Clement of Alexandria and the beginnings of Christian apophaticism / Henny Fiska Hagg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hägg, Henny Fiskå.

Series:

Oxford early Christian studies.

Oxford early Christian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Clement, of Alexandria, Saint, approximately 150-approximately 215.

Clement.

Negative theology--Christianity--History of doctrines.

Negative theology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (327 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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 ofChristian negative (apophatic) theology, as well as the beginnings of the distinction between essence and energies, focusi

Contents:

Introduction

Clement : Christian writer in second century Alexandria

Alexandria : the social, cultural and religious world

The origins of Alexandrian Christianity

Clement in Alexandria : life, works and audience

The concept of God in middle platonism

The middle platonists, who were they?

Main topics of middle platonic philosophy

Theocentricity and the platonic background

Alcinous, Numenius, and Atticus as sources for the middle platonic doctrine of the divine

Hierarchy or levels of being

Ineffability, divine attributes and the knowledge of God

The question of transcendence

Clement's method of concealment

Esotericism and the 'secret Gospel of Mark'

Esotericism and concealment

Theory of symbolism : the inadequacy of language

Esoteric knowledge and gnosis

Clement's concept of God (i) : the apophatic essence of the Father

The dilemma of transcendence : the ineffability of God

The essence of God

Clement's concept of God (ii) : the son as logos

The doctrine of the logos

The generation and incarnation of the logos

Unity and distinction

The knowledge of God

The concept of knowledge

The one and the one-many

The Via Negativa

The son as the revealer of the father : the kataphatic way

The son as the dynamis of God

Apophaticism and the distinction between essence and power

Historical sketch

The distinction between essence and dynamis

Concluding remarks

The reception of Clement

Clement's contribution to apophatic theology.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-295) and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-153710-1

1-4356-2416-5

9786611154592

1-281-15459-8

OCLC:

191184605