03 — The Theology of 1 Clement
The thought-world of 1 Clement: not a systematic theology but a pastoral rhetoric of reconciliation, organized around the great themes of homonoia (concord) and humility, the ordered rule of the Master who has set all things in their stations, and a long gallery of Old Testament examples of the meek and the proud. These files take up first the moral and ecclesial theology of concord and humility, and then the letter’s striking resurrection apologetic — including the celebrated passage in which the legendary phoenix is offered as a natural sign of the resurrection of the dead.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostolic Father)
1 Clement is a letter written to heal a quarrel, and its theology is everywhere bent to that end. Against the rebellious self-assertion of the Corinthian faction it sets the harmony of a cosmos in which God has assigned to each creature its order and bounds; against pride it sets the humility of Christ and of the great figures of Scripture; against schism it sets the peace and concord of love. Its instrument throughout is the Old Testament, quoted at length as a treasury of examples — the jealousy that destroyed Cain and Saul, the humility that exalted Abraham, Moses, and David. And at the climax of its appeal to obey the God of order, the letter mounts a sustained argument for the resurrection from the regular rhythms of nature and from the legend of the phoenix, a passage that has fascinated and troubled readers ever since. This section presents the two faces of the letter’s theology: its ethic of concord and humility, and its apologetic for the resurrection.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Concord and Humility | The controlling themes — homonoia (concord), peace, humility (tapeinophrosyne), the rule of the Master who orders all things, the harmony of creation and of the body, and the long catalogue of Old Testament and apostolic examples of the humble and the jealous (chs. 1–39). |
| The Resurrection and the Phoenix | The resurrection apologetic of 1 Clement 24–26 — the analogies of day and night, seed and harvest — and the famous phoenix passage (ch. 25), its sources, its reception, and how it is to be read. |
See Also
- The Letter to the Corinthians — the occasion these themes serve
- Order and the Ministry — the ecclesial order that the theology of cosmic order undergirds
- 2 Clement — the early homily whose theology is sometimes compared with the genuine letter’s
- The Church Fathers — the theological world of the Apostolic Fathers
References
- Clement of Rome. First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement). In Holmes, Michael W., The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
- Ehrman, Bart D. The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library 24. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
- Lona, Horacio E. Der erste Clemensbrief. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998.
- Lindemann, Andreas. Die Clemensbriefe. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992.