Miscellanies 2.4.17
Summary: No one can learn without a preconception, which is faith; so Isaiah's “if you do not believe, you will not understand” is true, and Heraclitus paraphrased it.
Greek text · Stählin 2:121
πῶς δʼ ἂν μὴ ἔχων τις πρόληψιν οὗ ἐφίεται μάθοι περὶ οὗ ζητεῖ; ὁ μαθὼν δὲ ἤδη κατάληψιν ποιεῖ τὴν πρόληψιν. εἰ δὲ ὁ μανθάνων οὐκ ἄνευ προλήψεως μανθάνει τῆς τῶν λεγομένων παραδεκτικῆς, αὐτὸς μὲν ὦτα ἔχει τὰ ἀκουστικὰ τῆς ἀληθείας· μακάριος δὲ ὁ λέγων εἰς ὦτα ἀκουόντων, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει μακάριος καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς ὑπακοῆς. τὸ δὲ κατακοῦσαι συνεῖναί ἐστιν. εἰ τοίνυν ἡ πίστις οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ πρόληψίς ἐστι διανοίας περὶ τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ τοῦτο ὑπακοή τε εἴρηται σύνεσίς τε καὶ πειθώ, οὐ μὴ μαθήσεταί τις ἄνευ πίστεως, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ἄνευ προλήψεως. ἀληθὲς δʼ οὖν ὂν παντὸς μᾶλλον ἀποδείκνυται τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου εἰρημένον· ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε. τοῦτο καὶ Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος τὸ λόγιον παραφράσας εἴρηκεν· ἐὰν μὴ ἔλπηται ἀνέλπιστον, οὐκ ἐξευρήσει, ἀνεξερεύνητον ἐὸν καὶ ἄπορον.
English · Claude translation
How could anyone who has no preconception of what he seeks learn about what he inquires into? The one who has learned has already turned the preconception into apprehension. And if the learner does not learn without a preconception that receives what is said, he has ears to hear the truth; and “blessed is he who speaks into the ears of those who hear,” as indeed the one who obeys is blessed too. To hear attentively is to understand. If, then, faith is nothing but a preconception of the mind about what is said, and this is called obedience, understanding, and persuasion, no one will learn without faith, since not without preconception either. So what was said by the prophet is shown to be true above all: “If you do not believe, neither will you understand.” Heraclitus of Ephesus too, paraphrasing this oracle, said: “If one does not hope for the unhoped-for, one will not find it, since it is unsearchable and trackless.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Sir 25:9, Isa 7:9 (LXX), and Heraclitus, fragment 18 (Diels–Kranz).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (full stop missing in the digital text): τὸ δὲ κατακοῦσαι συνεῖναί ἐστιν εἰ τοίνυν → τὸ δὲ κατακοῦσαι συνεῖναί ἐστιν. εἰ τοίνυν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/17/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.4.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/4/17/).
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