Clement’s Corpus

“Perchance, too, 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.’ Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.5 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain), quoting Galatians 3:24.public domain

In the gamePaul calls the Law a schoolmaster that brought Israel to Christ. Clement says Greek philosophy did the same job for the Greeks — real teaching, real preparation, and never the destination.

“Sail past the song; it works death. Exert your will only, and you have overcome ruin; bound to the wood of the cross, thou shalt be freed from destruction: the word of God will be thy pilot, and the Holy Spirit will bring thee to anchor in the haven of heaven.”

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 12 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain).public domain

In the gameOdysseus had himself lashed to the mast to hear the Sirens and live. Clement takes the picture off Homer and hands it back: there is a mast, it is a cross, and the man tied to it comes home.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”

Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

“Let us then avoid custom as we would a dangerous headland, or the threatening Charybdis, or the mythic sirens. It chokes man, turns him away from truth, leads him away from life: custom is a snare, a gulf, a pit, a mischievous winnowing fan.”

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 12 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain).public domain

In the gameThe strongest reason for the old gods was not an argument. It was that everyone had always done it. Clement answers the habit, because the habit is what keeps people there.

“The way of truth is therefore one. But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from all sides.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.5 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain).public domain

In the gameOne way, many streams. Clement says the road to truth is single and then says that everything true the Greeks ever wrote runs into it — which is a claim about where their learning ENDS, not a claim that any road will do.

“But faith, which the Greeks disparage, deeming it futile and barbarous, is a voluntary preconception, the assent of piety — ‘the subject of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,’ according to the divine apostle.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.2 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain), quoting Hebrews 11:1.public domain

In the gameThe Greeks called faith futile and barbarous — credulity with a foreign accent. Clement does not deny that faith comes before proof. He says what it actually is: a choice made on purpose, and the beginning of every action a man takes.

“Should one say that Knowledge is founded on demonstration by a process of reasoning, let him hear that first principles are incapable of demonstration; for they are known neither by art nor sagacity… Hence it is thought that the first cause of the universe can be apprehended by faith alone.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 2.4 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain

In the gameDemand a proof for every belief and the demand eats itself: the premises a proof starts from cannot themselves be proved, or there is nothing to start from. Clement says so in the second century, and then says which first principle he is standing on.

“Now neither is knowledge without faith, nor faith without knowledge. Nor is the Father without the Son; for the Son is with the Father. And the Son is the true teacher respecting the Father.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.1 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain).public domain

In the gameSome in Clement’s own school had split the two — faith for the simple, knowledge for the advanced. He answers that you cannot believe in the Son without knowing who he is, or know the Father except by believing the Son who teaches him.

“And now the Word Himself clearly speaks to thee, shaming thy unbelief; yea, I say, the Word of God became man, that thou mayest learn from man how man may become God.”

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 1 (trans. Wilson, ANF 2, public domain).public domain

In the gameClement has just quoted Philippians 2, about the one who was in the form of God and humbled himself. The Word took what is ours so that what is his could be given to us, by grace and never by nature.