What is "stromata"

Stroma \Stro"ma\, n.; pl. Stromata. [L., a bed covering, Gr. ? a couch or bed.]

1. (Anat.)

   1. The connective tissue or supporting framework of an organ; as, the stroma of the kidney.

   2. The spongy, colorless framework of a red blood corpuscle or other cell.

2. (Bot.) A layer or mass of cellular tissue, especially that part of the thallus of certain fungi which incloses the perithecia.

n. (plural of stroma English)

1. n. the dense colorless framework of a chloroplast

2. the supporting tissue of an organ (as opposed to parenchyma)

3. [also: stromata (pl)]

See stroma

The Stromata or Stromateis (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork") is the third in Clement of Alexandria's trilogy of works on the Christian life. Clement titled this work Stromateis, "patchwork," because it deals with such a variety of matters. It goes further than its two predecessors and aims at the perfection of the Christian life by initiation into complete knowledge.

It attempts, on the basis of Scripture and tradition, to give such an account of the Christian faith as shall answer all the demands of learned men, and conduct the student into the innermost realities of his belief.

Clement intended to make but one book of this; at least seven grew out of it, without his having treated all the subjects proposed. The absence of certain things definitely promised has led scholars to ask whether he wrote an eighth book, as would appear from Eusebius (VI. xiii. 1) and the Florilegia, and various attempts have been made to identify with it short or fragmentary treatises appearing among his remains. In any case the "excerpts" and "selections", which, with part of a treatise on logical method, are designated as the eighth book in the single 11th-century manuscript of the Stromata, are not parts of the Hypotyposes, which Clement is known to have written. This work was a brief commentary on selected passages covering the whole Bible, as is shown in the fragments preserved by Oecumenius and in the Latin version of the commentary on the Catholic Epistles made at the instance of Cassiodorus.

Stromata is Charlotte Martin's follow up to On Your Shore and her second full-length release, on her own label.

The title is derived from "the connective tissue framework of an organ, gland, or other structure, as distinguished from the tissues performing the special function of the organ or part".

Matin stated: "When I finished the actual song, I found the word stromata first of all. I'd been researching intelligent science, space and time travel, the eleven dimensions of God and all this crazy stuff. I'm a very spiritual person and upon my readings I came across the word stromata and I really loved what it represented and what it stood for. It means it's the framework of a cell. There's many definitions. Someone told me that it's a spiritual or religious term. I was looking at it as a scientific term but I used basically a metaphoric explanation as to why everything connects and disconnects and why basically in the last year my life has fallen apart and got put back together. And the words in the song seemed to encapsulate and sum up everything that I was feeling and what I thought was happening in the world. There were just more than terrible things happening that I don't understand."

The subject matter of many of the songs can be considered darker than previous releases, as the themes include overdosing ("Pills"), an eating disorder and the acceptance of the body ("Drip") and trying to cut out an unhealthy relationship ("Cut the Cord").

In the run up to the album's release, two EPs were released. Each featured the title track and two bonus tracks. These bonus tracks were "Dust," "Empty Wells," "Crimson Sky" and "Apology", all written by Charlotte Martin.