Clement of Alexandria’s Song of the Logos as an Interpretation of Cultural Change

Beskrivning

Abstract: The first centuries of the Christian faith were a time of complex cultural and religious turmoil. In particular, the second and third century was filled with sporadic persecutions as well as both enthusiastic and witty Christian apologetics. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) stands out as a leading intellectual figure of the early Christian position vis-à-vis the older pagan culture and society. Well-versed in ancient writings, Clement did not reject the Greco-Roman past outright, but viewed it as in need of purification and transformation. The dynamics of the transformative encounter between earlier pagan cultures and Christianity is eloquently expressed in the metaphor of the Song of the Logos, which Clement developed especially in the Protrepticus, an apologetic treatise in which he invites his Greek audience to abandon their pagan practices. The present paper explores the metaphor as an early-Christian model of cultural change.

Period	9 juni 2021
Händelsetitel	Religion and Cultural Change
Typ av evenemang	Konferens
Omfattning	Internationell