Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
It follows, I believe, that next in order comes the discussion of martyrdom and of what sort of man the perfect one is, topics under which will be comprehended, as the demands of what is to be said require, the matters attendant on them; and how philosophy must be pursued alike by slave and free, whether the person happens to be man or woman by sex. And after supplementing these with what comes next concerning faith and concerning seeking, we shall set forth the symbolic form of teaching, so that, having summed up the ethical discourse as it were in a running survey, we may present in summary fashion the benefit that flowed to the Greek nations out of barbarian philosophy. After this outline, the exposition addressed to the Greeks and that addressed to the Jews, by way of epitome of the scriptures, will be handed down, together with whatever, in the Stromateis prior to this one, we proposed at the opening of the preface to complete in a single treatise but were unable to comprehend, being of necessity enslaved to the sheer bulk of the matter.
After this, once the outline concerning the topics before us has been filled out as far as possible, we must give a historical account of what has been said about first principles in natural philosophy both by the Greeks and by the other barbarians, so far as their opinions have come down to us, and we must come to grips with the most authoritative of the doctrines devised by the philosophers. Following upon these, it would be fitting, after the survey of theology, to treat of what has been handed down concerning prophecy — so that, having shown that the scriptures which we have trusted are authoritative by an almighty authorship, we may be able to proceed through them in due sequence, and thereby, against all the heresies, demonstrate one God and Lord almighty, made known through the law and the prophets, and moreover genuinely proclaimed by the blessed gospel. Many are the refutations against those of heterodox opinion that await us, as we attempt both to dissolve what is put forward by them in writing and to persuade them, even against their will, by refuting them from the scriptures themselves.
When, then, our whole design has been completed in these memoirs, in which, should the Spirit so will, we are serving the pressing need (for great is the necessity of the things that owe to be said beforehand for the sake of truth), then indeed we shall proceed to the truly gnostic natural philosophy, having been initiated into the small mysteries before the great, so that nothing may stand in the way of the truly divine unveiling of sacred things, once the matters that need to be narrated and handed down beforehand have been duly purified and outlined in advance. The natural philosophy, then — or rather the contemplation — that follows the canon of gnostic tradition according to the rule of truth, takes its start from the account of cosmogony, and from there ascends to the theological form. Hence it will be fitting that we make the beginning of the tradition from the genesis that was prophesied, setting forth in part also the views of those of heterodox opinion and attempting, so far as we are able, to dissolve them. But this shall be written, if indeed God so wills and however he may inspire it; for now we must proceed to the matter in hand and bring the ethical discourse to completion.
← All of Clement of Alexandria: Exhortation, Instructor & Miscellanies