Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Apophaticism


Book Description

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.




Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Apophaticism


Book Description

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.




Clement of Alexandria and the Shaping of Christian Literary Practice


Book Description

An interdisciplinary study of Clement of Alexandria's Christian reception of the Classical miscellany genre, in comparison with Roman authors.




Early Christian Thinkers


Book Description

This book introduces twelve key Christians from the second and third centuries, a formative period for the Church. These figures are: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Perpetua, Origen, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgos and Eusebius. Each chapter is self-contained and requires no preliminary knowledge of the figure under discussion, making this an ideal book for laity and for undergraduates studying Christian origins or Patristics.




The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition


Book Description

Deification in the Greek patristic tradition was the fulfilment of the destiny for which humanity was created - not merely salvation from sin but entry into the fullness of the divine life of the Trinity. This book, the first on the subject for over sixty years, traces the history of deification from its birth as a second-century metaphor with biblical roots to its maturity as a doctrine central to the spiritual life of the Byzantine Church. Drawing attention to the richness and diversity of the patristic approaches from Irenaeus to Maximus the Confessor, Norman Russell offers a full discussion of the background and context of the doctrine, at the same time highlighting its distinctively Christian character.




Clement of Alexandria


Book Description

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




Negation and Knowledge of God: Neoplatonism and Christianity


Book Description

It is not soul, not intellect, not imagination, opinion, reason and not understanding, not logos, not intellection, not spoken, not thought, not number, not order, not greatness, not smallness, not equality, not inequality, not likeness, not unlikeness, not having stood, not moved, not at rest, not powerful, not intepowerful, not light, not living, not life, not eternity, not time, not intellectual contact with it, not knowledge, not truth, not kingship, not wisdom, not one, not unity, not divinity, not goodness, not spirit , not sonhood, not fatherhood, ..., not something among what is not, not something among what is, not known as it is by beings, not a knower of beings as they are. There is neither logos, name, or knowledge of it. It is neither dark nor light, not error, and not truth. There is universally neither postulation nor abstraction of it. While there are produced postulations and abstractions of those after it, we neither postulate nor abstract it. Since beyond all postulation is the all-complete and single Cause of all; beyond all abstraction: the preeminence of that absolutely free of all and beyond the whole. (Dionysius the Areopagite, De mystica theologia V).




Eusebius and Empire


Book Description

Presents a radical new reading of how Christian history was rewritten in the fourth century to suit its circumstances under Rome.




The Least of These


Book Description

This collection of primary documents from Christian history spans the second to eighteenth centuries (Irenaeus to George Whitefield). Severson has chosen writings that all deal with the interpretation of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25:31Ð46).




The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Patristics


Book Description

This comprehensive volume brings together a team of distinguished scholars to create a wide-ranging introduction to patristic authors and their contributions to not only theology and spirituality, but to philosophy, ecclesiology, linguistics, hagiography, liturgics, homiletics, iconology, and other fields. Challenges accepted definitions of patristics and the patristic period – in particular questioning the Western framework in which the field has traditionally been constructed Includes the work of authors who wrote in languages other than Latin and Greek, including those within the Coptic, Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic Christian traditions Examines the reception history of prominent as well as lesser-known figures, debating the role of each, and exploring why many have undergone periods of revived interest Offers synthetic accounts of a number of topics central to patristic studies, including scripture, scholasticism, and the Reformation Demonstrates the continuing role of these writings in enriching and inspiring our understanding of Christianity