Quote in context
Clement on hope and discovery
Clement of Alexandria · Stromata 2.4, paraphrase of Heraclitus
“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.
Who said it
Clement of Alexandria
c. 150 – c. 215 · Born in Athens · Egypt
Clement is the Christian who took Greek philosophy seriously without apologising for it. He thought Plato was a kind of pre-Christian preparation for the gospel — that philosophy was to the Greeks what the Law was to the Jews, a tutor leading them to Christ. His Stromateis ('Miscellanies') is exactly what the title says: scattered notes on philosophy, scripture, ethics, and the inner life of the educated Christian. He taught Origen, which is enough by itself to put him on this map. Without Clement there's no Alexandrian school, no Origen, no Christian intellectual tradition that takes pagan thought as raw material rather than enemy.
Book of the day
On the Unity of the Catholic Church
Cyprian of CarthageA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. A compact North African argument for episcopal unity during persecution and schism.
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