Clement of Alexandria’s Exegesis of Old Testament Theophanies

Bogdan G. Bucur, PhD. Associate Professor, Duquesne University.

Abstract: The interpretation of Old Testament theophanies was crucial for early Christianity’s theological appropriation of the sacred history of Israel, and figured significantly in the anti-Jewish, anti-dualistic, and anti-monarchian polemics of the second and third centuries. A Christian continuator of Philo’s “noetic exegesis,” Clement of Alexandria inaugurates an approach to theophanies that is different from that of some of his predecessors and contemporaries, but no less important from a reception-historical perspective, inasmuch as it laid the groundwork for the valorisation of theophanies for Christian spirituality.

 

Introducing the Master of Greek Philosophy

Greek philosophy remains foundational to the history of ideas in the Western and Eastern traditions. It has shaped disciplines as diverse as theology, ethics, politics, science, and metaphysics. In particular, the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and the later Hellenistic and Byzantine philosophers have exercised enduring influence on Christian theology, especially in the Patristic and medieval Byzantine periods.

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