Kathleen Gibbons received her PhD from the University of Toronto, and subsequently taught at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a lecturer in religious studies and classics at Washington University at St Louis, Missouri, USA, and studies the intersections between ancient philosophy and early Christian discourse on topics including astrology, ethnography, and asceticism.

The study of ‘free will’ as a question in moral psychology lies at the heart of this compelling study of Clement of Alexandria, but Gibbons’ discussion ranges much more widely, tracing themes in ethics, cosmology and metaphysics. In doing so, Gibbons reveals just how extensively, and how creatively, Clement engaged with contemporary philosophical thought in his construction of Christian identity. It is remarkable, and regrettable, how little serious attention has been paid to Clement until now: this book shows both theologians and students of ancient philosophy how much they have to learn from him.- George Boys-Stones, Durham University, UKKathleen Gibbons demonstrates that Clement’s eclectic philosophical method is far more elaborate than has been commonly thought, since Clement not only construes key Christian doctrines through the lens of relevant pagan philosophical positions, especially Platonist and Stoic, but this construal amounts in turn to a distinct positioning within the contemporary philosophical debate. Gibbons’ book is a very welcome addition to the new appreciation of the philosophical character of early Christianity and should be read by students of late ancient philosophy and of early Christianity alike.- George Karamanolis, University of Vienna, AustriaGibbons’ monograph is ... worthy of the attention of not only Clement specialists, but patrologists more generally, as well as those in the field of ancient philosophy. It brings together in an illuminating way the too-often separate worlds of ancient philosophy and patristics, and situates the development of Christian ideas of providence and free will clearly within the context of ancient Platonic and Stoic thought ... Its clearest market will be for those in the field of patristics, but it is also one of the more successful efforts at linking the often too-separate worlds of early Christianity and ancient philosophy, and will be greatly appreciated by philosophers interested in ancient ideas of providence, free will and determinism, and theories of creation.- Stuart Thomson, Christ's Hospital School (UK), in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• AcknowledgementsNote on TranslationsIntroductionChapter 1: The Mosaic Law in early ChristianityChapter 2: Miming Moses: Clement’s Self-Presentation and the Dependency ThemeChapter 3: Moses, Statesman and PhilosopherChapter 4: The Logos of God, the Problem of Evil, and Clement’s Transformation of ProvidenceChapter 5: Right Reason and the Gnostic’s Grasp of the Mosaic LawChapter 6: Clement’s Idiosyncratic Concept of Autonomy in the Context of Ancient ThoughtConclusionBibliographyIndex

Kathleen Gibbons received her PhD from the University of Toronto, and subsequently taught at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a lecturer in religious studies and classics at Washington University at St Louis, Missouri, USA, and studies the intersections between ancient philosophy and early Christian discourse on topics including astrology, ethnography, and asceticism.

The study of ‘free will’ as a question in moral psychology lies at the heart of this compelling study of Clement of Alexandria, but Gibbons’ discussion ranges much more widely, tracing themes in ethics, cosmology and metaphysics. In doing so, Gibbons reveals just how extensively, and how creatively, Clement engaged with contemporary philosophical thought in his construction of Christian identity. It is remarkable, and regrettable, how little serious attention has been paid to Clement until now: this book shows both theologians and students of ancient philosophy how much they have to learn from him.- George Boys-Stones, Durham University, UKKathleen Gibbons demonstrates that Clement’s eclectic philosophical method is far more elaborate than has been commonly thought, since Clement not only construes key Christian doctrines through the lens of relevant pagan philosophical positions, especially Platonist and Stoic, but this construal amounts in turn to a distinct positioning within the contemporary philosophical debate. Gibbons’ book is a very welcome addition to the new appreciation of the philosophical character of early Christianity and should be read by students of late ancient philosophy and of early Christianity alike.- George Karamanolis, University of Vienna, AustriaGibbons’ monograph is ... worthy of the attention of not only Clement specialists, but patrologists more generally, as well as those in the field of ancient philosophy. It brings together in an illuminating way the too-often separate worlds of ancient philosophy and patristics, and situates the development of Christian ideas of providence and free will clearly within the context of ancient Platonic and Stoic thought ... Its clearest market will be for those in the field of patristics, but it is also one of the more successful efforts at linking the often too-separate worlds of early Christianity and ancient philosophy, and will be greatly appreciated by philosophers interested in ancient ideas of providence, free will and determinism, and theories of creation.- Stuart Thomson, Christ's Hospital School (UK), in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• AcknowledgementsNote on TranslationsIntroductionChapter 1: The Mosaic Law in early ChristianityChapter 2: Miming Moses: Clement’s Self-Presentation and the Dependency ThemeChapter 3: Moses, Statesman and PhilosopherChapter 4: The Logos of God, the Problem of Evil, and Clement’s Transformation of ProvidenceChapter 5: Right Reason and the Gnostic’s Grasp of the Mosaic LawChapter 6: Clement’s Idiosyncratic Concept of Autonomy in the Context of Ancient ThoughtConclusionBibliographyIndex

Kathleen Gibbons received her PhD from the University of Toronto, and subsequently taught at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a lecturer in religious studies and classics at Washington University at St Louis, Missouri, USA, and studies the intersections between ancient philosophy and early Christian discourse on topics including astrology, ethnography, and asceticism.

The study of ‘free will’ as a question in moral psychology lies at the heart of this compelling study of Clement of Alexandria, but Gibbons’ discussion ranges much more widely, tracing themes in ethics, cosmology and metaphysics. In doing so, Gibbons reveals just how extensively, and how creatively, Clement engaged with contemporary philosophical thought in his construction of Christian identity. It is remarkable, and regrettable, how little serious attention has been paid to Clement until now: this book shows both theologians and students of ancient philosophy how much they have to learn from him.- George Boys-Stones, Durham University, UKKathleen Gibbons demonstrates that Clement’s eclectic philosophical method is far more elaborate than has been commonly thought, since Clement not only construes key Christian doctrines through the lens of relevant pagan philosophical positions, especially Platonist and Stoic, but this construal amounts in turn to a distinct positioning within the contemporary philosophical debate. Gibbons’ book is a very welcome addition to the new appreciation of the philosophical character of early Christianity and should be read by students of late ancient philosophy and of early Christianity alike.- George Karamanolis, University of Vienna, AustriaGibbons’ monograph is ... worthy of the attention of not only Clement specialists, but patrologists more generally, as well as those in the field of ancient philosophy. It brings together in an illuminating way the too-often separate worlds of ancient philosophy and patristics, and situates the development of Christian ideas of providence and free will clearly within the context of ancient Platonic and Stoic thought ... Its clearest market will be for those in the field of patristics, but it is also one of the more successful efforts at linking the often too-separate worlds of early Christianity and ancient philosophy, and will be greatly appreciated by philosophers interested in ancient ideas of providence, free will and determinism, and theories of creation.- Stuart Thomson, Christ's Hospital School (UK), in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• AcknowledgementsNote on TranslationsIntroductionChapter 1: The Mosaic Law in early ChristianityChapter 2: Miming Moses: Clement’s Self-Presentation and the Dependency ThemeChapter 3: Moses, Statesman and PhilosopherChapter 4: The Logos of God, the Problem of Evil, and Clement’s Transformation of ProvidenceChapter 5: Right Reason and the Gnostic’s Grasp of the Mosaic LawChapter 6: Clement’s Idiosyncratic Concept of Autonomy in the Context of Ancient ThoughtConclusionBibliographyIndex