Clement on hope and discovery
“If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.”
Plain English
Clement borrows and reframes a philosophical saying. The search for truth requires a hope large enough to look beyond what is already familiar.
Why it matters
It fits Clement's larger project of using Greek learning as a servant of Christian wisdom.
About Clement
Clement made room for the educated Christian mind. At Alexandria, he argued that Greek philosophy could serve as preparation for the gospel, much as the Law had prepared Israel. His Protrepticus, Paedagogus, and Stromateis show a teacher trying to form converts intellectually, morally, and spiritually rather than simply win arguments. He taught Origen, but his importance is wider than that: without Clement, the Alexandrian tradition would have been far less confident that pagan learning could become Christian material.
- Lifespan
- c. 150 – c. 215
- Era
- Ante Nicene
- Born in
- Athens
- Region
- Egypt
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