Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical LifeScriptural interpretation was an important form of scholarship for Christians in late antiquity. For no one does this claim ring more true than Origen of Alexandria (185-254), one of the most prolific scholars of Scripture in early Christianity. This book examines his approach to the Bible through a biographical lens: the focus is on his account of the scriptural interpreter, the animating centre of the exegetical enterprise. In pursuing this largely neglected line of inquiry, Peter W. Martens discloses the contours of Origen's sweeping vision of scriptural exegesis as a way of life. For Origen, ideal interpreters were far more than philologists steeped in the skills conveyed by Greco-Roman education. Their profile also included a commitment to Christianity from which they gathered a spectrum of loyalties, guidelines, dispositions, relationships and doctrines that tangibly shaped how they practiced and thought about their biblical scholarship. The study explores the many ways in which Origen thought ideal scriptural interpreters (himself included) embarked upon a way of life, indeed a way of salvation, culminating in the everlasting contemplation of God. This new and integrative thesis takes seriously how the discipline of scriptural interpretation was envisioned by one of its pioneering and most influential practitioners. |
Other editions - View all
Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter William Martens No preview available - 2014 |
Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter W. Martens No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
allegorical exegesis allegorical interpretation ancient apostles Basilides biblical scholarship Caesarea Caesarea Maritima Celsus chapter Christ Christian Scriptures church Comm Jn Comm Matt Comm Rom Comm Song contends criticism critique discipline discussion divine doctrines Ebionites eschatological Eusebius examine exegetical faith Gnostic God's gospel Greco-Roman Greek Hebrew Heracleon heterodox Hexapla History and Spirit Hom Ex Hom Gen Hom Josh Hom Lev Hom Lk Hom Num Homilies ideal interpreter instance interpreter of Scripture interpreter's Jeroboam Jesus Jewish exegesis Jewish literalism Jews Judaism knowledge law and prophets letter literature Lk Frg Lubac Marcion mind moral Moses Nautin Neuschäfer Old Testament Origen continues Origen offers Origenes als Philologe passages where Origen Phil philological philosophical prayer Principles R. P. C. Hanson readers reading refers scholarly scriptural interpretation scriptural message scriptural study Scripture's Septuagint Song of Songs soul teaching theme Theologie things traditions wisdom Word writings καὶ τῆς τὸ τῶν