"Symbolic Interpretation Is Most Useful": Clement of Alexandria's Scriptural Imagination

In the fifth book of his Stromateis, Clement of Alexandria reflects on the symbolic nature of religious language among both barbarians and Greeks before providing his own figural reading of the tabernacle from the Jewish scriptures. He claims that the symbolic mode is useful for speaking divine trut...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ward, H. Clifton (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press [2017]
In: Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 25, Issue: 4, Pages: 531-560
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Clemens, Alexandrinus, Stromata / Paganism / Judaism / Religious language / Exegesis / Stylistics / Symbolics / Allegory
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BE Greco-Roman religions
BH Judaism
HA Bible
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:In the fifth book of his Stromateis, Clement of Alexandria reflects on the symbolic nature of religious language among both barbarians and Greeks before providing his own figural reading of the tabernacle from the Jewish scriptures. He claims that the symbolic mode is useful for speaking divine truths, and at first glance, it appears that Christians must also utilize symbolic interpretation to understand their sacred texts. This essay explores a few of the reading practices that Clement utilizes within the argument of Str. 5. In particular, it analyzes the technical terminology of ancient symbolic interpretation in the pagan tradition and how Clement adapts these terms to his own distinct scriptural lexicon. This essay argues that, if one moves beyond Clement's theoretical statements on symbolic interpretation in Str. 5 to investigate his exegetical practices, two things become clear. First, although both genres utilize symbolic interpretation, Clement sees a distinction between Christian scripture and pagan literature. Second, Clement places a surprising restriction on Christian figural reading. This essay, then, marks a preliminary phase toward a reassessment of Clement's scriptural exegesis.
ISSN:1086-3184
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/earl.2017.0052