14. Civic Concord And Cosmic Harmony

Abstract

In his Carl Newell Jackson Lectures on early Christianity and the Greek paideia, delivered at Harvard in 1960, Werner Jaeger briefly analysed First Clement against the background of the Greek rhetorical tradition, comparing Clement to Demosthenens. The use of the term concord to refer to cosmic harmony is less usual than its combination with peace in reference to civic unanimity. A survey of the use of concord in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods has confirmed that in the use of the example of cosmic concord, Dio Chrysostom and Aelius Aristides, inter alia, prove to be the closest to Clem. 20:3. Although the majority of occurrences refer to civic or household concord, there is some interference between civic concord and cosmic harmony. The notion of cosmic concord, however, is integrated into Jewish belief in the only God, the Creator.Keywords: civic concord; cosmic harmony; first Clement; Greek rhetorical tradition; Hellenistic period