Strange Quotations
I have been reading Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Heathen for my Alexandrian Christianity class. It seems to me that in several places during Clement's tirade against "heathen" religion, he contradicts himself. Throughout his arguments Clement uses quotes from renowned pagan authors, but he seems to just as often support his arguments with a quote from either the Hebrew Torah or books out of the New Testament.
...These are the slippery and hurtful deviations from the truth which draw man down from heaven, and cast him into the abyss. I wish to show thoroughly what like these gods of yours are, that now at length you may abandon your delusion, and speed your flight back to heaven. “For we also were once children of wrath, even as others; but God, being rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loved us, when we were now dead in trespasses, quickened us together with Christ.” Eph. ii. 3–5....
I find it strange at least from a logical perspective that someone would use a quotation from their religion in order to convince another that their religion is false. I believe in most cases it would be a worthless attempt at conversion as a result. If I were to tell someone that their religion was evil because my holy book said so, I do believe that I would have harmed my own case. The only way I can see for a master rhetorician like Clement to extricate himself from the situation he has caused for himself, is by a change of audience.
Instead of speaking to the heathen, Clement should of said he was speaking to the philosophers. By the time Clement wrote his exhortation, most of the myths and stories behind the Greek or Roman gods were throughly unsatisfying to educated men. As a result, many of these may have been more open minded and eager to learn of another path. If his audience are these, then instead of trying to strengthen his arguments against paganism, Clement is attempting to lend credibility to the Bible. By first agreeing with the qualms of these philosophers and educated men, and then showing that the Bible also disapproves of such obvious falsehood, Clement achieves his goal.
...These are the slippery and hurtful deviations from the truth which draw man down from heaven, and cast him into the abyss. I wish to show thoroughly what like these gods of yours are, that now at length you may abandon your delusion, and speed your flight back to heaven. “For we also were once children of wrath, even as others; but God, being rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith He loved us, when we were now dead in trespasses, quickened us together with Christ.” Eph. ii. 3–5....
I find it strange at least from a logical perspective that someone would use a quotation from their religion in order to convince another that their religion is false. I believe in most cases it would be a worthless attempt at conversion as a result. If I were to tell someone that their religion was evil because my holy book said so, I do believe that I would have harmed my own case. The only way I can see for a master rhetorician like Clement to extricate himself from the situation he has caused for himself, is by a change of audience.
Instead of speaking to the heathen, Clement should of said he was speaking to the philosophers. By the time Clement wrote his exhortation, most of the myths and stories behind the Greek or Roman gods were throughly unsatisfying to educated men. As a result, many of these may have been more open minded and eager to learn of another path. If his audience are these, then instead of trying to strengthen his arguments against paganism, Clement is attempting to lend credibility to the Bible. By first agreeing with the qualms of these philosophers and educated men, and then showing that the Bible also disapproves of such obvious falsehood, Clement achieves his goal.
posted by Blackhawk at 2:38 PM
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