Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Platonism

1925 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Accurate Estimate ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Foreign Material ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Christian Platonism ◽  
Contemporary School

One of the most fruitful branches of recent patristic study has been the effort to determine the relation between early Christian theology and Greek philosophy. Starting from the assumption that the affinities between the two were many and close, scholars have found themselves able to draw detailed inferences of literary and intellectual dependence, and in the case of many Christian authors to discover the exact sources from which they drew their philosophic ideas, or at least to assign these to some contemporary school. Without such work an accurate estimate of the fathers' views and ways of thinking is impossible, but it must be remembered that an author is not explained, or even fairly represented, by showing how much he may have derived from others, for in the last analysis his finished thought is his own, however extensive the foreign material employed in its construction. It is not, therefore, at the end but at the beginning of his work that the historian of thought can expect most help from the investigation of sources, since even an author who differs from his contemporaries in his answers to current problems must usually begin by seeing them as they do. The background of an author's thought must have supplied the starting point for many of his ideas.

Scriptural Exegesis or Speculative Philosophy

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-298
Author(s):  
Pablo Irizar
Keyword(s):  
Formal System ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Speculative Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Sacred And Profane ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Scriptural Exegesis

Summary Dogmatic debates in early Christianity shaped philosophical discourse just as Greek philosophy offered the conceptual tools to engage and, accordingly to crystalize early Christian practice, into a formal system of belief. Thus, in the recently-published The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics, Johannes Zachhuber notes that “Patristic thought as a whole can be identified as a Christian philosophy.” Following suit – though not without nuance – this paper suggests treating Patristic scriptural exegesis as an exercise of speculative philosophy, as evidenced in Augustine’s interpretation of the figure of the cross at Eph 3.18, where the cross progressively becomes a simple yet compelling paradigm of divine manifestation. This paradigm can be framed according to Augustine’s mature articulation of the ‘ontological principle’ of manifestation in s. 165: “From the depth which you cannot see rises everything that you can see.” By engaging in scriptural exegesis, within a gestalt where Wisdom, sacred and profane alike, merge in the incarnate God manifest in Christ, Augustine articulates unprecedented philosophical principles.

Berdyaev and Origen: A Comparison

1947 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Matthew Spinka
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Historical Trend ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
To Come ◽  
Christian Platonism ◽  
The University ◽  
Logos Theology

Canon Raven of the University of Cambridge, in his recently published book, expressed a significant, if somewhat startling, judgment regarding the historical trend of Western theology:The first adequate theology, still perhaps the noblest ever formulated, [was] the Logos theology of the Greek Apologists, which had its fullest expression in the Christian Platonism of Clement of Alexandria and Origen. … It is one of the tragedies of history that the work of this brilliant succession of Christian thinkers was allowed not merely to come to an end, but to fall into neglect, oblivion and condemnation. If we are to handle effectively the task of elucidating a Christian theology for the twentieth century, we must, I think, ignore all the elaborate structures of later orthodoxy, Catholic and Protestant, which for today are literally irrelevant, and return to the point at which Origen was removed.

Philosophy as Training for Death: Reading the Ancient Christian Martyr Acts as Spiritual Exercises

2006 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Exercises ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come

In recent years several notable studies—including those by Judith Perkins, Daniel Boyarin, and Elizabeth Castelli—have assessed the importance of martyrdom and suffering in constructions of ancient Christian identity. This essay takes as its starting point the observation by Perkins that in early Christian communities, the threat of suffering (whether real or perceived) worked to create a particular kind of self. In Perkins's view, many ancient Christians came to believe that “to be a Christian was to suffer.” Christian martyr acts, when understood as textual vehicles for the construction of culture and the articulation of Christian identities, emerge as one mechanism by which such selves were constructed. In the pages that follow I will explore how the reading and hearing of narratives about martyrdom constituted an exercise derived from Greek philosophy, adapted to inspire a largely nonliterate audience. This exercise not only trained early Christians to be ready for death and the world to come, but also worked to shape their perceptions of the Christian way of life in this world.

Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Philo Of Alexandria ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Frequent Reference

Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings investigates portrayals of one particular Jew, the first-century philosopher and allegorical interpreter of the Bible, Philo of Alexandria, in the works of three prominent early Christian thinkers, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. It argues that early Christian invocations of Philo are best understood not as attempts to claim an illustrious Jew for the Christian fold, but as examples of ongoing efforts to define the continuities and distinctive features of Christian beliefs and practices in relation to those of the Jews. This study takes as its starting point the curious fact that none of the first three Christians to mention Philo refer to him unambiguously as a Jew. Clement refers to him twice as a Pythagorean. Origen, who mentions Philo by name only three times, makes far more frequent reference to him in the guise of an anonymous “someone who came before us.” Eusebius, who invokes Philo on many more occasions, most often refers to Philo as a Hebrew. These epithets construct Philo as a “near-other” to both Jews and Christians, through whom ideas and practices may be imported from the former to the latter, all the while establishing boundaries between the “Christian” and “Jewish” ways of life. The portraits of Philo offered by each author reveal ongoing processes of difference-making and difference-effacing that constituted not only the construction of the Jewish “other,” but also the Christian “self.”

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto
Keyword(s):  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Christian Literature

As an allegorical interpreter who perceived some of the spiritual teachings embedded in the Hebrew scriptures, Philo did not match the image of the stereotypical Jew constructed by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. Neither, however, did he fulfill their criteria to be considered a legitimate Christian. This chapter argues that Philo functions in early Christian writings as neither a Christian nor a Jew but is situated in between these two increasingly differentiated identities. Acting as a third term in the equation, Philo the “Pythagorean,” the “predecessor,” and the “Hebrew,” mediates between the categories of Christian and Jew while ensuring that the two identities remain rhetorically and conceptually distinct. An epilogue briefly traces the varying depictions of Philo in later Christian literature, including accounts of his baptism by the apostle John and his transformation into Philo Judaeus, Philo the Jew.

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