"Providence and Paideia in Early Christian Alexandria" Open Access
Woods, Ryan Thomas (2013)
Abstract
Abstract
"Providence and Paideia in Early Christian Alexandria"
By Ryan T. Woods
In this dissertation, I investigate reflection on divine providence
and the formation of paideia (school culture) in Christian
Alexandria (c. 100-250). My research focuses on a conceit developed
in the writings of Clement and Origen of Alexandria that divine
providence functions as an educator. This cosmic pedagogy serves as
a model for the Christian teacher, who participates in a divine
economy of instruction. It frames discussions of free will, ethics,
and the interpretation of canonical texts, providing a point of
comparison with other educational traditions in late antiquity.
Faulty paradigms and selective reading of the evidence have led
scholars to mischaracterize the Hellenic features of their thought
as evidence of dependence or even corruption of a Christian
essence. Although Clement and Origen develop this conceit using
philosophical and literary discourse, I argue that their primary
loyalty lies with the biblical narrative. In this respect, they
built upon the pre-existing traditions of the Alexandrian Judaism
from which they emerged. I devote particular attention to the
adoption of philological techniques to interpret Scripture as a
curriculum of ascent, and to the idealized depictions of the
"divine" educator as the product of this paideia in the writings of
these Alexandrian Christians. Clement and Origen see Hellenic
culture as a useful instrument for clarifying and articulating
Christian identity, but remain wary of its limitations. What
emerges from my analysis, then, is not the dilution of a pure
expression, but the translation of a religious tradition into a new
idiom.
Table of Contents
PROVIDENCE AND PAIDEIA IN EARLY CHRISTIAN ALEXANDRIA
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. At the Origins of Alexandrian Christianity: Texts,
Traditions, Trajectories 21
Chapter 2. Providence as Divine Pedagogy in Clement of Alexandria
86
Chapter 3. Cosmos, Scripture, and the Pedagogy of the Soul in
Origen 141
Chapter 4. The Grammar of Grace: Philology as Divine Pedagogy
188
Chapter 5. The Divine Instructor 239
Bibliography 286
Figures
Clement's Programmatic Statements about the Purpose of the
Stromateis 115
Works of Clement and the Laurentianus 117
Uses of Proverbs in Stromateis 1 130
About this Dissertation
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