Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria
Even though the theology of Origen of Alexandria has shaped the Christian Tradition in almost every way, the controversies over his legacy have been seemingly endless. One major interpretative trend, for example, has suggested Origen’s theology is really akin to the heterodox Gnostics against whom he wrote than the actual teaching of the Gospel, since he (supposedly) had a disdainful attitude towards Creation and ultimately saw little redemptive meaning in the Passion.

In Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria, Mark Therrien offers an original interpretation of Origen’s theology. Focusing on some of Origen’s most important works (especially On First Principles and the Commentary on John, but ultimately making reference to his writings more broadly), this book retrieves and examines some of the foundational pillars of Origen’s theology through close readings and re-examinations of those texts. It examines eight of these theological foundations: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the end, the soul, the world, the cross, and deification. Moreover, by showing the connections between Origen’s understanding of these foundational pillars, it also shows the coherence of his theology as a whole. Taken collectively, what emerges from these eight chapters is that two doctrines specially shape Origen’s theology: Cross and Creation. As Therrien shows, Origen did not hold contempt for Creation. Rather, Origen thinks that Creation emerges from the very life of God as eternally foreknown and provided for in the person of Christ, the Wisdom of God the Father. Moreover, he also holds that, though fallen, Creation will be restored according to its original, eternal intention in God precisely through the Passion of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Cross is thus not minimalized in Origen’s theology; it is rather its very center.
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Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria
Even though the theology of Origen of Alexandria has shaped the Christian Tradition in almost every way, the controversies over his legacy have been seemingly endless. One major interpretative trend, for example, has suggested Origen’s theology is really akin to the heterodox Gnostics against whom he wrote than the actual teaching of the Gospel, since he (supposedly) had a disdainful attitude towards Creation and ultimately saw little redemptive meaning in the Passion.

In Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria, Mark Therrien offers an original interpretation of Origen’s theology. Focusing on some of Origen’s most important works (especially On First Principles and the Commentary on John, but ultimately making reference to his writings more broadly), this book retrieves and examines some of the foundational pillars of Origen’s theology through close readings and re-examinations of those texts. It examines eight of these theological foundations: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the end, the soul, the world, the cross, and deification. Moreover, by showing the connections between Origen’s understanding of these foundational pillars, it also shows the coherence of his theology as a whole. Taken collectively, what emerges from these eight chapters is that two doctrines specially shape Origen’s theology: Cross and Creation. As Therrien shows, Origen did not hold contempt for Creation. Rather, Origen thinks that Creation emerges from the very life of God as eternally foreknown and provided for in the person of Christ, the Wisdom of God the Father. Moreover, he also holds that, though fallen, Creation will be restored according to its original, eternal intention in God precisely through the Passion of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Cross is thus not minimalized in Origen’s theology; it is rather its very center.
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Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria

Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria

by Mark E. Therrien
Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria

Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria

by Mark E. Therrien

Paperback

$34.95 
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Overview

Even though the theology of Origen of Alexandria has shaped the Christian Tradition in almost every way, the controversies over his legacy have been seemingly endless. One major interpretative trend, for example, has suggested Origen’s theology is really akin to the heterodox Gnostics against whom he wrote than the actual teaching of the Gospel, since he (supposedly) had a disdainful attitude towards Creation and ultimately saw little redemptive meaning in the Passion.

In Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria, Mark Therrien offers an original interpretation of Origen’s theology. Focusing on some of Origen’s most important works (especially On First Principles and the Commentary on John, but ultimately making reference to his writings more broadly), this book retrieves and examines some of the foundational pillars of Origen’s theology through close readings and re-examinations of those texts. It examines eight of these theological foundations: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the end, the soul, the world, the cross, and deification. Moreover, by showing the connections between Origen’s understanding of these foundational pillars, it also shows the coherence of his theology as a whole. Taken collectively, what emerges from these eight chapters is that two doctrines specially shape Origen’s theology: Cross and Creation. As Therrien shows, Origen did not hold contempt for Creation. Rather, Origen thinks that Creation emerges from the very life of God as eternally foreknown and provided for in the person of Christ, the Wisdom of God the Father. Moreover, he also holds that, though fallen, Creation will be restored according to its original, eternal intention in God precisely through the Passion of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Cross is thus not minimalized in Origen’s theology; it is rather its very center.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813235301
Publisher: Catholic University of America Press
Publication date: 05/20/2022
Series: Patristic Theology
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mark E. Therrien is assistant professor of Degmatic Theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake (Mundelein Seminary).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiv

Introduction 1

Re-reading Origen as a Scriptural Theologian 1

A Note on the Textual Tradition of the Peri archon 14

1 God 23

Divine Incorporeality: Origen's Teaching in Context 25

Speaking of God: God's Incorporeality and Doing Theology 34

Chapter Summary 44

2 Christ 47

Wisdom as Origen's Preferred Epinoia for Christ 48

"In Wisdom Hast Thou Made Them All": Creation in Christ 55

God's Eternal Provision for His Creation 62

Chapter Summary 73

3 The Holy Spirit 75

The Holy Spirit as Creator? 76

Creation and Eschatology 82

Chapter Summary 87

4 The End 89

The End as Return to the Beginning? Reevaluating Origen on "Preexistence" 89

From Protology to Eschatology: Peri archon 1.2 97

The Foundations of Origen's Eschatology in the Commentary on John 98

The Church as the End: Commentary on John Book 10 101

Ecclesial Diversity and Final Corporeality 104

Chapter Summary 112

5 The Soul 115

A Myth of Souls? The Ascetic Framework of Peri archon 2.8 116

Origen's First Treatment of the Soul at Peri archon 1.1 118

Peri archon 2.8: A Pauline Psychology 122

Reading Paul through Peter: Origen's Canonical Psychology 126

From "Mind" to "Soul": A Moral or Ontological Change? 130

Is the Soul Fallen qua Soul? Origen on the Soul of Christ 136

Chapter Summary 139

6 The World 145

The Equivocity of World (Kosmos) in Origen's Theology 147

A Visible World from Things Unseen: Origen on the Katabole 155

The Fall of Lucifer as a "Beginning" of the World 162

"Subjected in Hope": The World's Fulfillment in God 169

Chapter Summary 177

7 The Cross 181

How to Read Jesus: Origen on the "Gospel" 184

Seeing the Lamb, Perceiving the Father 197

The Cross as the Revelation of the God Who Is Love 203

The Eternal Gospel: The Cross and the Apokatastasis 212

Chapter Summary 220

8 Deification 223

The Soul's Union with the Word: Origen's Early Speculations 225

Freedom, Weakness, and the Cross: Later Developments 233

The Deification of Jesus's Soul in the Passion 243

Chapter Summary 257

Epilogue: Origen the Martyr 261

Bibliography 271

Index 291

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