Kindled by the Word: Clement of Alexandria's Erotic Theology

Challenging the widespread view that Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) juxtaposes desiring eros and dispassionate agape, this paper argues that the Platonic language and concept of eros remains throughout Clement’s conception of the Christian’s transformation of desire through assimilation to God. Rather than view eros as a stage to be overcome, Clement’s eros admits of a threefold ordering as mythical, philosophic, and divine, with divine eros being intimately associated with the Incarnation of the Logos. It is through association with Christ and in imitation of the pattern of Christ that eros becomes most divine, which in turn causes philanthropia and even agape to take on a distinctly erotic shape.