In Strom. II, 20, 103, 1 - 126, 4 Clement of Alexandria presents man's way of assimilation to God. Already at the beginning of his argumentation (Strom. II, 19, 102, 6), he states that human being's similarity to God can be achieved solely on the level of reason and mind. After this statement, however, Clement puts the emphasis on the presentation of the human psyche. His teaching on the psyche is influenced by the external effects of four doctrinal groups:
1) Gnostic authors, mainly Basilides, Isidorus and Valentinus.
2) Christian “psychology” revealed from the writings of the Canonic revelation and inspired teachings.
3) The teaching of the apostolic fathers.
4) The teaching of philosophers including Philo of Alexandria.
In the examined chapter Clement made a number of valuable quotations from the writings of the above mentioned intellectuals, thus, in addition to presenting his teaching on human psyche, I would like to put a special emphasis on presenting the author's argumentation method, which builds on the conscious arrangement of diverse quotations.
The discussion on the doctrine of the human soul’s free will can also be found in this chapter as well as the detailed description of the processes proceeding in human psyche, onto which, according to our authors, the images of revealed biblical truths have beneficial effects.
The aim of this paper is to point out how much the hetorodox opinions were the catalysts of the teaching of Clement of Alexandria, which inspired the expression of a clarified Christian “psychology”.
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