Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria uses the book of Sirach as an authoritative source of teaching. By quoting its warning about avoiding temptation and its call to honor relationships, he incorporates it into early Christian tradition.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 9:9
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
7 Don’t look around in the streets of the city. Don’t wander in its deserted places. 8 Turn your eye away from a beautiful woman, and don’t gaze at another’s beauty. Many have been led astray by the beauty of a woman; and with this, passion is kindled like a fire. 9 Don’t dine at all with a woman who has a husband, or revel with her at wine, lest perhaps your soul turn away to her, and with your spirit you slide into destruction. 10 Don’t forsake an old friend; for a new one is not comparable to him. A new friend is like new wine: if it becomes old, you will drink it with gladness. 11 Don’t envy the success of a sinner; for you don’t know what his end will be.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 2.7
Paedagogus
Early Christian
For Wisdom appears to enjoin well: Sit not at all with a married woman, and recline not on the elbow with her; that is, do not sup nor eat with her frequently. So he adds, And do not join company with her in wine, lest your heart incline to her, and by your blood slide to ruin. For the licence of intoxication is dangerous, and prone to deflower. And he names a married woman, because the danger is greater to him who attempts to break the connubial bond.
Date: 198 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... The eighty-fifth of the Apostolical Canons gives a list of the books of the Hebrew Canon, and adds the first three books of the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach; these last four are not, however, included in the Canon, though the Wisdom of Sirach is specially recommended for the instruction of the young. Again, in the Apostolical Constitutions, 6:14, 15, quotations from Sirach are given with the same formula as those from the books of the Hebrew Canon, but in the list given in 2:57 of the same work, there is no mention of any of the books of the Apocrypha ... The evidence of Clement of Alexandria is conflicting; in his Paedagogus he quotes very often from Sirach, and speaks of it as 'scripture', from which it would evidently appear that he regarded it as canonical Scripture; but, according to Eusebius, Clement reckoned Sirach among the 'Antilegomena', for in speaking of Clement's works he mentions the Stromateis, or 'Medleys', and says: 'He quotes in them passages from the disputed Scriptures, the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, for example, and of Jesus the son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of Barnabas, Clement, and Jude ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 299.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,