3 October 2015 A.D. Clement of Alexandria: Christian Intellectual Neglect
3 October 2015
A.D. Clement
of Alexandria: Christian Intellectual Neglect
Engwar,
Jason. “Clement of Alexandria on Christian Intellectual Neglect.” Triablogue. 3 Oct 2015. http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2015/10/clement-of-alexandria-on-christian.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Ftriablogue+%28Triablogue%29.
Accessed 3 Oct 2015.
Clement Of Alexandria On Christian Intellectual Neglect
"Pagans
had to find the treasure which was in Christ. Christians had to explore it, to
advance beyond the mediocrity in which they slumbered. Tertullian spoke at this
time of 'nostra mediocritas'. Faith must grow into knowledge. Clement showed
more sympathy with Gnostic sects than did his contemporaries; at least Gnostics
saw the need to move on. His own ideal, the true gnostic or man of knowledge,
was within the reach of all believers….his chief concern was to join Athens and
Jerusalem….The farmer needs to learn different skills if he wants to cultivate,
just as the doctor and hunter need to learn many things if they are to heal or
hunt. And so must he who wishes to gain from the scripture and from Christ
learn all rational and logical skills. He must go to geometry, music, grammar
and philosophy itself and take from them what is useful, in order to defend his
faith against those who plot to destroy it. If he does not do this, he is, as
Plato says, like the athlete who turns up unprepared for the games (Rep.
3.404ac)….'How can it not be necessary, for him who wishes to lay hold of the
power of God, to philosophise and to grasp with comprehension intellectual
concepts?' (1.9.44.3). He who reads the bible must know how to detect
ambiguities and multiple meanings in the biblical text; this is where
philosophy helps….There is no doubt that the joining of Athens and Jerusalem in
Philo and Clement provided a major element of western culture." (Eric
Osborn, Clement Of Alexandria [New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008],
24-5, n. 84 on 25, 63-4, 104)
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