Christ the Educator
Digital Verbum Edition
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Overview
Clement brings readers a rich and stimulating study of Christian thought from the second century AD, in which we find a loyal devotion to Christianity, even if he steps outside of the orthodox tradition. In Christ the Educator, Clement sets down general principles of the idea of paidagogos in our relationship with Christ. Christ is our teacher, and believers are but little ones sitting at his feet. The Alexandrian inserts his own cultural ideas of education and spirituality into the mix, presenting the concept of Christ as educator in terms appropriate to his audience—terms which are still meaningful today.
For The Fathers of the Church series in its entirety, see Fathers of the Church Series (127 vols.).
Key Features
- A key translation of a classic text written by a noted patristic scholar
- Provides readers insight into Clement’s view of Jesus and education
- One of 127 published volumes in a well-respected series on the Church Fathers
Top Highlights
“He is God the Word, who is in the bosom of the Father, and also at the right hand of the Father, with even the nature of God.” (Page 5)
“Above everything else, it is necessary to avoid staring at women.” (Page 262)
“As Teacher, He explains and reveals through instruction, but as Educator He is practical. First He persuades men to form habits of life, then He encourages them to fulfill their duties by laying down clear-cut counsels and by holding up, for us who follow, examples of those who have erred in the past. Both are most useful: the advice, that it may be obeyed; the other, given in the form of example, has a twofold object—either that we may choose the good and imitate it or condemn and avoid the bad.” (Page 4)
“The good Educator of little ones, however, Wisdom Himself, the Word of the Father, who created man, concerns Himself with the whole creature, and as the Physician of the whole man heals both body and soul.” (Pages 7–8)
“Clement must be read prudently. Nevertheless these flaws do not destroy his work, nor should they be allowed to conceal much that is precious within it, both from a moral and a theological point of view.” (Page vi)
About Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (150–215) came from a pagan background in Athens, and his Christian theology was strongly influenced by Greek philosophy. Clement taught at the Catechetical school in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was succeeded by another great teacher, Origen of Alexandria.
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