Origenes - Werke mit deutscher Übersetzung
The Homilies on Genesis
The exegesis of the Holy Scripture is at the centre of Origen's work. His extensive Bible commentaries are over time elaborated by a more unpretentious variety of biblical exegesis in the use of homilies, which analyse the Old Testament in detail using allegory and early Christian typology. Standing in the tradition of Paul and Philo, Origen differentiates between a literal and a figurative exegesis of the Holy Scripture. The latter is separated into a moral level rather appealing to the individual believer, and a spiritual level applying to big mysteries of faith. Especially in the case of his homilies on Genesis (which are only handed down in the translation of Rufinus), it is fascinating to see how Origen the educator conveys the diversity of holy knowlegde, which contains platonic-stoic cosmology and the interpretation of Lot's petrified woman, to his parish.
Alfons Fürst/Peter Habermehl (Hg.), Origenes - Die Homilien zum Buch Genesis (Origenes Werke mit deutscher Übersetzung 1/2), Berlin/Boston: Verlag Walter de Gryuter, Freiburg/Basel/Wien: Verlag Herder, 2011, 359 Seiten, gebunden, Leinen, ca. 104,95 €. ISBN Herder 978-3-451-32902-9, ISBN De Gruyter 978-3-11-020435-3