

Private property, self-regulation, and just price: a response to Philip Booth and Samuel Gregg

Gessner's definition of "dialect" comes from Clement of Alexandria: est autem dialectus dictio peculiarem alicuius loci notam seu characterem prae se ferens (1v; I follow the editors in citing Gessner's text by leaf of the 1555 edition) and later nos dialectum alias simpliciter sermonem sive orationem articulatam significare observavimus (2r, discussion 30-32).

Mithridates

St Clement of Alexandria Church, in Castle Bromwich, had the pounds 13,000 repairs done just in time to beat the worsening weather.

Church roof is less 'holey' after repairs

The early fathers, such as Ireneaus of Lyon or Clement of Alexandria, described deification in the third century.

Norman Russell, Fellow Workers with God: Orthodox Thinking on Theosis

Clement of Alexandria in Egypt was clean of the world's foremost Christian educational institution from AD 192 to 202.

I am a stranger: Racism and the early church

For Clement of Alexandria, "philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily till the Lord should call the Greeks, for this was a schoolmaster to bring the Hellenic mind, as the Law the Hebrews, to Christ.

Dialogue or appropriation?

In the second century the Christian theologian Tertullian famously asked "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" Although Tertullian answered his own question with a resounding "No!" other early Christian writers especially Clement of Alexandria and Augustine proclaimed that Greek and Latin literature compared favorably with Christian literature and that Christians should by all means read Cicero and Greek novels and romances such as the Alexandriad.

From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics

This section also disappoints in some of the assertions Pearse makes: the number of deaths from the crusades he garners from a website whose author accepts the inflated numbers of the medieval chroniclers; he asserts the univocal stance of the ante-Nicene church against Christian involvement in war, a stance equivocally maintained by Clement of Rome and Clement of Alexandria; and he cites a canon from Basil of Caesarea in which, Pearse alleges, Basil consciously taught something new, even though Basil himself writes that he followed the Fathers.

The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict?

After a chapter on the references to music in the New Testament and an overview chapter of the fate of the church in the pagan milieu of the Late Roman Empire, chapters 4-8 open with an exposition of the sociopolitical and religious climate of the times of Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, St.

A New Song for an Old World: Musical Thought in the Early Church