The Stromata

Contents

BOOK I Chapter 1. Preface – The Author's Object – The Utility of Written Compositions. Chapter 2. Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered Chapter 3. Against the Sophists Chapter 4. Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God Chapter 5. Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology Chapter 6. The Benefit of Culture Chapter 7. The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue Chapter 8. The Sophistical Arts Useless Chapter 9. Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures Chapter 10. To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well Chapter 11. What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun? Chapter 12. The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All Chapter 13. All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth Chapter 14. Succession of Philosophers in Greece Chapter 15. The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians Chapter 16. That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians Chapter 17. On the Saying of the Saviour, All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers. Chapter 18. He Illustrates the Apostle's Saying, I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise. Chapter 19. That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth Chapter 20. In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth Chapter 21. The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks Chapter 22. On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament Chapter 23. The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses Chapter 24. How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader Chapter 25. Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws Chapter 26. Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus Chapter 27. The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men Chapter 28. The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law Chapter 29. The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews BOOK II Chapter 1. Introductory. Chapter 2. The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith Chapter 3. Faith Not a Product of Nature Chapter 4. Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge Chapter 5. He Proves by Several Examples that the Greeks Drew from the Sacred Writers Chapter 6. The Excellence and Utility of Faith Chapter 7. The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered Chapter 8. The Vagaries of Basilides and Valentinus as to Fear Being the Cause of Things Chapter 9. The Connection of the Christian Virtues Chapter 10. To What the Philosopher Applies Himself Chapter 11. The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All Chapter 12. Twofold Faith Chapter 13. On First and Second Repentance Chapter 14. How a Thing May Be Involuntary Chapter 15. On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding Chapter 16. How We are to Explain the Passages of Scripture Which Ascribe to God Human Affections Chapter 17. On the Various Kinds of Knowledge Chapter 18. The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs. Chapter 19. The True Gnostic is an Imitator of God, Especially in Beneficence Chapter 20. The True Gnostic Exercises Patience and Self-Restraint Chapter 21. Opinions of Various Philosophers on the Chief Good Chapter 22. Plato's Opinion, that the Chief Good Consists in Assimilation to God, and Its Agreement with Scripture Chapter 23. On Marriage BOOK III Caput I.– Basilidis Sententiam de Continentia Et Nuptiis Refutat. Caput II.– Carpocratis Et Epiphanis Sententiam de Feminarum Communitate Refutat. Caput III.– Quatenus Plato Aliique E Veteribus Præiverint Marcionitis Aliisque Hæreticis, Qui a Nuptiis Ideo Abstinent Quia Creaturam Malam Existimant Et Nasci Homines in Pœnam Opinantur. Caput IV.– Quibus Prætextibus Utantur Hæretici ad Omnis Genetis Licentiam Et Libidinem Exercendam. Caput V.– Duo Genera Hæreticorum Notat: Prius Illorum Qui Omnia Omnibus Licere Pronuntiant, Quos Refutat. Caput VI.– Secundum Genus Hæreticorum Aggreditur, Illorum Scilicet Qui Ex Impia de Deo Omnium Conditore Sententia, Continentiam Exercent. Caput VII.– Qua in Re Christianorum Continentia Eam Quam Sibi Vindicant Philosophi Antecellat. Caput VIII.– Loca S. Scripturæ Ab Hæreticis in Vituperium Matrimonii Adducta Explicat; Et Primo Verba Apostoli Romans 6:14, Ab Hæreticorum Perversa Interpretatione Vindicat. Caput IX.– Dictum Christi ad Salomen Exponit, Quod Tanquam in Vituperium Nuptiarum Prolatum Hæretici Allegabant. Caput X.– Verba Christi Matt. xviii. 20, Mystice Exponit. Caput XI.– Legis Et Christi Mandatum de Non Concupiscendo Exponit. Caput XII.– Verba Apostoli 1 Corinthians 7:5, 39–40, Aliaque S. Scripturæ Loca Eodem Spectantia Explicat. Caput XIII.– Julii Cassiani Hæretici Verbis Respondet; Item Loco Quem Ex Evangelio Apocrypho Idem Adduxerat. Caput XIV.– 2 Cor. xi. 3, Et Eph. iv. 24, Exponit. Caput XV.– 1 Cor. vii. 1; Luc. xiv. 26; Isaiah 56:2–3, Explicat. Caput XVI.– Jer. xx. 14; Job xiv. 3; Ps. l. 5; 1 Cor. ix. 27, Exponit. Caput XVII.– Qui Nuptias Et Generationem Malas Asserunt, II Et Dei Creationem Et Ipsam Evangelii Dispensationem Vituperant. Caput XVIII.– Duas Extremas Opiniones Esse Vitandas: Primam Illorum Qui Creatoris Odio a Nuptiis Abstinent; Alteram Illorum Qui Hinc Occasionem Arripiunt Nefariis Libidinibus Indulgendi. BOOK IV Chapter 1. Order of Contents Chapter 2. The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies Chapter 3. The True Excellence of Man Chapter 4. The Praises of Martyrdom Chapter 5. On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things Chapter 6. Some Points in the Beatitudes Chapter 7. The Blessedness of the Martyr Chapter 8. Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr's Crown Chapter 9. Christ's Sayings Respecting Martyrdom Chapter 10. Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved Chapter 11. The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered Chapter 12. Basilides' Idea of Martyrdom Refuted Chapter 13. Valentinian's Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted Chapter 14. The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies Chapter 15. On Avoiding Offence Chapter 16. Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs Chapter 17. Passages from Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom Chapter 18. On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires Chapter 19.– Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection. Chapter 20. A Good Wife Chapter 21. Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic Chapter 22. The True Gnostic Does Good, Not from Fear of Punishment or Hope of Reward, But Only for the Sake of Good Itself Chapter 23. The Same Subject Continued Chapter 24. The Reason and End of Divine Punishments Chapter 25. True Perfection Consists in the Knowledge and Love of God Chapter 26. How the Perfect Man Treats the Body and the Things of the World BOOK V Chapter 1.– On Faith. Chapter 2.– On Hope. Chapter 3. The Objects of Faith and Hope Perceived by the Mind Alone Chapter 4. Divine Things Wrapped Up in Figures Both in the Sacred and in Heathen Writers Chapter 5. On the Symbols of Pythagoras Chapter 6. The Mystic Meaning of the Tabernacle and Its Furniture Chapter 7. The Egyptian Symbols and Enigmas of Sacred Things Chapter 8. The Use of the Symbolic Style by Poets and Philosophers Chapter 9. Reasons for Veiling the Truth in Symbols Chapter 10. The Opinion of the Apostles on Veiling the Mysteries of the Faith Chapter 11. Abstraction from Material Things Necessary in Order to Attain to the True Knowledge of God Chapter 12. God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind Chapter 13. The Knowledge of God a Divine Gift, According to the Philosophers Chapter 14. Greek Plagiarism from the Hebrews BOOK VI Chapter 1. Plan. Chapter 2. The Subject of Plagiarisms Resumed. The Greeks Plagiarized from One Another Chapter 3. Plagiarism by the Greeks of the Miracles Related in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews Chapter 4. The Greeks Drew Many of Their Philosophical Tenets from the Egyptian and Indian Gymnosophists Chapter 5. The Greeks Had Some Knowledge of the True God Chapter 6. The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades. Chapter 7. What True Philosophy Is, and Whence So Called Chapter 8. Philosophy is Knowledge Given by God Chapter 9. The Gnostic Free of All Perturbations of the Soul Chapter 10. The Gnostic Avails Himself of the Help of All Human Knowledge Chapter 11. The Mystical Meanings in the Proportions of Numbers, Geometrical Ratios, and Music Chapter 12. Human Nature Possesses an Adaptation for Perfection; The Gnostic Alone Attains It Chapter 13. Degrees of Glory in Heaven Corresponding with the Dignities of the Church Below Chapter 14. Degrees of Glory in Heaven Chapter 15. Different Degrees of Knowledge Different modes of engrafting illustrative of different kinds of conversion. Knowledge and love. True knowledge found in the teaching of Christ alone. Philosophy and heresies, aids in discovering the truth. Reasons for the meaning of Scripture being veiled. Chapter 16. Gnostic Exposition of the Decalogue The number Ten. The First Commandment. The Second Commandment. The Fourth Commandment. The Fifth Commandment. The Sixth Commandment. The Seventh Commandment. The Eighth Commandment. The Tenth Commandment. Chapter 17. Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God Chapter 18. The Use of Philosophy to the Gnostic Greek philosophy the recreation of the Gnostic. Philosophy necessary. First of all, idols are to be rejected. Whence is the knowledge of truth? Intimations of the Teacher's advent Universal diffusion of the Gospel a contrast to philosophy. BOOK VII Chapter 1. The Gnostic a True Worshipper of God, and Unjustly Calumniated by Unbelievers as an Atheist Chapter 2. The Son the Ruler and Saviour of All Chapter 3. The Gnostic Aims at the Nearest Likeness Possible to God and His Son Chapter 4. The Heathens Made Gods Like Themselves, Whence Springs All Superstition Chapter 5. The Holy Soul a More Excellent Temple Than Any Edifice Built by Man Chapter 6. Prayers and Praise from a Pure Mind, Ceaselessly Offered, Far Better Than Sacrifices Chapter 7. What Sort of Prayer the Gnostic Employs, and How It is Heard by God Chapter 8. The Gnostic So Addicted to Truth as Not to Need to Use an Oath Chapter 9. Those Who Teach Others, Ought to Excel in Virtues Chapter 10. Steps to Perfection Chapter 11. Description of the Gnostic's Life Chapter 12. The True Gnostic is Beneficent, Continent, and Despises Worldly Things Chapter 13. Description of the Gnostic Continued Chapter 14. Description of the Gnostic Furnished by an Exposition of 1 Cor. vi. 1, Etc Chapter 15. The Objection to Join the Church on Account of the Diversity of Heresies Answered Chapter 16. Scripture the Criterion by Which Truth and Heresy are Distinguished. Chapter 17. The Tradition of the Church Prior to that of the Heresies Chapter 18. The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics BOOK VIII Chapter 1. The Object of Philosophical and Theological Inquiry – The Discovery of Truth. Chapter 2. The Necessity of Perspicuous Definition Chapter 3. Demonstration Defined Chapter 4. To Prevent Ambiguity, We Must Begin with Clear Definition Chapter 5. Application of Demonstration to Sceptical Suspense of Judgment Chapter 6. Definitions, Genera, and Species Chapter 7. On the Causes of Doubt or Assent Chapter 8. The Method of Classifying Things and Names Chapter 9. On the Different Kinds of Cause