Abstract

Clement of Alexandria (150-215) is one of the first Christian thinkers to offer a detailed account of the relationship between Christian faith and Greek philosophy. As a philosophically educated man himself, Clement claimed that philosophy is necessary for reaching the complete knowledge of God, and that Greek philosophy, being of divine origin, was God’s gift to the Greeks, acting as a preparation for the Gospel. Since it concerns the comprehension and contemplation of truth, philosophy is a propaedeutic method for understanding and interpreting the principles of faith, as well as for the defense against deceptive and fallacious attacks on it. On the other hand, just as the body is healed by medicine, the soul, according to Clement, is healed by philosophy. Such “therapy” of the soul primarily concerns liberation from passions, attainment of the state of passionlessness (ἀπάθεια) and restoration of human person, which is in accordance not just with the purpose of Christian life, but also with the ancient, Platonic, idea of reaching Godlikeness through practicing philosophy as a training for death.