The Life of Jesus in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria

by: Johnson, S.B.

The Life of Jesus in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria
Author:
Samuel B. Johnson, Mount St. Mary?s Seminary & School of Theology, Ohio

Origen of Alexandria stands at the headwaters of the entire history of Gospel reading. In this study of the earliest extant Gospel commentaries, Samuel Johnson explores questions, often associated with modern Gospel criticism, that were already formative of the first moments of the Christian interpretative tradition. Origen's approach to the Gospels in fact arose from straightforward historical and literary critical judgments: the Gospel narratives interweave things that happened with things that did not. Origen discerned that the Gospels depict events in Jesus's life not merely as matters of historical fact, but also figuratively. He did not just interpret the Gospels allegorically. Johnson demonstrates that Origen believed the Gospel writers themselves were figurative readers of the life of Jesus. Origen thus found no contradiction between discerning the truth of the Christian Gospels and facing the critical challenges of their literary form and formation. Johnson's study shows how they constitute a single unified vision.

Presents Origen's first principles for discerning what the Gospels are and how to approach the historical and literary challenges occasioned by their differing narratives of Jesus's life
Challenges contemporary Gospel scholarship by surfacing an ancient figure's rigorous engagement with fundamental questions more often associated with modern historical and literary criticism
Offers a reimagining of the principles and practice of early Christian Gospel interpretation through Origen's own Gospel readings

Table of Contents
Part I. First Principles: What is a Gospel, According to Origen?:
1. What is a Gospel? Reintroducing Origen
2. Literary form: impediments and impossibilities
3. Literary formation: seeing in the spirit
Part II. A Sign for This Generation: Reading the Gospels with Origen: Part II. Introduction: Spirit and Power:
4. Between the rivers Jordan and Chebar: Jesus's baptism
5. Seeing the Word: the Lukan infancy narrative
6. Difference and discord: ascending to Jerusalem
7. The sign of his presence: the coming of the son of man
Conclusion: the eternal Gospel
Bibliography
Scripture Index
General Index.

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