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The portrait of true Christian gnostic in Stromateis by Clement of Alexandria This thesis deals with the great character of Christianity in the second century - Clement of Alexandria, his life, work and thinking in context of ancient metropolis Alexandria. It also focuses on his life-work Stromateis, in which Clement deals with questions such as the relationship between Christianity and Greek philosophy or defines against representatives of gnosis in the second century. The main aim of this thesis is to follow and outline the portrait of the true Christian gnostic. Keywords Theology, Patrology, Clement of Alexandria, Gnosis, Christianity and Greek Philosophy, Alexandria, Virtues

Although scholars have often acknowledged the spirituality in the writings of Clement of Alexandria (cir. 150-215 AD), a thorough study of the Platonic category θεωρία as it appears in this second century Father has never been undertaken. Most studies on Christian spirituality either ignore Clement's role altogether, or rush past him with little comment in favor of the great Origen (cir. 185-255 AD). Stromateis, Clement's most enigmatic work, contains over 75 occurrences of θεωρία. A close examination of these texts reveals that his use of the term is somewhat different from two of his greatest philosophical and spiritual mentors, Plato and Philo. Clement uses this term (usually translated "contemplation") to refer to a spiritual experience which occurs in space and time, as well as an ethereal one and one which occurs in the mind. A possible explanation for this difference lies with Clement's claim in the opening chapter of the work: he is the recipient of an oral tradition which has never been recorded, but which he plans to include in the Stromateis. This thesis demonstrates: 1) that Clement is the first Christian writer to adapt this philosophical category into Christian spirituality; 2) the primary purpose of Stromateis is to present the third stage in a spiritual pathway - to reveal θεωρία as the spiritual "meat" for the advanced believer; and 3) to present God and His contact with the Christian as immediate. In a radical move, going against the philosophical setting of the day, Clement presents this Platonic category as a means for the Christian to experience an immanent God.

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The primary goal of this research is to produce a text-critical evaluation of the Pauline Epistles and Hebrews as represented in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian theologian who lived ca. 200 AD. The result of such an undertaking will be a refined understanding of the transmission of the New Testament text at the end of the 2nd century, a time period for which we have very little textual data. Unlike our earliest New Testament manuscripts, the text of the early Church Fathers is preserved exclusively in later manuscripts. These manuscripts are often far removed from the original Patristic documents by both date and location. This results in an added layer of textual complexity for which the text critic must account, especially in the evaluation of a Church Father’s citation of New Testament manuscripts. Because of the multivalent nature of the research, the biblical data extracted from Clement of Alexandria’s writings will undergo several stages of statistical analysis comparing it to other early Greek New Testament manuscripts. The resulting data will reveal if the early text of the Pauline Epistles and Hebrews was stable (controlled) or if it underwent changes due to scribal additions and subtractions. It will also shed light on the citation techniques used by Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian reader. The combined data will allow New Testament scholars to generate a more precise critical edition of the Greek New Testament and come to a better understanding of how the earliest Christian communities transmitted the New Testament text.

Cette thèse entend reconsidérer la notion de purgatoire telle qu’elle a été établie et utilisée par les historiens de la fin du XXe siècle ; démontrer que le purgatoire ainsi redéfini peut être identifié dans certains écrits du christianisme ancien, qui n’ont toutefois pas tous été reconnus par l’Église majoritaire ; documenter ce purgatoire et le situer dans son contexte historique, littéraire et religieux.Le corpus considéré comprend les sources bibliques à l’origine de l’imaginaire du purgatoire mises en regard d’écrits contemporains, ainsi que des textes rédigés en Afrique du Nord et en Égypte entre les IIe et IVe siècles, en latin, grec ou copte. Les écrits retenus permettent d’apprécier les différences de doctrines entre le christianisme de l’église majoritaire et une religiosité plus marginale, mais cultivant des références communes. / This thesis intends to reconsider the concept of purgatory as it was established and used by the historians of the late twentieth century; show that this redefined purgatory can be identified in some of the writings of Early Christianity, not always recognized by the mainstream Church; document that purgatory and place it in its historical, literary and religious context.The corpus includes the biblical sources considered to ground the representation of purgatory set against contemporary writings and texts from North Africa and Egypt, written between the second and fourth centuries AD, in Latin, Greek and Coptic. The selected writings allow us to appreciate the differences between the Christian doctrine of ecclesiastical authors and a more marginal spirituality, even though both share the same references.

Clement of Alexandria played an important role in the development of Christian educational philosophy in a non-Christian culture in the second-century Roman Empire. Born into a pagan society and educated in Greek philosophy prior to his conversion, Clement sought to explain the orthodox Christian relationship between philosophy and theology and that the two are not enemies. His longest and perhaps most significant work, the Stromata, is a collection of the material that he taught to his students. As an educational record, it also provides two primary mechanisms for understanding some principles of his educational philosophy. First, his use of the term “Gnostic” (primarily γνωστικός, but also γνώμη) is unique and shows that he understands education to be crucial to, and even necessary for, Christian growth and development. Clement’s Gnostic figure is not just his ideal Christian, but of his understanding of what an ideally educated Christian would look like. Second, his use of γνῶσις and πίστις, and their relationship to each other throughout the Stromata provide further clues about his understanding of the relationship between education and discipleship. Clement argued for a complementary relationship between the two whereby faith is the ground of true knowledge and knowledge is the protector and aid to faith. Deduced from these elements in the Stromata, seven overarching principles of Clement’s philosophy of education are presented.

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Clement of Alexandria, active in the second half of the second century AD, is one of the first Christian authors to explain and defend the nascent religion in the terms of Greek philosophy and in relation to Greek paideia. His major work, the Stromateis, is a lengthy commentary on the true gnosis of the Christian faith, with no apparent overarching structure or organisational principle, replete with quotations from biblical, Jewish, Greek 'gnostic' and Christian works of all genres. This thesis seeks to read this complex and erudite text in conversation with what has been termed the ‘Second Sophistic’, the efflorescence of elite Greek literature under the Roman empire. We will examine the the text as a performance of authorial persona, competing in the agonistic marketplace of Greek paideia. Clement presents himself as a philosophical teacher in a diadoche from the apostles, arrogating to himself a kind of apostolic authority which appeals to both philosophical notions of intellectual credibility and Christian notions of the authentic handing down of tradition. We will also examine how the work engages key thematic concerns of the period, particularly discourses of intellectual eclecticism and ethnicity, challenging both Greek and Roman forms of hegemony to create a space for Christian identity. Lastly, this thesis will critically examine the Stromateis' intertextual relationship with the Homeric epics; the Iliad and the Odyssey are used as a testing ground for Christian self-positioning in relation to Greek culture as a whole. As we trace this variable relationship, we will also see the cross-fertilisation of reading strategies between Homer and the bible; these developing complex allegorical methods not only presage the rise of Neoplatonism, but also lay the foundations for changes in cultural authority which accompany the Christianisaton of the Roman empire in the centuries after Clement.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis sets out to examine, as far as possible within the constraints of a limited study, the nature of the Christianity professed in the first centuries of the Common Era, by means of an historical examination of Egyptian Christianity. The thesis contends that the believers in Christ's teachings, in the first century, were predominantly Jewish, that "Christianity" did not exist as a developed separate religion until its first formal systematizations commenced in the second century, through the prolific writings of the Alexandrians, Clement and Origen. It is noted that the name "Christianity" itself was coined for the first time in the second century by Ignatius of Antioch; and that until the fourth century it is more accurate to speak of many Christianities in view of regional-cultural and interpretative differences where the religion took root. The study examines the main religions of the world in which the new religion began to establish itself, and against which it had to contend for its very survival. Many elements of these religions influenced the rituals and formulation of the new religion and are traced through ancient Egyptian religion, the Isis and Serapis cults, Judaism, Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Alexandria, as the intellectual matrix of the Graeco-Roman world, was the key centre in which the new religion was formally developed. The thesis argues, therefore, that despite the obscurity of earliest Christianity in view of the dearth of extant sources, the emergent religion was significantly Egyptian in formulation, legacy and influence in the world of Late Antiquity. It is argued, in conclusion, that the politics of the West in making Christianity the official religion of the empire, thus centring it henceforth in Rome, effectively effaced the Egyptian roots. In line with current major research into the earliest centuries of Christianity, the thesis contends that while Jerusalem was the spring of the new religion Alexandria, and Egypt as a whole, formed a vital tributary of the river of Christianity which was to flow through the whole world. It is argued that without the Egyptian branch, Christianity would have been a different phenomenon to what it later became. The legacy of Egyptian Christianity is not only of singular importance in the development of Christianity but, attracting as it does the continued interest of current researchers in the historical, papyrological and archaeological fields, it holds also considerable significance for the study of the history of religions in general, and Christianity in particular. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die proefskrif poog om, insover moontlik binne beperkte skopus, die aard van die vroeë Christendom gedurende die eerste eeue V.C. te ondersoek, deur middel van 'n historiese ondersoek van die Egiptiese Christendom. Die tesis voer aan dat die vroegste Christelike gelowiges in die eerste eeu N.C. grootendeels Joods was, en dat die Christendom as afsonderlike godsdiens nie ontstaan het nie voor die formele sistematiseringe wat deur die Aleksandryne Clemens en Origines aangebring is nie. Selfs die term Christendom is vir die eerste keer in die tweede eeu n.C. deur Ignatius van Antiochië versin; daar word verder opgemerk dat voor die vierde eeu dit meer akkuraat is om van veelvuldige Christelike groepe te praat. Die studie ondersoek die vernaamste godsdienste van die milieu waarin die nuwe godsdiens wortel geskied het, en waarteen dit om sy oorlewing moes stry. Baie invloede van die godsdienste is uitgeoefen op die rites en die daarstelling van die nuwe godsdiens, en kan herlei word na die antieke Egiptiese godsdiens, die kultusse van Isis en Serapis, Judaïsme, Gnostisisme en Hermetisme. Aleksandrië, die intellektuele matriks van die Grieks-Romeinse wêreld, was die hoof-sentrum waarin die nuwe godsdiens formeelontwikkel het. Die tesis toon daarom aan dat ten spyte van die onbekendheid van die vroegste Christendom, wat te wyte is aan die tekort aan bronne, die opkomende godsdiens in die Laat Antieke wêreld opvallend Egipties van aard was in formulering, invloed en erfenis. Ten slotte word daar aangevoer dat die politiek van die Weste wat die Christendom as amptelike godsdiens van die ryk gemaak het, en wat dit vervolgens dus in Rome laat konsentreer het, die Egiptiese oorspronge van die godsdiens feitlik uitgewis het. In samehang met kontemporêre belangrike navorsing op die gebied van die Christendom se vroegste eeue, argumenteer die tesis dat terwyl Jerusalem wel die bron van die nuwe godsdiens was, Aleksandrië, en Egipte as geheel, 'n deurslaggewende sytak was van die rivier van die Christendom wat uiteindelik deur die ganse wêreld sou vloei. Daar word aangetoon dat sonder die Egiptiese tak, die Christendom 'n heel ander verskynsel sou gewees het in vergelyking met sy latere formaat. Die erfenis van die Egiptiese Christendom is nie alleen van die grootste belang vir die ontwikkeling van die Christendom nie, maar 'n nalatenskap wat die voortgesette aandag van navorsers op historiese, papirologiese en argeologiese gebiede vra, en is daarom van groot belang vir die studie van die geskiedenis van godsdienste in die algemeen, en die Christendom in die besonder.