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The Stromata (Miscellanies)

Clement of Alexandria · c. 200 AD

29h 1m read
Ante-Nicene

Clement's most ambitious work, weaving together Greek philosophy and Christian faith to present Christianity as the true philosophy.

Table of Contents

1Book I1Preface—The Author’s Object—The Utility of Written Compositions2Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered3Against the Sophists4Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God5Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology6The Benefit of Culture7The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue8The Sophistical Arts Useless9Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures10To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well11What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun?12The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All13All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth14Succession of Philosophers in Greece15The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians16That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians17On the Saying of the Saviour, “All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers.”18He Illustrates the Apostle’s Saying, “I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise.”19That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth20In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth21The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks22On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament23The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses24How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader25Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws26Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus27The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men28The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law29The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews2Book II1Introductory2The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith3Faith Not a Product of Nature4Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge5He Proves by Several Examples that the Greeks Drew from the Sacred Writers6The Excellence and Utility of Faith7The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered8The Vagaries of Basilides and Valentinus as to Fear Being the Cause of Things9The Connection of the Christian Virtues10To What the Philosopher Applies Himself11The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All12Twofold Faith13On First and Second Repentance14How a Thing May Be Involuntary15On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding16How We are to Explain the Passages of Scripture Which Ascribe to God Human Affections17On the Various Kinds of Knowledge18The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs19The True Gnostic is an Imitator of God, Especially in Beneficence20The True Gnostic Exercises Patience and Self-Restraint21Opinions of Various Philosophers on the Chief Good22Plato’s Opinion, that the Chief Good Consists in Assimilation to God, and Its Agreement with Scripture23On Marriage3Book III4Book IV1Order of Contents2The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies3The True Excellence of Man4The Praises of Martyrdom5On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things6The Blessedness of the Martyr7Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr’s Crown8Christ’s Sayings Respecting Martyrdom9Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved10The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered11Basilides’ Idea of Martyrdom Refuted12Valentinian’s Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted13The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies14On Avoiding Offence15Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs16Passages from Clement’s Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom17On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires18Chap. XIX.—Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection19A Good Wife20Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic21The Same Subject Continued5Book V1Chap. I.—On Faith2Chap. II.—On Hope3The Objects of Faith and Hope Perceived by the Mind Alone4Divine Things Wrapped Up in Figures Both in the Sacred and in Heathen Writers5On the Symbols of Pythagoras6The Mystic Meaning of the Tabernacle and Its Furniture7The Egyptian Symbols and Enigmas of Sacred Things8The Use of the Symbolic Style by Poets and Philosophers9Reasons for Veiling the Truth in Symbols10The Opinion of the Apostles on Veiling the Mysteries of the Faith11Abstraction from Material Things Necessary in Order to Attain to the True Knowledge of God12God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind13The Knowledge of God a Divine Gift, According to the Philosophers14Greek Plagiarism from the Hebrews6Book VI1Plan2The Subject of Plagiarisms Resumed. The Greeks Plagiarized from One Another3Plagiarism by the Greeks of the Miracles Related in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews4The Greeks Drew Many of Their Philosophical Tenets from the Egyptian and Indian Gymnosophists5The Greeks Had Some Knowledge of the True God6The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades7What True Philosophy Is, and Whence So Called8Philosophy is Knowledge Given by God9The Gnostic Free of All Perturbations of the Soul10The Gnostic Avails Himself of the Help of All Human Knowledge11The Mystical Meanings in the Proportions of Numbers, Geometrical Ratios, and Music12Human Nature Possesses an Adaptation for Perfection; The Gnostic Alone Attains It13Degrees of Glory in Heaven Corresponding with the Dignities of the Church Below14Degrees of Glory in Heaven15Different Degrees of Knowledge16Gnostic Exposition of the Decalogue17Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God18The Use of Philosophy to the Gnostic7Book VII1The Gnostic a True Worshipper of God, and Unjustly Calumniated by Unbelievers as an Atheist2The Son the Ruler and Saviour of All3The Gnostic Aims at the Nearest Likeness Possible to God and His Son4The Heathens Made Gods Like Themselves, Whence Springs All Superstition5The Holy Soul a More Excellent Temple Than Any Edifice Built by Man6Prayers and Praise from a Pure Mind, Ceaselessly Offered, Far Better Than Sacrifices7What Sort of Prayer the Gnostic Employs, and How It is Heard by God8The Gnostic So Addicted to Truth as Not to Need to Use an Oath9Those Who Teach Others, Ought to Excel in Virtues10Steps to Perfection11Description of the Gnostic’s Life12The True Gnostic is Beneficent, Continent, and Despises Worldly Things13Description of the Gnostic Continued14Description of the Gnostic Furnished by an Exposition of 1 Cor. vi. 1, Etc15The Objection to Join the Church on Account of the Diversity of Heresies Answered16Scripture the Criterion by Which Truth and Heresy are Distinguished17The Tradition of the Church Prior to that of the Heresies18The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics8Book VIII1The Object of Philosophical and Theological Inquiry—The Discovery of Truth2The Necessity of Perspicuous Definition3Demonstration Defined4To Prevent Ambiguity, We Must Begin with Clear Definition5Application of Demonstration to Sceptical Suspense of Judgment6Definitions, Genera, and Species7On the Causes of Doubt or Assent8The Method of Classifying Things and Names9On the Different Kinds of Cause10Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus