Clement Of Alexandria And The Beginnings Of Christian Apophaticism

Can humans know God? Eastern Orthodox theology affirms that we cannot know God in his essence, but may know him through his energies. Henny Fiska Hägg investigates the beginnings of Christian negative (apophatic) theology, focusing on Clement of Alexandria in the late second century.

Can humans know God? Can created beings approach the Uncreated? The concept of God and questions about our ability to know him are central to this book. Eastern Orthodox theology distinguishes between knowing God as he is (his divine essence) and as he presents himself (through his energies), and thus it both negates and affirms the basic question: man cannot know God in his essence, but may know him through his energies. Henny Fiska Hagg investigates this earliest stage of Christian negative (apophatic) theology, as well as the beginnings of the distinction between essence and energies, focusing on Clement of Alexandria in the late second century. Clement's theological, social, religious, and philosophical milieu is also considered, as is his indebtedness to Middle Platonism and its concept of God.

An examination of the patristic idea of 'perfection' in relation to Clement's project on the ethical, intellectual and spiritual development of a Christian.

Drawing on Photios' synopsis of the eight errors contained in Clement of Alexandria's lost work 'Hypotyposeis', this book offers a re-examination of second-century theology . The book stresses the importance understanding Clement's work in its original Alexandrian context.

Clement of Alexandria (150-215) lived and taught in the most lively intellectual centre of his day. This book offers a comprehensive account of how he joined the ideas of the New Testament to those of Plato and other classical thinkers. Clement taught that God was active from the beginning to the end of human history and that a Christian life should move on from simple faith to knowledge and love. He argued that a sequence of three elliptical relations governed the universe: Father and Son, God and humanity, humans and their neighbours. Faith as a fixed conviction which is also a growing mustard seed was joined to Plato's unwavering search for the best reason. The open heaven of prophecy became intelligible through Plato's ascending dialectic. This book will be invaluable in making this outstanding thinker of the early church accessible to the students of today.

"The Sacred Writings Of ..." provides you with the essential works among the Early Christian writings. The volumes cover the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea. This volume is number two out of two with the essential writings of Clement of Alexandria, a Christian theologian who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria.