OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES GENERAL EDITORS GILLIAN CLARK ANDREW LOUTH THEOXFORDEARLYCHRISTIANSTUDIESseriesincludesscholarlyvolumesonthe thoughtandhistoryoftheearlyChristiancenturies.CoveringawiderangeofGreek,Latin, andOrientalsources,thebooksareofinteresttotheologians,ancienthistorians,and specialistsintheclassicalandJewishworlds. Titlesintheseriesinclude: TheCommentariesofOrigenandJeromeonSt.Paul’sEpistletotheEphesians RonaldE.Heine(2002) GraceandChristologyintheEarlyChurch DonaldFairbairn(2003) EvagriusofPontus:TheGreekAsceticCorpus Translation,Introduction,andCommentary RobertE.Sinkewicz(2003) GregoryofNyssaandtheGraspofFaith Union,Knowledge,andtheDivinePresence MartinLaird(2004) TheSufferingoftheImpassibleGod TheDialecticsofPatristicThought PaulL.Gavrilyuk(2004) CyrilofAlexandriaandtheNestorianControversy TheMakingofaSaintandofaHeretic SusanWessel(2004) TheByzantineChrist Person,Nature,andWillintheChristologyofStMaximustheConfessor DemetriosBathrellos(2004) TheDoctrineofDeificationintheGreekPatristicTradition NormanRussell(2004) TheBodyinStMaximustheConfessor HolyFlesh,WhollyDeified AdamG.Cooper(2005) TheAsketikonofStBasiltheGreat AnnaM.Silvas(2005) MariusVictorinus’CommentaryonGalatians StephenAndrewCooper(2005) AsceticismandChristologicalControversyinFifth-CenturyPalestine TheCareerofPetertheIberian CorneliaB.Horn(2006) MarcellusofAncyraandtheLostYearsoftheArianControversy325–345 SaraParvis(2006) TheIrrationalAugustine CatherineConybeare(2006) Clement of Alexandria and the Beginnings of Christian Apophaticism ˚ ¨ HENNY FISKA HAGG 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto WithoYcesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork (cid:1)HennyFiska˚Ha¨gg2006 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2006 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Ha¨gg,HennyFiska˚. ClementofAlexandriaandthebeginningsofChristianapophaticism: knowingtheunknowable/HennyFiskHagg. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN-13:978-0-19-928808-3(alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-19-928808-9(alk.paper) 1. Clement,ofAlexandria,Saint,ca.150-ca.215.2. Negativetheology—Christianity—Historyofdoctrines.I. Title. BR65.C66H342006 230’.13092—dc22 2006006745 TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN0-19-928808-9 978-0-19-928808-3 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Tomas Even the most unlearned of men knows that the truly importantmattersinlifearethosefor whichwehaveno words. Yet we must speak of them. We speak, as it were, around them, under them, through them, but not dir- ectlyofthem.PerhapstheMasteroftheUniversethought itbestnottogiveusthosewords,fortopossessthemisto comprehend the awesome mysteries of creation and death, and such comprehension might well make life impossible for us. Hence in His infinite wisdom and compassion the Master of the Universe gave us the ob- scure riddle rather than the revealing word. Thus we shouldgivethankstoHimandblessHisname. ChaimPotok:TheGiftofAsherLev(1990),55–6 Acknowledgements Thisbookistherevisedversionofathesissubmittedin1997 to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bergen for the degree ofDoctorartium.Iamgrateful to theFacultyof Arts for funding the project through a four-year researchfellow- ship.MygratitudealsogoestomycolleaguesattheInstitute of Classics, Russian, and the History of Religions for pro- viding a stimulating and friendly environment. Iwould like tothankIngvildSælidGilhusandEinarThomassenfortheir careful and generous supervision and the staff at the Uni- versity Library for their helpfulness. The revision of my manuscript was mainly carried out at AgderUniversityCollege,Kristiansand,afterIhadtakenupa permanent position in the Department of Theology and Philosophy in1999.Iam grateful to the College forgranting mereductioninmyteachingloadtopursuethistask.During the revision process I have profited much from the encour- agement as well as the detailed suggestions for improvement from Oskar Skarsaune, Per Beskow, andAndrew Louth.At a muchearlierstageofmywork,theadviceandsupportofthe late John Whittaker was of particular importance. My extended research periods abroad have been of the utmost importance for progress in my work. In particular my gratitude extends to the libraries of the University of Oxford,PrincetonTheologicalSeminary,andtheMemorial University of Newfoundland at St. John’s. Kristiansand, June 2005 HennyFiska˚ Ha¨gg This page intentionally left blank Contents Abbreviations xi 1. Introduction 1 2. Clement: Christian Writer in Second-Century Alexandria 15 Alexandria: The Social, Cultural, and Religious World 15 The Origins of Alexandrian Christianity 34 Clement in Alexandria: Life, Works, and Audience 51 3. The Concept of God in Middle Platonism 71 The Middle Platonists, Who Were They? 75 Main Topics of Middle Platonic Philosophy 78 Theocentricity and the Platonic Background 87 Alcinous, Numenius, and Atticus as Sources for the Middle Platonic Doctrine of the Divine 93 Hierarchy or Levels of Being 97 Ineffability, Divine Attributes, and the Knowledge of God 120 The Question of Transcendence 129 4. Clement’s Method of Concealment 134 Esotericism and the ‘Secret Gospel of Mark’ 135 Esotericism and Concealment 140 Theory of Symbolism: The Inadequacy of Language 147 Esoteric Knowledge and Gnosis 150