Miscellanies 6.17.156
Summary: Philosophy shares in prudence; to deny that it comes from God is to deny that God knows and causes every good particular, for nothing exists against his will, and he sees all things at once and each in part.
Greek text · Stählin 2:512
Διαφορωτέρας ἄρα αἰσθήσεως φιλοσοφία μεταλαβοῦσα, ὡς ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων δεδήλωται, φρονήσεως μετέχει. ἡ γοῦν περὶ τῶν νοηθέντων λογικὴ διέξοδος μετὰ αἱρέσεως καὶ συγκαταθέσεως διαλεκτικὴ λέγεται, βεβαιωτικὴ μὲν τῶν περὶ ἀληθείας λεγομένων διʼ ἀποδείξεως, διακρουστικὴ δὲ τῶν ἐπιφερομένων ἀποριῶν. κινδυνεύουσι τοίνυν οἱ φάσκοντες μὴ θεόθεν φιλοσοφίαν δεῦρο ἥκειν ἀδύνατον εἶναι λέγειν πάντα τὰ ἐπὶ μέρους γινώσκειν τὸν θεὸν μηδὲ μὴν πάντων εἶναι τῶν καλῶν αἴτιον, κἂν τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους ἕκαστον αὐτῶν τυγχάνῃ. οὐκ ἂν δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπέστη τι τῶν ὄντων ἀβουλήτως ἔχοντος τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰ δὲ βουλομένου, θεόθεν ἡ φιλοσοφία, τοιαύτην εἶναι βουληθέντος αὐτήν, οἵα ἐστίν, διὰ τοὺς μὴ ἄλλως ἢ οὕτως ἀφεξομένους τῶν κακῶν. ὁ γάρ τοι θεὸς πάντα οἶδεν, οὐ μόνον τὰ ὄντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐσόμενα καὶ ὡς ἔσται ἕκαστον, τάς τε ἐπὶ μέρους κινήσεις προορῶν πάντʼ ἐφορᾷ καὶ πάντʼ ἐπακούει, γυμνὴν ἔσωθεν τὴν ψυχὴν βλέπων, καὶ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἔχει διʼ αἰῶνος, καὶ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν θεάτρων γίνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἑκάστου μερῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐνόρασίν τε καὶ περιόρασιν καὶ συνόρασιν, τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεται. ἀθρόως τε γὰρ πάντα καὶ ἕκαστον ἐν μέρει μιᾷ προσβολῇ προσβλέπει, οὐ πάντα μέντοι κατὰ τὴν προηγουμένην ἐπέρεισιν.
English · Claude translation
Philosophy, then, having received a superior kind of perception, as has been shown from what was said before, shares in prudence. The rational working-through of what has been conceived, with choice and assent, is called dialectic, which confirms by demonstration what is said about truth and repels the difficulties brought against it. Those, then, who say that philosophy did not come here from God are in danger of saying that God cannot know each particular thing and is not the cause of all good things, even though each of them is particular. But nothing that exists would have come into being at all if God were unwilling; and if he was willing, philosophy is from God, since he willed it to be such as it is, for the sake of those who would not otherwise than in this way abstain from evils. For God knows all things, not only what is but also what will be and how each thing will be; foreseeing the particular movements, he “oversees all and hears all,” seeing the soul naked within, and he has from eternity the thought of each particular thing. And what happens in theaters, and with the parts of each thing, in looking at, looking around, and looking together, this happens with God. For he looks at all things at once and at each in its part with a single glance, though not all according to his primary intention.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Oversees all and hears all” echoes Homer, Iliad 3.277 (said of the Sun). Compare Heb 4:13 and Sus 42 (“you know all things before they come to be”). “Not all according to his primary intention” distinguishes what God wills directly from what he permits.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.17.156 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/17/156/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.17.156 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/17/156/).
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