Edited by Alfons Fürst
Advisory Board:
Samuel Fernández (Santiago de Chile), Peter Gemeinhardt (Göttingen), Sarah Hutton (York), Anders-Christian Jacobsen (Aarhus), Peter W. Martens (Saint Louis), Olivier Munnich (Paris), Marco Rizzi (Mailand), Martin Wallraff (München)
Adamantiana is a peer-review series dedicated to Origen and his legacy. Published by Aschendorff Verlag since 2011.
Der vorliegende Band über die Auslegung von Psalm 82 (81 LXX) in der Alten Kirche ist die erste Monographie zur Interpretation einer der im Jahr 2012 neuentdeckten Psalmenhomilien des Origenes von Alexandria. Die antiken christlichen Exegeten deuteten die Aussagen dieses Psalms über „Götter“ und „Söhne des Höchsten“ auf die Vergöttlichung des Menschen als Ziel des Lebens. Origenes bezog diese ebenso philosophische wie christliche Idee auf den ganzen Menschen aus Geist, Seele und Leib und verknüpfte sie mit markanten sozialkritischen und sozialethischen Mahnungen. In der Spätantike verschoben sich diese Akzente in den christologischen Debatten dahin, den Abstand zwischen Gott und Mensch schärfer zu akzentuieren, als Origenes dies in seinem panentheistischen Weltbild getan hatte. Diese neue Predigt des Origenes wirft damit nicht nur neues Licht auf die altkirchliche Psalmenauslegung, sondern eröffnet auch neue Einsichten in die Entwicklung und Gestaltwerdung der Christologie in der Spätantike. Ein Anhang enthält die erste deutsche Übersetzung der Predigt mit ausführlicher Kommentierung.
Alfons Fürst, Vergöttlichung und Sozialethik. Die neuentdeckte Homilie des Origenes über Psalm 82 (81 LXX) im auslegungsgeschichtlichen Kontext (Adamantiana 29), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2024, 234 Seiten, 52€. ISBN 978-3-402-13773-4
Der Band vereinigt Beiträge, in denen Theo Kobusch die Stellung und Bedeutung des christlichen Philosophen Origenes aus Alexandria in der Geschichte der Philosophie einer Neubewertung unterzieht. Origenes ist der erste Denker in der langen Geschichte des Freiheitsdenkens, der Freiheit als ontologisches Prinzip begreift und die zentralen Themen philosophischen Denkens von diesem her konzipiert. In der Freiheitsmetaphysik des Origenes und der von ihm begründeten Denktradition konstituiert die freie Selbstbestimmung Gottes und des Menschen als eigenes Reich der Moralität den Bereich des naturhaft gegebenen Seins.
Theo Kobusch, Metaphysik der Freiheit. Ausgewählte Abhandlungen von Origenes bis in die Neuzeit (Adamantiana 28), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2023, 411 Seiten, 68€. ISBN 978-3-402-13766-6
At the outbreak of the Reformations, the need for stable and authoritative support was acutely felt on all sides, engaged as they were in a conflict of interpretations of the core of Christianity. Patristic anthologies were the perfect tool for the roles of polemical weapons and doctrinal handbooks, as they selected apt passages from the Fathers of the Church to prove, explain and promote the articles of the new confessions of faith and testify to antiquity. In a paradigm dominated by the figure of Augustine, whose exegesis of Scripture and understanding of the Gospel was very important for many Reformers, these anthologies tried to demonstrate the broad consensus of the majority of the ancient writers with the doctrines advocated by them.
This volume offers an original perspective on the reception of Origen of Alexandria, one of the most profound and influential philosophers and exegetes of Late Antiquity, in three patristic anthologies of the 16th century. It explores how the voice of Origen, who was recognized by Luther and Melanchthon as a staunch opponent of their doctrines, is harmonized with the theological stances of the anthologies. The anomaly represented by the proposed image of a “Protestant Origen” helps us to decipher larger trends of the European Reformations, in their relationship with authority and memory.
Maria Fallica, The Protestant Origen. Polemical Use and Theological Appropriation of Origen
in 16th Century Patristic Anthologies (Adamantiana 27), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2022, 210 Seiten, 39€. ISBN 978-3-402-13758-1
Der Traktat gegen die Origenisten (I Am Amazed / Ich wundere mich), den Schenute von Atripe, der Abt des Weißen Klosters in Oberägypten, wohl um 445 verfasst hat, ist ein für die ägyptische Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte des 5. Jahrhunderts höchst aufschlussreiches Dokument. Im Rückgriff auf den antiorigenistischen Osterfestbrief des Patriarchen Theophilus von Alexandria aus dem Jahr 401, der in einer lateinischen Übersetzung des Hieronymus überliefert ist (Brief 96 in seinem Briefcorpus), wandte Schenute sich gegen die Verbreitung apokrypher Schriften, mit denen möglicherweise die gnostischen Codices von Nag Hammadi gemeint waren, und gegen verschiedene Häresien, zu seiner Zeit besonders gegen den Nestorianismus. Insbesondere kritisierte er origenistische Vorstellungen in der Christologie, Anthropologie und Eschatologie bezüglich der Seelenlehre und der leiblichen Auferstehung. Sein Traktat ist ein einzigartiges Zeugnis für die Wirkungsgeschichte des Origenes im spätantiken koptischen Ägypten.
Alfons Fürst (Hg.), Origenes im koptischen Ägypten. Der Traktat des Schenute von Atripe gegen die Origenisten (Adamantiana 26), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2022, 275 Seiten, 52€. ISBN 978-3-402-13764-2
Der inhaltliche Einfluss des biblischen Glaubens auf die abendländische Philosophie ist ein unleugbares und allgemein bekanntes Faktum. Weniger bekannt ist jedoch der Umstand, dass sich die Philosophie ihrerseits von der Spätantike bis in unsere Zeit mit dem Text der Heiligen Schrift auseinandergesetzt hat, um die darin enthaltenen Einsichten über Gott, Welt und Mensch auf ihren Wahrheitsanspruch hin zu prüfen und mit dem natürlichen Vernunftdenken in Einklang zu bringen. Der vorliegende Band zeichnet die vielstimmige und komplexe Geschichte dieses Modells einer philosophischen Schriftauslegung anhand von zehn Autoren aus dem 3.-20. Jahrhundert nach, die sich gegenüber der These einer grundsätzlichen Harmonie von biblischer Offenbarung und philosophischer Vernunft teils positiv, teils kritisch positioniert haben. Daran wird erkennbar, dass ein inhaltlicher, an der Wahrheitsfrage orientierter Dialog zwischen diesen beiden Formen der Wirklichkeitsdeutung nach wie vor unverzichtbar ist und nicht vorschnell einer Re-Mythisierung der Welt und des Göttlichen unter „nachmetaphysischen“ Vorzeichen geopfert werden sollte.
Martina Roesner (Hg.), Philosophische Schriftauslegung. Geschichte eines ungewöhnlichen Programms (Adamantiana 25), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2022, 228 Seiten, 42€. ISBN 978-3-402-13762-8
Die Studie befasst sich mit dem Verhältnis Gregors von Nyssa zu Origenes und stellt die theologische Position beider frühchristlichen Autoren dar. Dass Gregor innerhalb seiner Lehrentwicklung dem berühmten alexandrinischen Gelehrten viel verdankt, ist in der Forschung zwar bekannt, dabei wird jedoch seine Beziehung zu Origenes äußerst widersprüchlich bestimmt. Die vorliegende Untersuchung widmet sich dem möglichen Einfluss des origeneischen Lehrsystems auf Gregor von Nyssa. Dessen Verhältnis zum Alexandriner wird an entscheidenden Eckpunkten bestimmt. Dazu eignen sich insbesondere die Protologie und die Eschatologie, deren lehrmäßige Ausgestaltung bereits vor der Zeit Gregors zwischen den frühchristlichen Theologen des dritten Jahrhunderts umstritten war. Hierbei zeigt sich, dass Gregor von Nyssa fest in der „origenistischen“ Tradition verwurzelt ist. Deutlich wird dies auch durch einen Vergleich mit den beiden typischen zeitgenössischen „Origenisten“ Didymus von Alexandrien und Evagrius Ponticus. In wesentlichen Punkten seiner Origenesrezeption stimmt Gregor mit den führenden Vertretern des Origenismus seiner Zeit überein, setzt aber auch entscheidende eigene Akzente. Die Studie wirft somit ein neues Licht auf Gregors Theologie, indem diese den Nyssener als einen bedeutsamen Anhänger des Origenes vor dem Ausbruch des ersten origenistischen Streits erweist.
Nikolai Kiel, Das Erbe des Origenes bei Gregor von Nyssa. Protologie und Eschatologie im Kontext des Origenismus (Adamantiana 24), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2022, 653 Seiten, 94€. ISBN 978-3-402-13760-4
Rezension von Joseph S. O'Leary in The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, 2023.
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Negotiating HeresyThe Reception of Origen in Jerome's Eschatalogical Thought Jerome of Stridon has gone down in the history of Christianity as a fierce defender of what he considered to be orthodox teaching, and, in particular, as a convinced opponent of Origenism. However, this champion of orthodoxy often found himself suspected of relying on heretical writers, and a main purpose of his heresiological efforts was to defend himself against such accusations. The present study argues that this was the case with his production of anti-Origenist polemics in the context of the Origenist controversy. It aims at contributing to a nuanced description of Jerome’s way of relating to Origen’s thought, which implied acceptance as well as resistance. It is suggested that as a result of Jerome’s anti-Origenist rhetoric, important aspects of his reception of the Alexandrian writer have been overlooked by modern scholarship. Taking account of the rhetorical strategies that Jerome used both in his presentation of Origen and in his orthodox self-presentation, the great complexity of his reception of Origen is revealed. |
| Adamantiana 22 |
Für alle verborgenDer biblisch-alexandrinische Mysterienbegriff bei Origenes Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung ist der Begriff μυστήριον (lateinisch mysterium bzw. sacramentum) bei dem Kirchenschriftsteller Origenes. Der Mysterienbegriff des Alexandriners setzt sich aus biblischen und platonischen, jüdisch-christlichen und paganen Vorstellungen zusammen. Auf der Grundlage der Schriften der Alexandriner Clemens und Origenes wird die Vielschichtigkeit des Mysterienbegriffs und seine Entwicklung im alexandrinischen Denken dargestellt. Begleitend stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern der Mysterienbegriff bei Origenes esoterisch oder elitär ist – dazu bietet die Untersuchung eine differenzierte Einschätzung. Aus der Perspektive des Menschen, der sich auf einen geistig-geistlichen Weg begibt, stellt sich die Beobachtung ein, dass die christlichen Mysterien in die Weite und in die tiefere Begegnung mit Gott führen wollen. Im Sinne einer pädagogischen Esoterik sind sie „für alle verborgen“: Sie tragen für jeden Menschen den Aspekt des Unverfügbaren in sich, ebenso aber die Zusage, für jeden, der sich bemüht, mit Gottes Hilfe das Ersehnte zu finden. |
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Perspectives on Origen and the History of his Reception The present volume contains papers on Origen and the history of his reception which were presented at a series of workshops at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held at Oxford in August 2019. They provide multifarious insights into various aspects of Origen’s thought and his impact on different topics of theology, exegesis and philosophy from Late Antiquity to Early Modern Times. By connecting the Alexandrian’s legacy with recent developments in Patristics and Classics, they open up new perspectives for Origen scholarship in the new millenium. Research on Origen can be connected with studies, e.g., on rhetoric and power, on individuality and diversity, on gender and equality issues, on determinism and freedom and on questions of cultural transfer and transformation. The contributions to this volume can thus be taken as starting points for future studies on Origen within the broader context of contemporary research in science and the humanities. |
| Adamantiana 20 |
"Meine Zunge ist mein Ruhm"Studien zu den neuen Psalmenhomilien des Origenes Seit der überraschenden Entdeckung des Originaltextes einiger Psalmenhomilien des Origenes (185–253/54) durch Marina Molin Pradel im April 2012 hat sich Lorenzo Perrone (Universität Bologna) intensiv mit dem Münchner Codex Graecus 314 befasst. Die Handschrift aus dem 12. Jahrhundert enthält Predigten über die Psalmen 15, 36, 67, 73–77, 80 und 81 (Septuaginta-Zählung). Die Echtheit der 29 Predigten, die alle dem Alexandriner zuzuweisen sind, ergibt sich sowohl aus äußeren (besonders aus dem Vergleich mit den Exzerpten in den Katenen-Handschriften) als auch aus inneren Kriterien der Sprache, des Stil und des Inhalts. Die Homilien sind ein einzigartiges Zeugnis für die vielfältige Psalmenauslegung des Origenes sowohl in Kommentaren als auch in Predigten. Der Aufsatzband erläutert das außerordentliche Interesse der Sammlung unter verschiedenen exegetischen, spirituellen und theologischen Aspekten und eröffnet einen neuen Zugang zu Origenes als „Mann der Bibel“. Notification of Adamantiana 20 on the Homepage of Biblindex [fr] (5th October 2021). |
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Die Frau am Jakobsbrunnen in altkirchlicher JohannesexegeseErkenntnis, Pädagogik und Spiritualität bei Origenes, Johannes Chrysostomus und Augustinus
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| Adamantiana 18 |
A Complex RelationReading Anne Conway from a Process Theological Perspective
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Heterodoxy and Rational TheologyJean Le Clerc and Origen
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The Sacramentality of the World and the Mystery of FreedomHans Urs von Balthasar, Reader of Origen Hans Urs von Balthasar’s interest for Origen can be placed within the movement of Ressourcement: until the very end of his life, the Swiss theologian declares his preference for the Alexandrian, among the Church Fathers. This book offers the first in-depth study of the Alexandrian’s presence in the life of Balthasar. This is achieved not only considering his two specific books on Origen, Spirit and Fire and Le Mysterion d'Origène, but also analyzing specific Origenian ideas that played a decisive role in shaping Balthasar’s own theological building.The book starts from a reconstruction of the context that brought Balthasar to study the Fathers and of the main polemical references in his interpretation, specifically facing the challenges posed by such movements as Neo-Scholasticism and the Idealistic interpretation of Neoplatonism. Balthasar’s study of Origen emerges not as a disinterested, ahistorical reading, but rather as connected to the main issues facing 20th-century Catholic theology. The task of a historical reconstruction is accomplished also through to the analysis of theologians who played a fundamental role in Balthasar’s interpretation of Origen: Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, and Karl Barth. The book moves then to analyzing the main theological elements traceable in the relationship between Origen and Balthasar: Eros, spiritual senses, freedom, and universal salvation. Throughout these ideas, Balthasar’s attitude towards Origen emerges as dynamic and multifaceted. Against the charge of uncritical retrieval, his approach can be schematically understood with the help of five categories: silence, critique, enthusiasm, appreciation, and inspiration. Each category is approached and explained in correspondence with certain works within Balthasar’s corpus. This dynamic approach to Origen, united to a familiarity with the Fathers that Lubac called “connaturality”, makes Balthasar an example of the possibility of rethinking the role of the Church Fathers today. Elisa Zocchi, The Sacramentality of the World and the Mystery of Freedom. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Reader of Origen (Adamantiana 16), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2021, 365 Seiten, 62,- €. ISBN 978-3-402-13741-3
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Condemnation of OrigenEmperor Justinian and the Council of Constantinople 553 At the instigation of the byzantine emperor Justinian I., Origen of Alexandria (185–253/54) was condemned to be a heretic in the sphere of the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople 553. This denunciation had extensive consequences for the further reception of his works, his theology and the picture future generations would get of him. The articles of the present volume analyse the church-political, monastic and theological backgrounds of the debates about Origen and the works attributed to him on the basis of the sources available. These sources are edited at the appendix of this volume with detailed annotations and german translations (mostly for the first time), as a tool for the future research concerning this subject.Alfons Fürst/Thomas R. Karmann (Hg.), Verurteilung des Origenes. Kaiser Justinian und das Konzil von Konstantinopel 553 (Adamantiana 15), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2020, 396 Seiten, 65,- €. ISBN 978-3-402-13739-0 |
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Freedom as a Key Category in Origen and in Modern Philosophy and Theology Freedom is a key category of concepts of God and men in modern philosophy and theology. In German idealism of the 17th and 18th centuries as well in 20th-century theologies, different concepts of libertarianism between determinism and compatilism were presented. The first to forge a libertarian concept of freedom was Origen of Alexandria. The volume aims at discussing modern ideas of freedom against the backdrop of the paths of thinking which were opened up by Origen in late antiquity.Alfons Fürst (Hg.), Freedom as a Key Category in Origen and in Modern Philosophy and Theology (Adamantiana 14), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2019, 295 Seiten, 49,- €. ISBN 978-3-402-13731-4 |
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Origen's Philosophy of Freedom in Early Modern TimesDebates about Free Will and Apokatastasis in 17th-Century England and Europe The articles of this volume shed new light on the reception of Origen’s concepts of free will and universal salvation in 17th-century England and Europe. The Cambridge Platonists took up the Alexandrian’s libertarian concept of freedom and discussed his core ideas within the new philosophical developments of their own time. In continental Europe, the Dutch Arminians, Jean Le Clerc and the Pietist couple Johanna Eleonora and Johann Wilhelm Petersen dealt with questions related to Origenism.Alfons Fürst (Hg.), Origen's Philosophy of Freedom in Early Modern Times. Debates about Free Will and Apokatastasis in 17th-Century England and Europe (Adamantiana 13), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2019, 304 Seiten, 54,- €. ISBN 978-3-402-13729-1 |
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That Miracle of the Christian WorldOrigenism and Christian Platonism in Henry More The present collection of essays is devoted to the Christian philosophy of the most prolific and most speculatively ambitious of the Cambridge Origenists, Henry More. Not only did More revere Origen, whom he extolled as a “holy sage” and “that miracle of the Christian world”, but he also developed a philosophical system which hinged upon the Origenian notions of universal divine goodness and libertarian human freedom. Throughout his life, More subscribed to the ancient theology of the pre-existence of souls and took issue with the early modern philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes and Baruch de Spinoza. His vision of God’s goodness, experienced in his early school years at Eton, became the cornerstone of an Origenist rationalism which envisaged an extended world animated by divine thought and inhabited by self-moving rational agents. More’s philosophy is the crowning attainment of the early modern rediscovery of Origen as well as a neglected major rationalist system in its own right which went on to exert decisive influence upon all subsequent western metaphysics. |
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Origenes CantabrigiensisRalph Cudworth, Sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons and other writings
Ralph Cudworth's sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons in 1674 is written in the spirit of Origen's philosophical thinking and contains a determined appeal for doctrinaire openness and religious tolerance. The articles of the present volume analyse this document of Cambridge Origenism which can be seen as pioneering within the context of the political and ecclesiastical confusions of the English Civil War. The volume offers beside the gently modernised text und the first german translation further letters and poems of the young Cudworth, and a sermon of 1664. These texts are vivid documents of his platonic-origenean "Philosphy of Religion" and of his irenic Christianity of interiority in practical ethos of universal love. |
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Origen in France: Pierre Daniel Huet’s Origeniana
Origeniana is considered a milestone in the academic history and research on the Christian philosopher Origen, published in 1668 by the French scholar Pierre Daniel Huet (1630-1721). The three volumes contain the first academic analyses of the life, teachings and writings of Origen. Huet was, however, critical of Origen’s philosophy of reason. Contrary to the rationalism of René Descartes‘ cogito ergo sum, Huet advocated a form of radical skepticism, whose distrust of reason led to equally radical fideism, in which faith is considered superior to reason. It is from this perspective that Huet criticized Origen’s efforts towards a rational understanding of Christianity; with his excessive emphasis on reason and the freedom established therein, the Alexandrinian had led theology down the wrong path. Despite his personal dissent, Huet nonetheless defended Origen from the many unjustified and exaggerated accusations often made against the philosopher throughout the history of Origenism, presenting the latters’ thoughts and critically and objectively reflecting upon them utilising scientific methods. Alfons Fürst (ed.), Origenes in Frankreich. Die Origeniana Pierre-Daniel Huets (Adamantiana 10), Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2017, 390 Seiten, gebunden, 59,- €. ISBN 978-3-402-13723-9 |
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Schriftsinn und Theologisches Verstehen
Es waren vor allem außertheologische, hermeneutische Forschungen, Entwicklungen in den Literaturwissenschaften, kanongeschichtliche Studien, Forschungen zu geistlichen Rezeptionen des Christentums und jüdisch-christliche Arbeiten, die der biblischen Exegese und der Theologie ihre eigenen Voraussetzungen nahebrachten und zu einer christusbezogenen Gesamtschau verhalfen. Schon Origenes (* 185 n. Chr.) wusste von ihr. Sie kann auch heute bedeutungsvoll und gewichtig entdeckt werden. |
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Origenes und der Ursprung der Freiheitsmetaphysik
Origenes und der Ursprung der Freiheitsmetaphysik bietet eine Gesamtdarstellung der vom größten griechischen Kirchenvater geschaffenen ersten christlichen Philosophie. Die Wirklichkeit erscheint darin insgesamt als in sich gestufte Freiheit. Zum einen verteidigt Origenes in Auseinandersetzung mit den Determinismen der Philosophen, insbesondere der Stoiker, und der Gnostiker, vor allem der Valentinianer, mit großer Entschlossenheit die Wahlfreiheit des Menschen. So entstammt seiner Feder die erste christliche Untersuchung über das Wesen der Freiheit überhaupt. Zum anderen denkt der Alexandriner auch Gott selbst und die Welt als dynamische Freiheitswirklichkeit und Heilsgeschichte, die in der Einheit eines glückseligen „Gott alles in allem“ zu ihrer Vollendung kommt. |
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Logic and Argumentation in Origen The activity of Origen of Alexandria (185–253), one of the most prolific early Christian scholars, encompassed different branches of theology. His enormous exegetical achievement is grounded on solid philological and hermeneutical foundations. With his De principiis, the Alexandrian thinker was the creator of systematic theology, and in his Contra Celsum, he composed the most intellectual piece of Greek patristic apology. A common element of these different segments of activity is that they are based on scientific and logical principles and were developed with methodological consciousness. The main topic of this book is what Origen said in his writings about logic, rationality in its broadest sense, dialectic, and theory of science, and what the characteristics of his strategy of argumentation are. |
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Christ - The Teacher of Salvation Christ, his nature, and his works are the most central elements of Christian theology. Origen of Alexandria (185-254) plays an important role in the history of Christology and soteriology. He wrote his many biblical commentaries, theological treatises, and homilies before the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) issued their Christological doctrines, which were to set the agenda for Christological thinking for many centuries. In many respects Origen’s work paved the way for the decisions made in Nicaea and Chalcedon, yet Origen’s Christology is much more multifaceted than these creeds. His Christology is characterized by his understanding of Christ as God’s Wisdom and Word who includes and creates cosmos as a whole. His soteriology is characterized by his pedagogic and universalist thinking, which portrays Christ as a physician and a teacher who leads all human beings and the whole cosmos to completion in God. The present book provides a detailed analysis and interpretation of Origen’s Christology and soteriology as it is expounded in a number of his most important writings thus providing a comprehensive and coherent picture of Origen’s multifaceted Christology and soteriology. |
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Origenes Humanista The works of Origen were an important source of inspiration for the intellectual awakenings of the Renaissance and Humanism, developments in which the oration On the Dignity of Man from 1486 by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) plays a central role. In his discourse published posthumously in 1496, man, by virtue of his freedom, determines his own position in the cosmos. This capacity for self-determination is the basis of his responsibility for his actions and constitutes his dignity. Pico also comments on Origen in his Nine Hundred Theses from 1486, that it is more reasonable to assume Origen was redeemed than to suppose he was condemned. As this was one of the statements for which he was accused of heresy, he defended himself and Origen in his treatise A Disputation about Origen’s Salvation, the first extensive apologia of the genius from Alexandria since antiquity. |
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Die Cambridge Origenists - George Rusts Letter of Resolution Concerning Origen and the Chief of His Opinions The years 1658-62 represent something like an Origenist stage in English theology, producing not only translations and work editions but entire philosophical systems in the spirit of Origen. The anonymously published writings by the Anglican Bishop George Rust in 1661 are a manifesto of modern Origenism; in critically arguing with the new philosophies of those such as Hobbes or Descartes on one hand and Calvinist theology on the other, Rust further develops fundamental insights by Origen in an original manner. |
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Trinität und Kosmos This study attempts for the first time to reconstruct the Trinitarian thinking of Origen of Alexandria (185-254) and to acknowlegde it historically and theologically. |
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Adamantiana 2Autonomy and Human Dignity Emphasizing the moral autonomy of man, his inalienable dignity as the image of God, and the perspective of hope for universal salvation, Origen’s (185-253/54) theology has had a major impact on Early Modern thought; European humanism, the Cambridge School’s Platonism and German classical philosophy have all drawn from Origen’s ideas and further developed upon them. Highlighting key paradigms from the modern history of philosophy and theology, the second volume of the Adamantiana series traces the legacy of the Alexandrian scholar up to present day. Thus, Origen proves himself to be a significant forefather of modern thought regarding autonomy and human dignity. |
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Origen and his Legacy in the Orient and Occident
 Through his works as a teacher, exegete and philosopher, the Alexandrian Origen (185-253/254) laid the foundations of a Christian culture. One of the first Christian theologians, he engaged in the philosophical and religious discussions of his time at the highest intellectual level. Due to the breadth and boldness of his thought, Origen has not only had a major impact on all ecclesiastical traditions deriving from Late Antiquity, but was also a profound influence on the history of philosophy. The new Adamantiana series, opening with this volume, is dedicated to Origen’s thinking as well as to its legacy throughout the Orient and Occident, aiming to make it accessible for academic research in a wide range of disciplines. |
Edited by the Forschungsstelle Origenes (“Origen Research Centre”) in Münster and published by the local Aschendorff publishing house, “Adamantiana. Texts and Studies on Origen and His Heritage” is the first publication series solely dedicated to the thought of the great Alexandrian theologian and the history of its reception. It comprises monographs that deal with Origen and the Origenist tradition as well as collected volumes that gather the contributions of the conferences and symposia organized by the research centre. In addition, collections of (translated and annotated) texts from various epochs aim to illuminate Origen’s theology and its place within the history of ideas, focusing especially upon its reception up to the present day.
Although no-one denies that Origen is the greatest of the Greek church fathers, several aspects of his audacious theological synthesis continue to be virtually unknown or subject to prejudices and misconceptions resulting from the history of his reception. This holds particularly true for the philosopher Origen: On the whole, his original contribution to ethics, metaphysics and the philosophy of religion appears as underappreciated as his conception of a first philosophy of history. Likewise, the exegete Origen deserves closer study, his innovative reading of Paul, for instance, still being far less well-known than Augustine’s and the tradition the latter inaugurated in the Western Church. In special studies from a variety of disciplines ranging from theology and philosophy to classical philology and history, these and other hitherto neglected aspects of Origen’s thought are to be dealt with in detail.
The history of the Origenist tradition is as multifaceted as the Alexandrian’s thought itself. Ever since the great Origenist controversies in Late Antiquity that resulted in his official damnation by the church, the reception of this first Christian philosophy has always been characterized by extremes. Moreover, the re-discovery of his work marks the beginning of numerous epoch-making changes within the history of ideas, which, as a whole, is deeply influenced by his religious philosophy of human freedom. Thus, the great Christian metaphysical systems of Dionysius the Areopagite and John Eriugena in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages manifestly follow in Origen’s footsteps. Via the early modern works on the history of Christian dogma and the writings of Italian and English humanists and philosophers, the notion of man’s inalienable dignity can be traced back to the theologian from Alexandria, whose work generally forestalls central tenets of Renaissance and Idealist thought. Lastly, the extensive research that outstanding theologians like Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar or Joseph Ratzinger carried out on Origen testifies to his pivotal role in the shaping of modern theology.
Particularly in the field of Origen’s Nachleben, special studies and anthologies of texts are needed that evidence in what ways the Alexandrian theologian helped shape key ideas and concepts of Western thought. The interdisciplinary pilot projects that constitute the publication series “Adamantiana. Texts and Studies on Origen and His Heritage” aim to reveal Origen’s philosophy as a major factor in the European history of ideas.
Die Studie untersucht die altkirchlichen Auslegungen der Begegnung Jesu mit der Samaritanerin am Jakobsbrunnen (Joh. 4,1–42) im Johanneskommentar des Origenes sowie in den Homilien des Johannes Chrysostomos und des Augustinus. Diese Begegnung steht für die Kirchenväter für die Begegnung zwischen Gott und Mensch und ist damit paradigmatisch für die Beschäftigung mit der altkirchlichen Exegese, da auch in der Bibel und in der Exegese der Mensch dem Wort Gottes und mittelbar Gott begegnen kann.
How does spirit relate to body? In this book, Karen Felter Vaucanson presents two adverse answers to this fundamental question, and she gives a detailed description and evaluation of the philosophies from which they stem. Whether we conceive of being in terms of static and isolated units or as processual and inherently relational, the answer to the spirit-body problem has implications for how we understand God, the universe, and ourselves. The work of seventeenth-century philosopher Anne Conway is the fulcrum of Karen Felter Vaucanson’s analysis of the intellectual struggle between these competing world-views. She shows how these two philosophical paradigms have existed side by side through centuries, from Platonism until present day process philosophy. In this systematic theological analysis, she traces the implications of Conway’s thought for the question of the God-world relation, and that of personal identity. This book offers a combination of detailed analyses of concrete texts and general perspectives on intellectual history. It wrestles with major problems, which no theologian or philosopher can avoid, and is therefore of general interest for all who study theology and philosophy.
Despite his controversial reputation, Origen of Alexandria (185–253) was very much present in 17th- century religious debates. His official condemnation by the Church was a stain on his theological and exegetical reputation, yet his work remained a source of inspiration for some. For others, he was a heretic to be refuted. In Jean Le Clerc (1657–1736), a Swiss born Dutch Biblical scholar and literary journalist, we find elements from both camps although their opinions are not given equal weight, and he made a clear-cut assessment of Origen’s condemnation. As a member of the Arminian Church, Le Clerc had to defend his religious affiliation throughout his life, especially rejecting the predominating Reformed views on such hotly debated topics such as human freedom, divine agency and predestination. He also had to protect his theological reputation from other accusations of heterodoxy, especially Socinianism. Surprisingly, Origen became a key ally in Le Clerc’s struggle, despite the fact that he had to utilise the Alexandrian’s thought in nuanced ways and to communicate it with great care in order to discourage frontal attacks on himself based on Origen’s reputation and work.