A review of "Clement of Alexandria: A Study in Christian Platonism and Gnosticism" by Salvatore Romano Clemente Lilla
"Clement of Alexandria" is a very
interesting book about the Alexandrine Church Father who was influenced by
Philo, Middle Platonism and Gnosticism. Unfortunately, Lilla's book is replete
with long, untranslated sentences in Greek, taken from both Clement's writings
and those of his inspirators. This makes it difficult to read for a general
audience. Essentially, "Clement of Alexandria" is a book only for
those initiated into a working knowledge of ancient Greek.
Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed. It's all Greek to me!
As a humorous side point, I noticed that Lilla does translate the Gnostic quotes. Presumably, the author doesn't expect even a narrow scholarly audience to have a working knowledge of Coptic...
Why not, Salvatore? Too esoteric, perhaps? ;-)
The book is worth five stars, but since it's so narrow, I'll only give it three (the OK rating).
Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed. It's all Greek to me!
As a humorous side point, I noticed that Lilla does translate the Gnostic quotes. Presumably, the author doesn't expect even a narrow scholarly audience to have a working knowledge of Coptic...
Why not, Salvatore? Too esoteric, perhaps? ;-)
The book is worth five stars, but since it's so narrow, I'll only give it three (the OK rating).
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