The biblical exegete, philosopher, polymath, and apologist for Christianity Clement of Alexandria is known primarily for three works: the Protreptikos, an invitation to the Christian faith modelled on invitations to the philosophical life; the Paidagogos, a treatise on the Christian way of life addressed to new believers; and his most advanced surviving work of theological reflection, the Stromateis. This last, the title of which means something like ‘patchwork quilts’, is made up of individual chapters on a wide variety of topics, woven together like different-coloured threads in a tapestry. The deliberately miscellaneous character of the work poses particular challenges for interpreters; Clement says that he is scattering germs of his teaching like seeds in a meadow, so that it can be grasped by those ready to receive it but concealed from the less mature (Stromateis 6.1.2.1-3). Ashwin-Siejkowski's welcome study of this difficult author is both wide-ranging and clearly focused; he aims ‘to see how [Clement's] eclectic hermeneutics harmoniously synthesize very diverse components of his cultural background, particularly Hellenistic Judaism, in order to produce an inspiring project of perfection’ (p. 13).

The book is furnished with extensive footnotes that summarise scholarship on an impressive range of subjects. Part i introduces Clement and considers key factors in his cultural context. The first chapter discusses the scanty evidence about his life, suggesting that Clement may have been a ‘god-fearer’ in the synagogue in Athens before he discovered the Christian Gospel. Ashwin-Siejkowski then surveys three significant factors in Clement's cultural context: Hellenistic Judaism (chapter ii), Greek philosophical schools (chapter iii) and groups that Ashwin-Siejkowski calls ‘Hetero-Gnostics’ (chapter iv). The best of these chapters, and Ashwin-Siejkowski's most important contribution to the understanding of Clement, concerns Hellenistic Judaism. Ashwin-Siejkowski extends Annewies Van den Hoek's Clement of Alexandria and his use of Philo in the ‘Stromateis’ (Leiden 1988) by investigating Clement's use of Jewish sapiential literature (especially Proverbs, the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach). He shows persuasively how Clement builds on these texts when he presents Moses and the high priest as models of perfection and in his development of the idea that fear of the Lord is the ‘beginning of wisdom’.

Chapter iii treats the ideals of Pythagoras and Plato, the Stoic view of philosophy as therapy, and eclecticism, which Ashwin-Siejkowski maintains is chosen by Clement as a specific hermeneutical method. This point seems to be directed against the contention of Salvatore Lilla (Clement of Alexandria: a study in Christian Platonism and Gnosticism, Oxford 1971) that Clement's eclectic philosophy is largely derived from a synthesis made by earlier Middle Platonists, though debate with Lilla is confined to a footnote (p. 100 n. 125). Chapter iv argues that Clement's ideal of ‘Gnostic’ perfection was formulated in dialogue with the teachings of ‘Hetero-Gnostics’, focusing on Basilides and Valentinus and their disciples and libertine groups and extreme ascetics with whom Clement takes issue in Stromateis 3. After the detailed discussion of Basilides (pp. 115–23), the section on Valentinus and his followers (pp. 123–6) is surpringly brief, given indications that of the ‘Hetero-Gnostics’ this group was Clement's most significant dialogue partner. (Evidence for this includes Clement's compilation of different Valentinian texts called the Excerpts of Theodotus).

In part ii Ashwin-Siejkowski turns to Clement's ‘project’ of perfection. It is well-known that Clement pictures Christian life as a gradual progression from ‘faith’ to gnosis, culminating in ascent to the direct contemplation of God. Ashwin-Siejkowski shows in detail how Clement adapts ideas from the Bible and Greek philosophy to describe a coherent curriculum of education in three stages, carefully noting points where Clement diverges from his philosophical sources, most importantly in the ‘Logos-centrism’ of his theory of perfection. Ashwin-Siejkowski asserts that ‘The Gnostic is first and foremost an exegete and hermeneutist, he or she is a man or woman of “books” and a teacher/spiritual guide of others’ (p. 153). Clement understands the ‘image’ of God in Genesis i.26 to refer to the human rational faculty, while achieving divine ‘likeness’ requires a long process of perfection. Ashwin-Siejkowski offers a salutary corrective to the view that Clement's ‘Gnostic’ is a solitary mystic, rightly drawing attention to Clement's emphasis on love at the culmination of Christian life (a point also stressed by Eric Osborn in his Clement of Alexandria, Cambridge 2005). He argues that ‘Clement puts the accent not on an individualistic, private and subjective metamorphosis but rather on the connection and practical application of the whole experience in the context of the community’ (p. 181). While there is some truth in this, Ashwin-Siejkowski exaggerates the prominence of neighbour-love in Clement's writings. Texts such as Stromateis 7.3.13.1–4 do speak of love of neighbour alongside the more prominent love for God, but not all passages cited by Ashwin-Siejkowski's do (see, for example, Stromateis 4.130.5 and 6.75.2 cited at p. 172).

In chapter vi Ashwin-Siejkowski sets out to fill a significant gap in scholarship by giving sustained attention to Clement's ecclesiology. He takes a maximal view of the importance of the ekklesia (i.e. the universal, catholic Church) in Clement's theology, arguing that ‘Ecclesiology, as Clement viewed it, is the natural background to the achievement of perfection. The church as a school, a very important symbol in Clement's theory, educates the Christian in the various disciplines necessary in this progress towards wisdom’ (p. 224). Ashwin-Siejkowski's assemblage of texts, the most telling of which come from the Paidagogos and Stromateis 7, is impressive. But the interpretation of some passages seems forced; some do not use the word ekklesia, and it is assumed rather than argued that they none the less emphasise the Church (see, for example, pp. 219–21 on Stromateis 1.27.1). Ashwin-Siejkowski assumes that Clement's ecclesiology can be inferred from his Christology, for example in a long discussion of Paidagogos 3.98.1–2 (pp. 212–19), which in Stählin's text begins: ‘The church is the school [didaskaleion] and her bridegroom is the only teacher.’ Ashwin-Siejkowski does not point out that the word didaskaleion, attested only here in Clement's extant works, is not the mansucript reading but an emendation suggested by Eduard Schwartz. None the less, though Ashwin-Siejkowski overreaches to make his point, his argument that for Clement membership in the (Great) Church is a presupposition for the pursuit of perfection is well taken.

Ashwin-Siejkowski draws together the many threads of his study in a brief conclusion, followed by a useful bibliography, a short general index and an index of modern authors. Given the wealth of topics that Ashwin-Siejkowski addresses, a fuller subject index would have been useful, as well as an index of biblical texts and one of the Clementine texts that are discussed at length. For the sake of those who make use of English translations of Clement's writings, it would have been helpful to include chapter numbers in the text references, since Stählin's section numbers are not found in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, the most readily available English translation of all of Clement's works and the only one available for books iv–vi of the Stromateis.

In sum Ashwin-Siejkowski's thoroughly-researched study is a major contribution to our understanding of Clement's theological project which deserves a wide audience. For those unfamiliar with Clement's writings it provides an accessible introduction to Clement and the complexity of his intellectual and religious context. For those more familiar with Clement it shows persuasively and in detail how his ‘project of perfection’ took shape in lively conversation with several alternative visions of the ultimate human good.