Clement of Alexandria

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CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (150?–215?), Christian theologian. Little is known about the life of Titus Flavius Clemens. A few details can be gathered from Clement's allusion to his education (Miscellanies 1.1, 2.2) and from the report of the fourth-century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History 5.10–11, 6.6, 6.11.5–6). Born in the mid-second century to pagan parents, perhaps in Athens, Clement traveled extensively as a young man, seeking an intellectual mentor. This he found in Pantaenus, who, according to Eusebius, served as head of a Christian school in Alexandria. Clement is said to have succeeded Pantaenus as chief of the school in the late second century, probably remaining a layperson after his conversion to Christianity. In 202 or 203, at the time of the emperor Septimius Severus's persecution of Christians, Clement left Alexandria for Asia Minor. Presumably he died before 215.

The following treatises of Clement are extant: Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus ); The Instructor (Paedagogus ); Miscellanies (Stromateis ); Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? (Quis dives salvetur? ); a collection of excerpts from Valentinian teachings, with Clement's comments (Excerpta ex Theodoto ); and a work of exegetical notes on the Old Testament (Eclogae propheticae ). Only fragments remain of other treatises. Although scholars disagree on the precise dating of Clement's works, the period 195–210 probably encompasses them all. He wrote the Protrepticus first, followed by the Paedagogus, the Stromateis, and the Quis dives salvetur? Clement's influence on later theology was largely channeled through the writings of his brilliant successor, Origen.

Clement's works testify to the diversity of Christians in Alexandria around the year 200. There were "simple believers," wary of speculation, who understood Scripture literally and thought ecclesiastical authority enough to direct their lives. Those able to embrace a more advanced theology sought to align the best of classical culture with their faith. (Perhaps this group included those Clement hoped to comfort with his assurance that riches did not automatically debar them from salvation if they practiced inward detachment from their wealth and heeded Christianity's call for charity.) In addition to Alexandrians within the Catholic Christian fold, there were many Gnostics, especially the followers of Valentinus and Basilides, who self-identified as Christians, but whom Clement considered heretics. Clement, following his predecessors, the second-century Apologists, also addressed pagan critics who mocked Christianity as a religion for the uneducated. The pagan writer Celsus's searing attack on Christianity, The True Word, had been composed only about fifteen years before Clement began his writing career.

Although Clement did not reject the "simple believers," he advocated higher theological education and an allegorical interpretation of Scripture, conceding that the Bible was stylistically inelegant and was replete with anthropomorphic depictions of God. Responding to more theologically educated Christians and to pagan critics, Clement argued that Christianity was a species of philosophy, far superior to Greek myth or to the mystery religions. (Recent scholars have emphasized Clement's indebtedness to various philosophical traditions, especially Middle Platonism.) Clement attempted to display his erudition by quoting several hundred passages from classical authors in his writings, although he probably derived many of his citations not from the original sources, but from the handbooks popular in his day. Like the Gnostics, Clement valued religious knowledge highly, but he argued, allegedly against them, that God's creation, the material world, was good. He accused Gnostics of holding either overly ascetic or, conversely, libertine positions regarding the use of the body and material things, thus he (somewhat lukewarmly) endorsed the virtues of Christian marriage. Moreover, since Clement understood Gnostic notions of "election" to mean "fatalistic determinism," he championed the freedom of the will and freely chosen good deeds as necessary components of Christian salvation.

Among the more prominent themes in Clement's works are the following: the progressive revelation of truth through the Logos (the Word) from ancient to early Christian times; Greek philosophers' plagiarism of ideas from the Old Testament; humans' creation in the "image of God" that constantly recalled them to more virtuous lives; the incorporeality of God, misrepresented by Scripture's anthropomorphisms (although Clement sometimes engaged feminine images for God); the necessity of allegorical interpretation of Scripture; detailed guidelines provided by the Logos as "Instructor" for daily activities such as eating and sleeping; the benefits that preparatory instruction in philosophy and other secular disciplines provided for Christians; the possibility of advancement in the Christian life from belief to knowledge and from self-control to impassability (although good deeds and love were incumbent upon Christians at all stages); and the claim that the appellation "Gnostic" was more appropriately applied to those advanced in Catholic orthodoxy than to those he deemed heretics.

Bibliography

Bardy, Gustave. Clément d'Alexandrie. Paris, 1926. A standard older biography of Clement, with discussion of his writings.

Buell, Denise Kimber. Making Christians: Clement of Alexandria and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy. Princeton, 1999. Explores Clement's metaphors of procreation and kinship which authorize power relations.

Chadwick, Henry. Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition: Studies in Justin, Clement, and Origen. New York, 1966. An insightful study of Clement's relation to the classical tradition.

Countryman, L. William. The Rich Christian in the Church of the Early Empire: Contradictions and Accommodations. New York, 1980. An examination of Clement's treatise Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? in relation to early Christian attitudes toward wealth. See especially Chapter 1.

Dawson, David. Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria. Berkeley, 1992. Analyzes Clement's hermeneutic and the social purposes of his allegorical reaings. See especially Chapter 4.

Hoek, Annewies van den. "The 'Catechetical' School of Early Christian Alexandria and Its Philonic Heritage." Harvard Theological Review 90 (1997): 59–87. Discusses the debate over whether there was a "school" at Alexandria and its possible origins.

Hunter, David G. "The Language of Desire: Clement of Alexandria's Transformation of Ascetic Discourse." Semeia 57 (1992): 95–111. Shows how differentiating the terms Clement uses for "desire" creates a more nuanced view of his discussion of marriage.

Kovacs, Judith L. "Divine Pedagogy and the Gnostic Teacher according to Clement of Alexandria." Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 (2001): 3–25. Analyzes how Clement's notion of teaching relates to his view of the Logos as an "instructor."

Lilla, Salvatore R. C. Clement of Alexandria: A Study in Christian Platonism and Gnosticism. Oxford, 1971. A detailed investigation of Clement's philosophical interests and his relation to gnosticism.

Méhat, André. Étude sur les Stromates de Clément d'Alexandrie. Paris, 1966. A comprehensive study of the Miscellanies, Clement's major work.