Hello and welcome to Giants of the Faith, the podcast where we explore some of the great figures in Christian history. This is episode 62. I'm your host, Robert Daniels, and today we're going way back to look at the life of Clement of Alexandria, one of the first Christian philosophers and teachers of the church.
But before we get to Clement I have a resource to recommend for you. Check out earlychristianwritings.com for links to many, many works by church fathers, gnostic writers, apocryphal works, and more. It's all centrally located, sorted, and categorized. You can see Clement's works and very quickly find contemporary authors. It's just a great resource. Now, on with the show.
Titus Flavius Clemens, commonly known as Clement of Alexandria was born around 150 AD in Athens, Greece, to pagan parents. He was a curious and intelligent young man who traveled widely in search of wisdom. He studied under various teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, and religion in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. He was exposed to different schools of thought, such as Stoicism, Platonism, Pythagoreanism, and Judaism. He was also familiar with the writings of Homer, Plato, Heraclitus, and other ancient authors. But none of these satisfied his thirst for truth. He was looking for something more than human wisdom. He was looking for the divine Logos, the Word of God that gives meaning and order to all things.
He found what he was looking for when he encountered Pantaenus, a former Stoic philosopher who had become a Christian and the head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Pantaenus introduced Clement to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos who came to reveal God's love and salvation to humanity. Clement was amazed by this message and soon became a follower of Christ.
He also became a disciple of Pantaenus and joined him at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. This was a famous center of learning and evangelism for Christians in Egypt and beyond. It offered instruction in various subjects, such as scripture, theology, ethics, philosophy, history, and science. It also trained converts and catechumens (those preparing for baptism) in the basics of the Christian faith.
Clement succeeded Pantaenus as the leader of the school around 180 AD and taught there for about 20 years. He had many influential students, such as Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. He was also a prolific writer who produced several works that aimed to instruct, exhort, and defend the Christian faith against various challenges.
His most important surviving works are a trilogy of books: Protrepticus (Exhortation), which urges pagans to abandon idolatry and embrace Christ; Paedagogus (Instructor), which guides Christians in moral conduct and practical living; and Stromateis (Miscellanies), which explores various topics of theology, philosophy, and spirituality.
In these works, Clement showed his remarkable ability to engage with Greek culture and philosophy from a Christian perspective. He did not reject or condemn philosophy as some Christians did. Rather, he saw it as a gift from God that prepares the way for the gospel. He believed that God has planted seeds of truth in every culture and every human heart that can lead people to Christ.
He also did not shy away from using reason and logic to support his arguments. He believed that faith and reason are not opposed but complementary. He thought that Christians should use their minds as well as their hearts to understand God's revelation. But he also recognized that human wisdom is limited and imperfect. He knew that philosophy cannot answer all questions or solve all problems. He knew that only Christ can give us the full knowledge of God and ourselves. He knew that only by grace can we attain salvation and eternal life.
He called this knowledge gnosis, which means knowledge or insight in Greek. But he did not mean by this the secret or esoteric knowledge that some heretics claimed to have. He was not a gnostic in the way we normally think. He meant the personal and experiential knowledge that comes from a relationship with Christ through faith and love.
He said that this knowledge is not for everyone but only for those who are mature and ready to receive it. He called them the gnostics or the perfect ones. They are not those who boast of their knowledge or look down on others. They are those who humble themselves before God and seek his will in everything. They are also those who love God with all their being and love their neighbors as themselves. They are those who practice virtue and holiness in their daily lives. They are those who reflect the image and likeness of God in their words and deeds.
Clement was one of these gnostics or perfect ones. He was a man who loved God with his mind and his heart. He was a man who used his gifts and talents for God's glory and people's good. He was a man who followed Christ faithfully until the end.
He left Alexandria around 202 AD when a persecution broke out under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. He traveled to Jerusalem, Antioch, and possibly Rome. He died between 211 and 215 AD.
He is venerated as a saint by some Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Anglican churches. His feast day is November 23 or 24 depending on the tradition. He is regarded as one of the fathers of the church and one of the pioneers of Christian apologetics and theology.
He is also a giant of the faith who inspires us today to seek God's truth in all things, to love God with all our being, and to live for God's glory and people's good.
That's all for today's episode of Giants of the Faith. I hope you enjoyed learning about Clement of Alexandria and his contribution to Christian history. If you did, please leave a review and share this podcast with your friends. Thank you for listening and, until next time, God bless.
RESOURCES
Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/evangelistsandapologists/clement-of-alexandria.html
Dictionary of African Christian Biography: https://dacb.org/stories/egypt/clement-of-alex/
Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/Clement-of-Alexandria.html
Christian History Institute: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/clement-of-alexandria-rich-person
Early Christian Writings: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/