Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.28.177

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: True dialectic, joined to true philosophy, rises to God and guides right action; Scripture calls us to be approved money-changers, testing all things and keeping what is good.

Greek text · Stählin 2:109

μικτὴ δὲ φιλοσοφίᾳ οὖσα τῇ ἀληθεῖ ἡ ἀληθὴς διαλεκτικὴ ἐπισκοποῦσα τὰ πράγματα καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας δοκιμάζουσα ὑπεξαναβαίνει ἐπὶ τὴν πάντων κρατίστην οὐσίαν τολμᾷ τε ἐπέκεινα ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεόν, οὐκ ἐμπειρίαν τῶν θνητῶν, ἀλλʼ ἐπιστήμην τῶν θείων καὶ οὐρανίων ἐπαγγελλομένη, ᾗ συνέπεται καὶ ἡ περὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπείων περί τε τοὺς λόγους καὶ τὰς πράξεις οἰκεία χρῆσις. εἰκότως ἄρα καὶ ἡ γραφὴ τοιούτους τινὰς ἡμᾶς διαλεκτικοὺς οὕτως ἐθέλουσα γενέσθαι παραινεῖ· γίνεσθε δὲ δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται, τὰ μὲν ἀποδοκιμάζοντες, τὸ δὲ καλὸν κατέχοντες· αὕτη γὰρ τῷ ὄντι ἡ διαλεκτικὴ φρόνησίς ἐστι περὶ τὰ νοητὰ διαιρετική, ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων ἀμίκτως τε καὶ εἰλικρινῶς τοῦ ὑποκειμένου δεικτική, ἢ δύναμις περὶ τὰ τῶν πραγμάτων γένη διαιρετική, μέχρι τῶν ἰδικωτάτων καταβαίνουσα, παρεχομένη ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων καθαρὸν οἷον ἔστι φαίνεσθαι.

English · Claude translation

True dialectic, being mixed with true philosophy, examines things, tests powers and authorities, and rises step by step to the best essence of all, and dares beyond, to the God of the universe, professing not experience of mortal things but knowledge of divine and heavenly things; and the proper use of human matters in words and deeds follows from it. Fittingly, then, Scripture, wishing us to become such dialecticians, exhorts: “Become approved money-changers, rejecting some things and holding fast what is good.” For this truly is dialectic: prudence that divides intelligible things, showing each of the things that are purely and unmixed as it is in its substrate; or a power that divides the genera of things, descending to the most specific, presenting each of the things that are to appear pure as it is.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:109 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The saying “Become approved money-changers” is an agraphon (a saying of Jesus not in the Gospels), here combined with 1 Thess 5:21.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.177 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/177/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.177 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/177/).

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