1. APOSTLES TO INTELLECTUALS
THE ALEXANDRIANS
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2. THE GOSPEL VS. PHILOSOPHY
• Jerome, who was best known for his translation
of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate version had to
face they terrifying thought that he compared the
Bible to philosophy.
• The church must define faith in terms that
intelligent men could understand. A clear
presentation of the Gospel calls upon the powers
of reason.
• In the ancient world this meant Greek philosophy
and pagan authors. So Christianity was forced
into the world of pagan thought.
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3. LIGHT IN THE WORLD
• Jesus spoke to His disciples with this very real ,
“not of the world, but sent into the world.” John
17:16-18
• The idea of separation from the world has always
presented the Church with a problem. Because
Christians differ with each other over the
boundaries of withdrawal and engagement.
• Tertullian was the most against combining
philosophy with the Gospel.
• Gnosticism, Platonist, Stoics were somehow all in
competition with the Gospel, and Clement and
Origen brought about a harmony between all
camps.
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4. VALENTINIANS GNOSTICISM
• He taught that there were three kinds of
people, the spiritual, psychical, and material;
and that only those of a spiritual nature (his
own followers) received the knowledge that
allowed them to return to the divine fullness,
while those of a psychic nature (ordinary
Christians) would attain a lesser form of
salvation, and that those of a material nature
(pagans and Jews) were doomed to perish.
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5. PLATONISM
• The central concept of Platonism is the distinction
between that reality which is perceptible, but not
intelligible, and that which is intelligible, but
imperceptible; to this distinction the Theory of
Forms is essential. The forms are typically
described in dialogues such as the Phaedo,
Symposium and Republic, as transcendent,
perfect archetypes, of which objects in the
everyday world are imperfect copies. In the
Republic the highest form is identified as the
Form of the Good, the source of all other forms,
which could be known by reason.
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6. STOICISM
• The Stoics taught that destructive emotions
resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage,
or person of "moral and intellectual perfection",
would not suffer such emotions.
• Stoics were concerned with the active
relationship between cosmic determinism and
human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous
to maintain a will (called prohairesis=will,
volition, moral choice) that is in accord with
nature. Because of this, the Stoics presented their
philosophy as a way of life, and they thought that
the best indication of an individual's philosophy
was not what a person said but how he behaved.
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7. A PASTOR TO PHILOSOPHERS
• One the most influential men of his time was
Clement. He was seen as a messenger of
Christianity in philosopher’s garb.
• Clement was the first Christian Scholar versed in
the Bible as well as the knowledge of his time. He
knew Greek philosophy and classical literature.
• His main opponent of the times was Valentinian
Gnosticism, and he had to reconciled them both
to win the young and old of his time.
1Corinthians 9:16-23
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8. ORIGEN AND THE THIRST FOR TRUTH
• After the third century persecution broke out
against Christians in Alexandria, and Clement had
to leave the school in the hands of an eighteen
year old.
• Origen’s philosophy was more than a matter of
ideas, it was a way of forming character.
• Origen stated, “my primary work is the exposition
of scripture.”
• Origen started what we call now “the allegorical
interpretation” of Scripture. He held the Bible has
three levels of meaning: the literal sense, the
moral application to the soul, and the allegorical
or spiritual sense.
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9. A THEOLOGY FOR THINKERS
• Origen was the first theologian to set forth the
whole intellectual framework of the Christian
faith. He realized that if Christianity were to
succeed in shaping civilization, it must justify
itself to the intellect as well as to the heart of
mankind.
• Origen was charged with heresy, because he
turned a dream into a doctrine. He said that one
day even the devil will be reconciled back into the
love of God, and hell will be emptied.
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