Clement of Alexandria, Early Christian Instruction and the 'Catechetical School'

With a scant biography and a notoriously complex oeuvre, Clement of Alexandria survives as one of the most enigmatic early Christian figures. He was traditionally understood as the head of an Alexandrian Catechetical School, succeeding Pantaenus and preceding the more famous Origen. With Eusebius traditionally read as our earliest witness to such a school, however, the anachronism of formal catechetical institution in the second century has long divided scholars. This Element both reintroduces this complex figure and reconsiders the Eusebian presentation of the so-called Catechetical School. Through a close reading of both Eusebius and Clement a new understanding of Clement's pedagogical context is explored. Eusebius does not suggest an early formal institution but is in fact deliberate in describing a far looser, retrospective association between these early Christian intellectuals. With the spectre of an anachronistic Catechetical School banished, the historical reality of Clement's second-century instruction can be retrieved and reevaluated.