The Clément Corpus
Clément published about thirty books between 1959 and his death in 2009, with two posthumous collections after. This file is a working bibliography: the French originals with publishers and dates, the English translations where they exist, and an honest account of what could not be verified.
Tradition: Orthodox (Western Europe)
The list below follows the bibliography given by French Wikipedia (“Olivier Clément”), cross-checked against publisher and bookseller records and against the English-language records noted in each entry. It is not exhaustive of his articles, prefaces and contributions to collective volumes, which are numerous.
The French books, in order of first publication
| Year | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Transfigurer le temps: notes sur le temps à la lumière de la tradition orthodoxe | Delachaux et Niestlé |
| 1961 | Qu’est-ce que l’Église orthodoxe | Centre œcuménique Enotikon |
| 1961 | L’Église orthodoxe | PUF, “Que sais-je?” no. 949 (reprinted to 2002) |
| 1964 | Byzance et le christianisme | PUF, “Mythes et religions” |
| 1964 | L’Essor du christianisme oriental | PUF, “Mythes et religions” |
| 1969 | Dialogues avec le patriarche Athénagoras | Fayard (repr. 1976, 589 pp.) |
| 1972 | Questions sur l’homme… | Stock, “Questions” (repr. Anne Sigier, 1989) |
| 1974 | L’Esprit de Soljénitsyne | Stock, “Le Monde ouvert” |
| 1975 | L’Autre Soleil: quelques notes d’autobiographie spirituelle | Stock (repr. 1986; later Desclée de Brouwer) |
| 1978 | Le Visage intérieur | Stock (repr. 2001; Salvator, 2017) |
| 1979 | La Révolte de l’Esprit (with Stan Rougier) | Stock, “Le Monde ouvert” |
| 1982 | Le Chant des larmes: essai sur le repentir | Desclée de Brouwer, “Théophanie” |
| 1982 | Sources: Les mystiques chrétiens des origines. Textes et commentaires | Stock (repr. 1992; Desclée de Brouwer, 2008) |
| 1985 | Orient–Occident: Deux passeurs, Vladimir Lossky et Paul Evdokimov | Labor et Fides, “Perspective orthodoxe” no. 6 |
| 1986 | Les Visionnaires: essai sur le dépassement du nihilisme | Desclée de Brouwer, “Connivence” |
| 1988 | Notre Père | Éditions du Moustier |
| 1989 | Un respect têtu: islam et christianisme (with Mohamed Talbi) | Nouvelle Cité, “Rencontres” |
| 1989 | Le Mystère pascal: commentaires liturgiques (with Alexander Schmemann) | Abbaye de Bellefontaine, “Spiritualité orientale” no. 16 |
| 1990 | Anachroniques | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 1990 | Sillons de lumière | Cerf |
| 1990 | Le Christ, terre des vivants | Abbaye de Bellefontaine, “Spiritualité orientale” no. 17 |
| 1991 | Berdiaev: un philosophe russe en France | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 1993 | Trois prières: le Notre Père, la prière au Saint-Esprit, la prière de saint Éphrem | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 1994 | L’Œil de feu: deux visions spirituelles du cosmos | Fata Morgana, “Hermès” no. 5 (repr. Corlevour, 2013) |
| 1995 | Corps de mort et de gloire: petite introduction à une théopoétique du corps | Desclée de Brouwer, “Théophanie” |
| 1996 | La vérité vous rendra libres: entretiens avec le patriarche œcuménique Bartholomée Ier | J.-C. Lattès / Desclée de Brouwer (repr. Marabout, 1999) |
| 1997 | Rome, autrement: une réflexion orthodoxe sur la papauté | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 1997 | Taizé, un sens à la vie | Bayard / Centurion |
| 1998 | Le Chemin de Croix à Rome: “via crucis,” 1998 | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 1998 | Christ est ressuscité: propos sur les fêtes chrétiennes | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 2003 | Mémoires d’espérance: entretiens avec Jean-Claude Noyer | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 2004 | Déracine-toi et plante-toi dans la mer | Anne Sigier |
| 2005 | Espace infini de liberté: le Saint-Esprit et Marie “Théotokos” | Anne Sigier |
| 2006 | Le Pèlerin immobile (poetry) | Anne Sigier |
| 2008 | Petite boussole spirituelle pour notre temps | Desclée de Brouwer, “Sources” |
| 2013 | Une saison en littérature (posthumous) | Desclée de Brouwer |
| 2015 | Joie de la Résurrection: variations autour de Pâques (posthumous) | Salvator |
[Disputed: the dating of two items. (a) *Rome, autrement* — the academic literature and most bookseller descriptions give 1997; French Wikipedia gives 1995; the publisher's current web listing gives 7 October 1992, which is impossible for a book answering a 1995 encyclical and appears to be a database artefact. (b) *Le Christ, terre des vivants* — the Bellefontaine "Spiritualité orientale" volume is listed as no. 17, 1990; some booksellers give 1975 for an earlier state of the material. A Cerf pocket edition appeared later.]
[Disputed: *La vérité vous rendra libres* — some catalogue records give the singular "libre." The plural follows John 8:32 and is the form used in the scholarly literature and by the English publisher.]
The English translations
| English title | Original | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Spirit of Solzhenitsyn | L’Esprit de Soljénitsyne (1974) | 1976 | Listed in the English Wikipedia bibliography; publisher and translator not independently verified here |
| The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Text and Commentary | Sources (1982) | New City Press, New York, 1995 (ISBN 1565480295); 2nd ed. as Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, New City Press of the Focolare, Hyde Park, NY, 2013 (ISBN 9781565484856) | Translator not identified in the catalogue records consulted |
| Conversations with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I | La vérité vous rendra libres (1996) | St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY, 1997 (ISBN 9780881411782) | Trans. Paul Meyendorff |
| Taizé: A Meaning to Life | Taizé, un sens à la vie (1997) | GIA Publications, Chicago, 1997 | |
| Three Prayers: The Lord’s Prayer, O Heavenly King, the Prayer of Saint Ephrem | Trois prières (1993) | St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000 | |
| On Human Being: A Spiritual Anthropology | Questions sur l’homme (1972) | New City Press, 2000 (ISBN 9781565481435); UK New City, ISBN 0904287726 | |
| The Church of Orthodoxy | — | Chelsea House, 2002 | Listed in the English Wikipedia bibliography; not independently verified here |
| You Are Peter: An Orthodox Theologian’s Reflection on the Exercise of Papal Primacy | Rome, autrement (1997) | New City Press, Hyde Park, NY, 2003 (ISBN 9781565481893); UK ISBN 9780904287875 | 112 pp., eleven chapters and a postscript |
| Transfiguring Time: Understanding Time in the Light of the Orthodox Tradition | Transfigurer le temps (1959) | New City Press, 2019 | Trans. Jeremy N. Ingpen |
| The Song of Tears: An Essay on Repentance Based on the Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete | Le Chant des larmes (1982) | St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2021 |
An English Dialogues with Patriarch Athenagoras is listed by booksellers. [Disputed: this guide could not verify its translator, publisher and date from a library catalogue and therefore does not state them.]
What has not crossed
The English-language Clément is a partial figure, and it is worth naming the gaps, because they distort the reception:
- The spiritual autobiography. L’Autre Soleil — the primary source for the conversion, and arguably the most personally revealing thing he wrote — has, so far as this guide can establish, no English edition. The consequence is that the English-language reader of The Roots of Christian Mysticism generally has no idea who wrote it.
- The theology of the body. Corps de mort et de gloire (1995), his most concentrated work on eros, the flesh and bioethics, is not in English. On Human Being carries part of the anthropology, but not this.
- The engagement with modern unbelief. Les Visionnaires (1986), Anachroniques (1990), La Révolte de l’Esprit (1979) — the whole address to nihilism and to the retour du religieux — is untranslated.
- The Lossky–Evdokimov study. Orient–Occident: deux passeurs (1985), the key text for his relation to his own teachers, is not in English.
- The late interviews. Mémoires d’espérance (2003), the retrospective conversations with Jean-Claude Noyer, are untranslated.
The English Clément is therefore, roughly: the patristic anthologist, the interviewer of patriarchs, and the man who wrote about the Pope. The French Clément is a considerably larger and stranger writer.
Honours
Prix Montyon of the Académie française, 1973 (French Wikipedia, “Olivier Clément”); honorary doctorates from the theological institute of Bucharest and from the Catholic University of Louvain (English Wikipedia, “Olivier Clément”). [Disputed: French Wikipedia adds a further American honorary doctorate; this guide does not confirm it.]
See Also
- Influence and Assessment
- Sources (1982) — the central book
- Body of Death and Body of Glory — the untranslated centre of his anthropology
- The Search and the Baptism — the untranslated autobiography
References
- “Olivier Clément.” French Wikipedia (fr.wikipedia.org), bibliography and list of articles. (The principal source for the French titles, publishers, series, dates and page counts above.)
- “Olivier Clément.” English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), works and English translations.
- Internet Archive catalogue records: The roots of Christian mysticism: text and commentary (New City Press, New York, 1995, ISBN 1565480295); Sources: les mystiques chrétiens des origines; On human being: a spiritual anthropology.
- Open Library record OL28390786M: The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, 2nd ed., New City Press of the Focolare, Hyde Park, NY, 2013, ISBN 9781565484856.
- St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, publisher’s listing for Conversations with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, trans. Paul Meyendorff, 1997, ISBN 9780881411782 (svspress.com).
- New City Press / Focolare Media listings for The Roots of Christian Mysticism, On Human Being, You Are Peter and Transfiguring Time (focolaremedia.com; newcity.co.uk).
- “Olivier CLÉMONT [sic]: You Are Peter.” Catholic Books Review (catholicbooksreview.org), 2003. (New City Press, 2003; 112 pp.; eleven chapters and a postscript.)
- Desclée de Brouwer and French bookseller listings for Rome, autrement (ISBN 9782220039145).
- Ingpen, Jeremy N. “A New (Old) Book by Olivier Clément: Some Thoughts from the Translator.” Orthodoxy in Dialogue (orthodoxyindialogue.com), 23 January 2019. (Transfiguring Time as the English rendering of Clément’s first book, French original 1959.)