SOURCE: “Stoic Indifferents and Christian Indifference in Clement of Alexandria,” in Traditio, Vol. 19, 1963, pp. 438-46.

In the following essay, Donahue explains how Clement's usage of the term “indifferent” was influenced by Stoic notions of indifference; he also cites it as an example of how Clement adapted the thoughts of others into his own teachings of a practical Christian morality.

Throughout the Paedagogos, the Stromata, and the Quis dives salvetur? Clement of Alexandria uses the term ‘indifferent’…or one of its derivatives. In all of these instances except three, the term is found in the moral sense redolent of Stoic usage.¹ The present study attempts to treat by a comprehensive analysis of the term the meaning of ‘indifferent’ in Clement, its significance for his moral ascesis, and certain problems that arise from its use. Because of the marked similarity between Clement's usage of this term and that of the...