Jul 30, 2020
“In accordance with the view of the apostle Paul, let us give attention to the text - that we can, as he himself says, receive ‘the mind of Christ’ and know ‘the things that are given us by God.’”
After St. Paul, Origen of
Alexandria may well have been the most titanic intellectual figure
of the first three centuries of Christianity.
In
the breadth of his writings and in the depth of his influence,
Origen is equaled by few among the Church Fathers. He brought the
Catechetical School of Alexandria to its height after succeeding
Clement as its head. He was the first to make Scriptural exegesis
into a science. His works were copied by Sts. Jerome and Ambrose
among many others, and he influenced great medieval mystics like
St. Bernard and Meister Eckhart. He dared to go where no Christian
thinker had gone before — and though he fell into some theological
errors, he nevertheless submitted all his thought to the judgment
of the Universal Church and attained something very close to a
martyr’s death.
Origen’s homilies are simple, conversational and spiritually edifying. One is struck by his conviction that every word, every grammatical construction of Scripture has a purpose, and by his care not to let any meaning God intended go to waste. His interpretations give the lie to contemporary mischaracterizations of how early Christians understood the bible, especially with regard to the creation texts.
Notes
Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/46619/origen-homilies-on-genesis-and-exodus
Way of the Fathers, Ep. 19—Origen: The Most Controversial Christian Ever? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/life-origen-most-controversial-christian-ever/
Way of the Fathers, Ep. 20—Origen, Part 2: Hero, Heretic—or Hybrid? https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/origen-part-2-hero-heretic-or-hybrid/
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