Theology and exegesis against Marcion

Apophatic theology claims that God is unknowable, and this book investigates the earliest stages of Christian apophaticism. It focuses on the writings of Clement of Alexandria (around AD 200): his view of language and esotericism, various aspects of his concept of God, his Logos-theology as well as his epistemology in relation to God. Clement holds that God is unknowable. God’s unknowability, however, concerns only his essence, not his energies, or powers. The traditional view today is that the distinction between essence and energies is first developed by the Cappadocian Fathers in the late 4th century. It is the author’s claim, however, that an apophatic view of God as well as the distinction between essence and energies can already be found in Clement. In order to understand better Clement’s theological priorities and emphases, his social, religious, and philosophical milieu in ancient Alexandria is also taken into consideration. In addition, Clement’s thinking is seen against the background of Middle Platonism and its concept of God.

It has long been known that Jerome depended on Origen to some extent in producing his own commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. Several excerpts from Origen's commentary on Ephesians have been preserved in Greek. This book demonstrates the extent of Jerome's dependence on Origen by placing English translations of these excerpts from Origen's Commentary on Ephesians parallel to the English translation of Jerome's commentary on Ephesians. These parallels show that in every case where Jerome's commentary can be compared with Origen's, Jerome has followed Origen, either by translating his text or paraphrasing his thought. By this and other means, all the passages that can be attributed in some degree to Origen have been identified in Jerome's commentary in order to allow Origen's comments on Ephesians to be heard again, even if muffled at times, through the words of Jerome. This is important because Origen's commentary, in all probability, was the first complete commentary ever composed on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Origen's comments are sometimes philological, discussing the meaning of Greek words in the text and the syntax of the phrases in the Greek sentences of Paul. His comments deal also with theology, for Ephesians provided many texts that were key elements in some of his theological views, such as the pre‐existent church, the constitution of the foundation of the material world after the fall, God's foreknowledge, the unity of revelation based on the ancient prophets’ knowledge of God's future work in Christ, and the Christian struggle against hostile spiritual powers.