Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 5

Philosophy was necessary for the Greeks before the Lord's coming for the sake of righteousness; now it has become useful for piety, serving as a kind of preparatory training for those who are brought to perfection through faith by demonstration. This is so that your foot may not stumble, as Scripture says, when you refer all good things to providence, whether they be Greek or our own. (Proverbs 3:23) For God is the cause of all good things, but some are prior — as the Old and New Covenants — and some are subsequent, as philosophy. Perhaps philosophy was also given to the Greeks beforehand, before the Lord called the Greeks; for it, too, acts as a tutor to lead the Hellenic mind to Christ, just as the Law tutored the Hebrews. Philosophy, then, prepares the way and advances the one who is being perfected by Christ.

Solomon says, 'Encircle wisdom, and she will exalt you; she will protect you with a crown of delight.' (Proverbs 4:8-9) Even if you hedge her about with philosophy and rightful wealth, making her inaccessible to the sophists, you keep her. There is one way of truth, but streams flow into it from different sources, as into an everlasting river. Therefore it is divinely said: 'Hear, my son, and accept my words, that you may have many ways of life; for I teach you the ways of wisdom, so that the springs, which gush from the same earth, may not fail you.' (Proverbs 4:10-11; 8:32-36) It does not list merely many saving ways of one righteous man, but adds many ways of many righteous men, indicating somehow that the ways of the righteous shine like light. (Proverbs 4:18) The commandments and preparatory trainings, too, can be ways and starting points of life.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I desired to gather your children as a bird gathers her young." (Matthew 23:37) Jerusalem is interpreted as 'vision of peace.' It therefore shows prophetically that those who have overseen peacefully have been tutored in many ways toward a calling. What then? He desired, but was not able; how often and where? Twice — through the prophets and through his presence. The word 'how often' indicates the manifold character of wisdom, and in each way, according to every quality and quantity, it certainly saves some both in time and in eternity, because the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world. (Wisdom 1:7)

If anyone forcibly says, 'Do not pay attention to a worthless woman, for honey drips from the lips of a prostitute,' meaning Greek education, let him hear what follows: 'She anoints your throat for a time,' it says, 'but philosophy does not flatter.' (Proverbs 5:3-4) What, then, does it designate as the harlot? It states explicitly: 'The feet of folly lead those who use her down to death and to Hades, and her steps are not established.' (Proverbs 5:5-6) Keep your way far from foolish pleasure, do not approach the doors of her house, lest you give your life to others. (Proverbs 5:8-9) And it testifies: 'Then you will groan at the end, when your flesh and body are consumed.' (Proverbs 5:11) This is the end of foolish pleasure.

When, however, it says, 'Do not be too familiar with a foreign woman,' it advises using worldly education but not lingering in it or remaining in it; for it prepares the way for the Lord's word, given appropriately to each generation at the proper times. (Proverbs 5:15-20) Already some, deceived by the allurements of the handmaidens, have slighted the mistress, philosophy, and have grown old — some in music, some in geometry, others in grammar, most in rhetoric. But just as the liberal arts contribute to philosophy, their mistress, so philosophy itself cooperates toward the acquisition of wisdom. For philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom, and wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human things and their causes. Wisdom, therefore, is the mistress of philosophy, just as philosophy is of preparatory training.

If philosophy promises self-control of tongue, stomach, and what lies below the stomach, and is choiceworthy for its own sake, it appears more dignified and authoritative. If it is pursued for the sake of God's honor and knowledge, Scripture will bear witness through the following: 'Sarah was barren of old; Abraham had a wife.' (Genesis 16:1) Not bearing children, Sarah gave her maid Hagar the Egyptian to Abraham for childbearing. (Genesis 16:2-3) Wisdom, the faithful consort of the faithful Abraham — for Abraham was counted faithful and righteous — was still barren and childless in that generation, having not yet borne anything noble to Abraham. She rightly desired Abraham, who had already reached a time of progress, to consort first with worldly education — for Egypt allegorically represents the world — and later, by divine providence, to beget Isaac. Philo interprets Hagar as a sojourning (for it is said, 'Do not be too familiar with a foreign woman'), and Sarah as 'my principle.' (Proverbs 5:20) Thus, having been prepared, one can come to the primal wisdom from which the Israelite race grows. From this it is shown that wisdom is educational, which Abraham followed, descending from the contemplation of heavenly things to faith and righteousness according to God. (Genesis 15:6)

Isaac represents the self-taught; therefore he is found to be a type of Christ. He was the husband of one woman, Rebekah, whom they translate as 'patience.' Jacob is said to have been with many women, as an ascetic would be (for through more numerous and diverse doctrines come ascetic exercises), whence he is renamed Israel — 'the one who sees God' — as one who is truly discerning, experienced, and ascetic. It may be that the three patriarchs together also signify that the seal of knowledge is sovereign, composed of nature, learning, and practice.

You have also another image of these things: Tamar sitting at the crossroads and giving the appearance of a prostitute, whom the lover of learning Judah (his name means 'mighty') visited and turned aside to, leaving nothing unexamined and unexplored, saving his confession to God. (Genesis 38:1-26) Therefore, when Sarah was jealous of Hagar, who was being favored, Abraham said, 'Behold, your maid is in your hands; use her as you please,' (Genesis 16:6) showing that he welcomes worldly education as a younger, handmaid-like thing, but honors and reveres his own knowledge as the perfect mistress. And Sarah humbled her, as if making her sober and admonishing her. Well said is the discipline of God: 'My son, do not despise the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.' (Hebrews 12:5-6)

Examined in other passages, the aforementioned Scriptures appear revealing other mysteries. We say, therefore, that philosophy has a naked pursuit of truth and of the nature of being — and truth is that concerning which the Lord himself said, 'I am the truth' (John 14:6) — and that preparatory training exercises the mind and awakens the understanding for the rest in Christ, producing a keen, searching inquiry through true philosophy. Those who have found it — or rather, have received it from truth itself — possess it, the initiates.