Probably wrote
in early 70. Various ancient sources place him as the first, second, or third
successor of St. Peter. (Most commonly, he is held to be the third, after Linus
and Cletus.) He was the author of a single surviving Letter to the Corinthians, which is often dated around 95, but this
is too late a date.
William Jurgens points to internal evidence that
places it no later than 80 or so (the date he favors) and possibly up to ten
years earlier. John A. T. Robinson shows internal evidence that places it in
the first part of the year 70. Specifically, Clement refers to sacrifices still
being offered at the temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in July of 70.
Clement also refers to the repeated crises that have prevented him from writing
to the Corinthians until now, which is a likely reference to the violent “year
of four emperors” in 69, a time of civil war that followed the forced suicide
of Nero in 68. In it Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were successively acclaimed
emperor and then killed or forced to commit suicide before Vespasian finally
took office.
The epistle may
or may not have been written before Clement was pope. He was, in any event, a
major figure of the period, as demonstrated by the fact that a number of later
works were attributed to him or written about him. Also referred to as “Clement
of Rome.”
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