Alexandria, School of
Alexandria, School of
It is customary to contrast the School of Alexandria to established rules of interpretation that the Christians
the School* of Antioch, but these two expressions con- adopted (see Hadot 1987, on Origen’s commentary on
ceal a great variety of phenomena. The expression The Song of Songs). For their part, Gnostic influences,
“School of Alexandria” (see Le Boulluec, “L’école also bearing the stamp of Platonism, oriented the un-
d’Alexandrie: De quelques aventures d’un concept his- derstanding of Scripture in an esoteric direction. For
toriographique,” in coll. 1987) refers on the one hand example, Clement frequently referred to the Eleusinian
to a certain method of exegesis* and on the other to mysteries to illustrate by analogy the way in which the
strictly theological questions connected successively to teachings of Christ* should be transmitted and under-
the very origins of Alexandrian Christianity, to the fight stood (Strom. VI, 15). Knowledge was not given to ev-
against Arianism*, and to the Nestorian crisis. eryone (Strom. V, 3), and for Clement as for Origen,
there were hidden meanings in Scripture, so that re-
a) Historical Background. Around the second cen- course to allegorical exegesis was necessary in order to
tury B.C., the large Jewish community of Alexandria reveal them. If Origen, who became very influential in
produced the translation* of the Hebrew Bible into both East and West, was the master of this technique
Greek, known as the Septuagint. According to a tradi- (Treatise of Principles IV, 1–3; see Lubac* 1950), he
tion recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea (HE II, 16), the was principally indebted to Philo of Alexandria (first
apostle* Mark was the first to evangelize Egypt, but century B.C.), himself heir to the dual Jewish and Greek
very little is known about the earliest Christian com- tradition (see Nikiprowetzky 1977 and Runnia 1995).
munity of Alexandria. Pagan and Christian philoso- The exegetical work of Hilary of Poitiers follows in
phers succeeded one another in Alexandria, among the tradition of Origen, and it was thanks to the Latin
them Pantaenus and Clement, before the establishment translations of Origen’s works, made by Rufinus and
of the Didaskaleion, a catechetical school that was of- Jerome as early as the fourth century, that Alexandrian
ficially dependent on the church*. Origen was its first hermeneutics* was disseminated in the West. The doc-
leader, during the episcopate of Demetrius (189–231), trine of the four senses of Scripture, put forward by Cas-
and Didymus was his distant successor in the late sian and later by Gregory* the Great, was also derived
fourth century. Hellenism, Judeo-Christianity, and from the triple sense defined by Origen (see Simonetti,
Gnosticism, with its two illustrious representatives, “Quelques considérations sur l’influence et la destinée
Basilides and Valentinus (see Ritter in coll. 1987), thus de l’alexandrinisme en Occident,” in coll. 1987).
formed the crucible in which Christians both appropri-
ated and challenged ways of thought and modes of ex- c) Alexandrian Theologies of the Logos. The central
pression that were fruitful for the development of place given by the Alexandrians to the doctrine of the
Christian orthodoxy. Although the influence of Logos (Word*) had two consequences: Alexandrian
Alexandria was soon recognized, so that it was even thought played a decisive role in Christology*, and
made a patriarchate*, its relations with the Christianity there was a recurring risk of heterodox deviations. The
of the Egyptian interior—and in the fourth century Johannine uses of the term Logos certainly provided a
with nascent monasticism*—were sometimes difficult. scriptural basis, but the complex philosophical heri-
Crises and schisms* followed one after another in tage of the notion and its use (in the plural) by the
Alexandria, as witnessed in particular by the troubled Gnostics gave rise to ambiguities from the outset.
history of the episcopate of Athanasius*. Clement’s discourse on the eternal Logos of God* and
its manifestation in the flesh opposed the singleness of
b) Alexandrian Exegesis. This was not limited, as a the Logos to the Gnostic systems, but it could seem
simplistic contrast between Alexandria and Antioch very much like Docetism*. After Clement, Origen
might lead one to believe, to a triumph of allegory over seems not to have tied the mediating role of the Logos
the literal meaning of the Scriptures*. To begin with, it solely to the Incarnation* (see his commentary on 1
was rooted in the secular philosophical tradition. The Tm 2:5 in Princ. II, 6, 1; Contra Celsum III, 34).
Neoplatonist commentators on Plato and Aristotle had Athanasius, relying similarly on an affirmation of the
19
Alexandria, School of
preeminence of the Logos in redemption as well as in tian Christianity: Studies in Antiquity and Christianity,
creation, confined himself to a theology of the Logos- Philadelphia.
I. Hadot (1987), “Les introductions aux commentaires exégé-
sarx (Grillmeier 1979) and in a sense left in suspension tiques chez les auteurs néoplatoniciens et les auteurs chré-
the questions of the soul* and of human knowledge of tiens,” in M. Tardieu (Ed.), Les règles de l’interprétation,
Christ. These Christologies took their place within a Paris, 99–122.
cultural model that was primarily Platonic (Simonetti Coll. (1987), Alexandrina: Hellénisme, judaïsme et christian-
1992), and it was only later developments in Cappado- isme à Alexandrie. Offered to P. C. Mondésert, Paris.
M. Simonetti (1992), “Modelli culturali nella cristianità orien-
cia which were to free them from this. tale del II-III secolo,” in De Tertullien aux Mozarabes. Of-
• R. Cadiou (1935), La jeunesse d’Origène: Histoire de l’école fered to J. Fontaine, Ed. J.-C. Fredouille, Paris, 381–92.
B. Pouderon (1994), “Le témoignage du Codex Barrocianus
d’Alexandrie au début du IIIe s., Paris.
C. Mondésert (1944), Clément d’Alexandrie: Introduction à 142 sur Athénagore et les origines du Didaskaleion
l’étude de sa pensée religieuse à partir de l’Écriture, Paris. d’Alexandrie,” in G. Argoud (Ed.), Science et vie intel-
J. Guillet (1947), “Les exégèses d’Alexandrie et d’Antioche, lectuelle à Alexandrie. (Ier-IIIe s. ap. J.-C.), Mémoires XIV,
conflit ou malentendu?” RSR 34, 257–302. Saint-Étienne, 163–224.
H. de Lubac (1950), Histoire et Esprit: L’intelligence de l’Écri- D. T. Runnia (1995), Philo and the Church Fathers, Leyden-
ture d’après Origène, Paris. New York-Köln.
V. Nikiprowetzki (1977), L’interprétation de l’Écriture chez Françoise Vinel
Philon d’Alexandrie: Son caractère et sa portée, Leyden.
A. Grillmeier (1979), Jesus der Christus im Glauben der
Kirche, vol. 1, Freiburg-Basel-Vienna.
M. Simonetti (1985), Lettera e/o allegoria: Un contributo alla See also Antioch, School of; Gnosis; Patriarchate;
storia dell’esegesi patristica, Rome. Platonism, Christian; Scripture, Senses of; Sto-
B. A. Pearson, J. E. Goehring (Ed.) (1986), The Roots of Egyp- icism, Christian
Allegory. See Narrative; Scripture, Senses of
Almightiness. See Omnipotence, Divine
Alphonsus Liguori
1696–1787
Alphonsus Liguori was a precocious child. From an af- In 1713 he received a doctorate in utroque jure (civil
fluent family, he received a classical education at home and canon* law) and began practicing law. In 1723 he
and matriculated in the faculty of law* at the age of 12. left the bar and entered a seminary where he studied
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