Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Apophaticism

✍ Scribed by Hugg H.F.

• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 327
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Oxford: Oxford University Press. — 2006. — 336 p. — ISBN-10: 0199288089; ISBN-13: 978-0199288083.

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.

Table of contents

Abbreviations
Introduction

Clement: Christian Writer in Second-Century Alexandria
The Concept of God in Middle Platonism
Clement's Method of Concealment
Clement's Concept of God (I): The Apophatic Essence of the Father
Clement's Concept of God (II): The Son as Logos
The Knowledge of God
Apophaticism and the Distinction between Essence and Power
Concluding Remarks

Bibliography
Index of Citations
General Index

✦ Subjects

Религиоведение;Религиоведение христианства;Теология (Богословие);Патристика (патрология)