Clement of Alexandria: The Exhortation to the Greeks. The Rich Man's Salvation. To the Newly Baptized (fragment) (Loeb Classical Library) (Hardcover)

~ Clement of Alexandria (Author), G. W. Butterworth (Translator)

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Product Description

Clement of Alexandria, famous Father of the Church, is known chiefly from his own works. He was born, perhaps at Athens, about 150 CE, son of non-Christian parents; he converted to Christianity probably in early manhood. He became a presbyter in the Church at Alexandria and there succeeded Pantaenus in the catechetical school; his students included Origen and Bishop Alexander. He may have left Alexandria in 202, was known at Antioch, was alive in 211, and was dead before 220.

This volume contains Clement's Exhortation to the Greeks to give up gods for God and Christ; "Who Is the Man Who Is Saved?" (an exposition of Mark 10:17–31, concerning the rich man's salvation); and an exhortation To the Newly Baptized. Clement was an eclectic philosopher of a neo-Platonic kind who later found a new philosophy in Christianity, and studied not only the Bible but the beliefs of Christian heretics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library (January 1, 1919)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674991036
• ISBN-13: 978-0674991033
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #626,916 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, January 4, 2000

By	David Bennett "www.ancient-future.net" (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Clement of Alexandria was a philosophic Christian writer of the late second century AD. His work and teachings heavily influenced his brilliant pupil Origen, although Clement tends to be more Orthodox by later standards than Origen. Clement's writings are a fascinating look at early Christian thought in Egypt.

This is a very nice little book. It contains a decent sampling of Clement's shorter works, including 'To the Newly Baptized,' which is not available in the excellent Ante-Nicene Fathers set (although the evidence is still inconclusive as to whether Clement actually wrote the short treatise). "Exhortation to the Greeks" is a reasoned exposition designed to convince Greeks of the truth of Christianity using their own myths. "Rich Man's Salvation" discusses ways a rich person might be in the Church, despite Jesus' (and the early church's) condemnation of riches.

The translation is from around 1910, so its a little stilted, but readable, much like the text from the Ante-Nicene Set. The Greek text is present on the left side of the book and based on the newest manuscripts available at the time. There are textual notes and manuscript variant notes, but they are few, and not nearly as helpful as the notes of other Clement translations.
Overall this Loeb edition offers a good translation with Greek texts, giving something to the serious scholar and the simply curious.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From the School of Alexandria, November 2, 2001

By	Johannes Platonicus (South Bend, Indiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Clement of Alexandria was born tentatively in A.D. 150, and was more than likely raised a non-Christian; but he was destined nevertheless to become one the most influential teachers of the early Church. Among his pupils were the sublime Origen and the Bishop of Jerusalem, Alexander. Clement's mastery of Hellenistic philosophy, Greek mythological lore and the New and Old Testaments becomes strikingly apparent throughout his treatisies. What will be found in this volume are three works: "Exhortation to the Greeks," the "Rich Man's Salvation," and a short catechetical address "To the Newly Baptized." All are full of a driving wit and a rhetorical polish common to the age. In Clement we find the beginnings of that magnificent synthesis which began forming between the new emerging systemized Platonism and the pious speculations of the Alexandrian Church. It must be noted that while Clement of Alexandria is duly revered among the Church Fathers, he is not recognized as one of her saints due to some views he espoused concerning Church orginization and for suspicions arising from some of his novel teachings, which we find resurfacing in his famed pupil Origen. One must keep in mind, though, that the Church was not yet a fully organized unit, even though it was drastically moving toward that stage at that time. Nor did she have a definitive and absolute system of theology to date, even though the apostle's creed is what made her universal, until the fully defined Nicene Creed settled the theology debate. So it will be hard to condemn Clement if we take into consideration the historical context and the intellectual tendencies which thrived during his day. One need not pass this little volume away; it holds some of the first masterpieces of nascent Christianity.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man's status and destination, December 12, 2006

By	Rainulf A. Stelzmann - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I was asked to contibute an idea about the status seeking ambition of our time for a sociology lecture at Florida State University I immediately thought of Clement of Alexandria whose work I had come to know in a lecture by the theologian and acheologist Theodor Klauser at the University of Bonn many years ago.
Clements is aware of the different ambitions and competitions prevailing in the society of his age in Greece and the Middle East. He "exhorts" his contemporaries to forget the unenlightened squabbles of daily life to literally fight the "good figt" for the next like the competitors in the arena concentrate on victory and glory.
The Loeb edition is an exellent contribution to the study of an interesting author.