Making Christians Clement of Alexandria and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy

240 Pages·1999·17.937 MB·English

by  Denise Kimber Buell

MAKING CHRISTIANS

MAKING CHRISTIANS:
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE
RHETORIC OF LEGITIMACY
DENISE KIMBER BUELL
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1999 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library ofComgress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Buell, Denise Kimber, 1965-
Making Christians : Clement of Alexandria and the rhetoric of
legitimacy / Denise Kimber Buell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-05980-2 (alk. paper)
1. Clement, of Alexandria, Saint, ca. 150-ca. 215.
2. Apologetics—History—Early church, ca. 30-600. 3. Human
reproduction—Religious aspects—Christianity—History of doctrines—
Early church, ca. 30-600. 4. Kinship—Religious aspects—
Christianity—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30-600.
I. Title.
BR65.C66B84 1999 270.1—dc21 98-34873
This book has been composed in Galliard
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (R1997) {Permanence of Paper)
http://pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my grandparents

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
ABBREVIATIONS xiii
INTRODUCTION
Origin Stories as Authorizing Discourse 3
Historiography and the Quest for Origins 5
Locating Clement 10
Reading Practices and Metaphor Analysis 14
The Symbolic Stakes of Procreation 15
Format of the Study 19
CHAPTER ONE
Tracing Procreation: The Origins of Origin Stories 21
Clement's Appeal to a Variety of Procreative Etiologies:
Three Examples 22
What Is Not Found There 27
Conclusion 31
CHAPTER TWO
The Social Force of Metaphors for Procreation 32
Like a Farmer Sowing Seeds 34
Conclusion 46
CHAPTER THREE
Sowing Knowledge: Procreation and Pedagogy 50
Teachers and Learners: Fathers and Sons 51
Philosophical Precedents 54
Learners as Sons Not Mothers 60
The Absent Mother 62
Engendering the Learner 63
Conclusion 68
CHAPTER FOUR
Defending Teaching Methods with Procreative Language 69
Suspicion of Texts 71
Planters and Waterers 75
Conclusion 77
Vlll CONTENTS
CHAPTER FIVE
"Few Are Like Their Fathers": The Rhetoric of Genealogy and
Intra-Christian Polemic 79
Producing Children, Pronouncing Dogma 81
"Few Are Like Their Fathers": The Rhetoric of Sonship 83
"False" Fathers 86
Loyalty to Other Superhuman Beings 89
Conclusion 92
CHAPTER SIX
Allegiance to the "True Father": Kinship Metaphors as
Border Discourse 95
Marking Internal and External Boundaries 97
Loyalty to Fathers According to the Flesh 98
Allegiance on Trial 100
Conclusion: A Note on Ethnicity and the Rhetoric of Kinship 104
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Rhetoric of Christian Unity: Christians as Children of the Father
of All 107
Audience of and Occasion for the Paidagogos 108
Children and Infants 109
Conclusion 117
CHAPTER EIGHT
Paideia and the Paidagogos 119
Rhetorical Strategies of Paideia 121
Conclusion: The Implications of Paideia 129
CHAPTER NINE
Perfect Children: Drinking the Logos-Milk of Christ 131
Perfect Rebirth 132
The First Interpretation: Milk as Food for the Perfect 136
The Second Interpretation: Drinking vs. Suckling 139
Transition (Paid 1.37.3) 141
The Third Interpretation: Blood, Milk, and Soul 142
Excursus: Is This Passage Referring to the Eucharist? 145
Conclusion: Why 1 Corinthians 3:2? 146
CHAPTER TEN
"The Milk of the Father": "Only Those Who Suckle This Breast Are
Truly Blessed" 149
Blood: The Essence of Milk, Food, and Flesh 151