Excerpts from Theodotus 53.4

Summary: Like the Demiurge, human beings think they act on their own, unaware of Wisdom's moving them.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:124

ἅτε γὰρ Δημιουργὸς ἀδήλως κινούμενος ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας οἴεται αὐτοκίνητος εἶναι ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι.

For just as the Demiurge, moved by Wisdom without knowing it, thinks he is self-moved, so too do human beings.

Source: Stählin 3:124 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics: Heresy

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 53.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/53/4/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 53.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/53/4/).