Jim Kelhoffer: A Non-Introduction to the Second Letter of Clement

• Centre for Advanced Studies
• Open Talk

How does one write an introduction to a work for which nearly all isagogic questions are uncertain (e.g., author, date, place of composition, and opponents)? This is a challenge for the interpretation of scores of “apocryphal” Christian writings. In regard to 2 Clement, I find most scholars’ proposals inconclusive. The first part of my commentary (in progress) will thus be more of a “non-introduction” than an introduction, which leaves me with a quandary: how to write an inviting introduction to the commentary and, especially, to the work itself.