Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice
Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice
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USDClement of Alexandria's Stromateis were celebrated in antiquity but modern readers have often skirted them as a messy jumble of notes. When scholarship on Greco-Roman miscellanies took off in the 1990s, Clement was left out as 'different' because he was Christian. This book interrogates the notion of Clement's 'Christian difference' by comparing his work with classic Roman miscellanies, especially those by Plutarch, Pliny, Gellius, and Athenaeus. The comparison opens up fuller insight into the literary and theological character of Clement's own oeuvre. Clement's Stromateis are contextualised within his larger literary project in Christian formation, which began with the Protrepticus and the Paedagogus and was completed by the Hypotyposeis. Together, this stepped sequence of works structured readers' reorientation, purification, and deepening prayerful 'converse' with God. Clement shaped his miscellanies as an instrument for encountering the hidden God in a hidden way, while marvelling at the variegated beauty of divine work refracted through the variegated beauty of his own textuality.
- Compares Clement as a Christian miscellanist with particular examples from Classical tradition
- Contextualises Clement's Stromateis within his larger literary project, as the third work in a sequence that begins with the Protrepticus and Paedagogus
- Combines literary, theological, and cultural historical approaches
Reviews & endorsements
‘Heath’s book is a very well-documented study that puts the works of Clement within the context of contemporary writers, who used similar literary tools and sources … Her main thesis is clear, and the material that she provides is interesting and important, and we congratulate her on that!’ Annewies van den Hoek, Vigiliae Christianae
‘… Heath underlines the need for a fuller integration of literary, social, cultural and theological aspects in the study of imperial antiquity. I always recommend this. … And seeking “to close the gap” between classics, ancient philosophy, and patristics is going to be highly beneficial to the study of Patristic Platonism and Patristic Philosophy in general.’ Ilaria L. E. Ramelli, Gnomon
Product details
December 2020Adobe eBook Reader
9781108911849
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- Introduction. A Christian among Roman Miscellanists
- 1. Clement's Miscellanism and the Scholarly Trope of Christian Difference
- 2. Studying Ancient Miscellanism: Defining Features, Scope, and Method
- 3. Early Imperial Miscellany-Making: Clement's Social and Institutional Contexts
- 4. Self-Introductions and Clement's Miscellanistic Vocation
- 5. Miscellany Titles and Clement's Divine Paratexts
- 6. The Miscellanists' Trope of Deselecting Titles and Clement's Conversion of Imagery
- 7. Muses in the Miscellanists' Frame
- 8. Clement's Theology of Hiddenness and the Logic of Christian Miscellanism
- 9. Mystery Initiation and Clement's Literary Paideia: The Making of a Christian Miscellanist
- 10. Poikilia: Theological Interpretation of a Miscellanistic Aesthetic
- Conclusion.
