Christian Mission and Poverty

Chapter 1: Early Christian Teaching

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C lement of A lexandria (150–215) Background

Clement of Alexandria was a convert to Christianity who had been educated in Hellenistic (classical Greek) philosophy. He was a theologian and teacher who lived and ministered in ancient Alexandria in northern Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. He was part of what would become known as the Alexandrian School, a collection of Christian theologians and teachers who trained many early church leaders. Alexandrian biblical interpretation tended to favor allegory rather than the more literal readings common in the school of Antioch in what is now Turkey. During the time of Clement of Alexandria, the early church was thinking through what it meant to follow Jesus as Gentiles in the Roman Empire. How did worshipping the Lord position believers in relation to the religious and ethnic history of Judaism? How did being a disciple of Christ position people in relation to secular philosophy and the state? Clement of Alexandria would answer that latter question by trying to demonstrate how one could be a follower of Jesus and a participant in Hellenistic culture. In contrast to the Jewish tone of the Didache , Clement’s writing shows that the Christian faith was shifting away from a Jewish cultural perspective. Thinkers such as Clement began to picture Christianity as a distinct religion, one that (given certain theological constraints) could be accommodated to various cultural practices. In this reading, Clement is interested in asking what it means for Christians to give up material goods in following Jesus while still