Die neuentdeckte Homilie des Origenes über Psalm 82 (81 LXX) im auslegungsgeschichtlichen Kontext
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
| Alfons Fürst on PatristiCast
Alfons Fürst on PatristiCast
New Episode of PatristiCast!
Anders-Christian Jacobsen and Alfons Fürst on Freedom and Dignity in Origen of Alexandria
PatristiCast – Scholar's Forum Ep 35 Jacobsen and Fürst on Freedom and Dignity in Origen
Freedom and Dignity have their philosophical roots in the Judaeo-Christian and Hellenistic philosophical traditions. Their definitions and implications have been hotly debated for centuries. The history of these concepts in Western Civilization was recently the topic of an ERC-funded project led by Anders-Christian Jacobsen (Aarhus University) and Alfons Fürst (University of Münster). They joined PatristiCast to talk about the project and Origen's contribution to these concepts in Western Civilization.
"The History of Human Freedom and Dignity in Western Civilization” is a research collaboration between 6 universities and 9 non-academic partner organizations across Europe. The project was set out to trace the historical roots and transformations of the modern conception of humans as dignified and free beings, especially as met with in theological and philosophical traditions. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 676258.
Vom 26.-27. Oktober 2023 fand an der Universität Münster der Workshop "Vom Anhänger zum Gegner des Origenes. Die antiorigenistischen Schriften des Theophilus von Alexandria (399–404)" statt.
Die Tagung war Teil der "Kolloquien zum Nachleben des Origenes", die von der Forschungsstelle Origenes der Universität Münster veranstaltet werden und sich der bewegten Rezeptionsgeschichte der Freiheitsmetaphysik des Origenes widmen, die für die Formung des christlichen und neuzeitlichen Menschenbildes von größter Bedeutung gewesen ist.
Den Auftakt machte Nikita Banev (Durham) mit einem Abendvortrag über Theophilus von Alexandria und die Rolle von Rhetorik und Macht in der ersten origenistischen Kontroverse. Am nächsten Tag ging es weiter mit dem Vortrag von Alberto Camplani (Rom) über die Osterfestbriefe des Theophilus, gefolgt vom Vortrag von Christoph Markschies (Berlin) über das Gottesbild in der Polemik gegen
Anthropomorphismus. Am Nachmittag schloss sich der Vortrag von Nikolai Kiel (Frankfurt a.M.) über die Auferstehung des Fleisches als Hauptthema der Kontroverse an. Den abschließenden Vortrag hielt Johannes Hahn, der sich der Kirchenpolitik des Theophilus in Ägypten widmete.
Das vollständige Programm zur Veranstaltung finden Sie unter folgendem Link: Programm.
Vom 11.10. bis zum 13.10.2023 fand ein gemeinsames Oberseminar des Instituts für Biblische Exegese und Theologie (IBET) und des Seminars für Alte Kirchengeschichte im Landhaus Rothenberge statt. In der ruhigen Atmosphäre des ländlich gelegenen Tagungshauses der Universität Münster stellten die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer ihre Forschungsprojekte vor. Das vollständige Programm finden Sie hier.
"The Legacy of Adolf von Harnack" – Alfons Fürst as a guest on PatristiCast
The latest episode of PatristiCast, a Video-Podcast on YouTube "dedicated to making the early Christian world accessible for both specialists and non-specialists living in the 21st century", featured among others Alfons Fürst as a guest. The subject was "The Legacy of Adolf von Harnack". The episode was hosted by John Solheid, other invited guests were George Karamanolis, Christoph Markschies and Johannes Zachhuber.
The German scholar, Adolf von Harnack and his "Hellenization of Christianity" thesis, compelled debate about the essence of Christianity and its relationship to culture. What is it about his thesis that continues to attract so much attention? Is his thesis still viable today? I have assembled an all-star panel of scholars to address these very questions.
Vom 26.04. bis zum 28.04.2023 fand die Academia Origeniana, das Oberseminar des Lehrstuhls für Alte Kirchengeschichte, im Landhaus Rothenberge statt. In der ruhigen Atmosphäre des ländlich gelegenen Tagungshauses der Universität Münster stellten Promovierende aus Heidelberg, Jena, Münster, Offenbach und Turin ihre Dissertationsvorhaben vor. Das vollständige Programm finden Sie hier.
Workshop "The Political and the Demonic: Imaginations of Subject and Collectivity in Abrahamic Traditions"
The Origen Research Center invites you to the workshop "The Political and the Demonic: Imaginations of Subject and Collectivity in Abrahamic Traditions". The workshop will take place from 09. to 11. February at the University of Münster. For more information see the Flyer.
The Impact of Early Christianity on the Development of Philosophy: The Early Christian Idea of Freedom in its Philosophical Context
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Dr. Alfons Fürst on the YouTube channel of the International Association of Patristic Studies / Association Internationale d’Études Patristiques (AIEP)
In his lecture Alfons Fürst reflects on the fundamental question if Christianity did actually have an impact on the development of philosophy in the ancient world. A question which is usually posed the other way around and mainly in two ways: Either we ask about the influence of ancient philosophy on Christianity or we ask about the philosophical aspects of early Christian thought. With a change of perspective from a source critical to a philosophical historical one in the first chapter of the lecture, he instead asks whether we can perceive in the course of the history of philosophy where the Christian thought had a profound influence on it. While such influences are for example widely acknowledged regarding the trinitarian thought and its role in the mediation of unity and multiplicity in Neoplatonism or with respect to Augustine’s contribution to a philosophical concept of time, there is one subject in which this question has not yet been sufficiently pursued. This subject is the development of a new concept of freedom by Christian thinkers between the middle of the 2nd century and the middle of the 3rd century CE.
To approach this topic, Prof. Fürst outlines in the second point of the lecture the debate in ancient philosophy, where the factors that determine human decision and action were broadly discussed, mainly led by the stoics and their concept of ethical responsibility within the framework of a deterministic worldview, but in which the question of whether or not a decision was free had not yet arisen. That changes however in the high Roman Imperial period. In this third part of the lecture it is argued that it were in fact the Christian philosophers who across the board built on these debates and spoke emphatically of freedom when thinking about human decision and action. The early Christians attributed the freedom of decision to every human being as an inherent part of his or her creaturely endowment given by God at the act of creation.
Furthermore, due to the Alexandrian recasting of the concept of freedom – shown in the fourth part of the presentation – it came to a reconceptualization of the relation between nature and freedom, with freedom being the basic principle of anthropology and metaphysics. A static metaphysics of being became a dynamic metaphysics of freedom. Thus the early Christian philosophers had a significant influence on the development of philosophical thought. Without their contribution, the history of philosophy in the Roman Empire cannot be adequately described.
Therefore Prof. Fürst pleads in the last section of the lecture that even if the vast majority of ancient christian texts are not philosophical literature in the strict sense and were not intended to be so by their authors, we should nevertheless take them seriously philosophically. They should be discussed as critically and objectively as it is done with the ancient philosophical texts and be read as a contribution to philosophy.
Am 13. und 14. Mai 2022 fand in Münster die Tagung "Attacke auf Origenes – Methodius, Epiphanius und das Panarion (374/77)" statt. Im Zentrum des Workshops stand das lange Kapitel 64 des Panarion (Allheilmittel) gegen alle Häresien, das Epiphanius in den Jahren 374/77 verfasste. Der Bischof von Salamis setzte sich darin vor allem mit der Anthropologie und der Auferstehungsvorstellung des Origenes auseinander und referierte dazu eine lange Passage aus dem Traktat Über die Auferstehung, den Methodius von Olympus zu Beginn des 4. Jahrhunderts ebenfalls gegen Origenes geschrieben hatte.
Den Auftakt machte Katharina Bracht, Kirchenhistorikerin in Jena, mit ihrem Eröffnungsvortrag über die Anthropologie des Methodius im Kontext des Origenismus. Im Anschluss daran referierte Roberta Franchi (Florenz) über die Rezeption von Origenes' Freiheitsphilosophie in Methodius' Traktat über den freien Willen. Nikolai Kiel (Münster) gab in seinem Vortrag einen Einblick in die Kritik des Methodius an der Protologie des Origenes. Der Samstag begann mit einer Analyse von Vito Limone (Mailand) zu dem Gebrauch von Materie, Form und Eidos in Origenes' und Methodius' Konzeptionen zur leiblichen Auferstehung. Anschließend war Josef Lössl per Videokonferenz aus Cardiff zugeschaltet und gab den Teilnehmern eine Einführung in die Darstellung der Biographie des Origenes durch Epiphanius. Den Schlusspunkt der Tagung bildete der Vortrag von Alfons Fürst (Münster) über die Kritik des Epiphanius an der Trinitätslehre des Origenes.
Welcome on the Homepage
of the Origen Research Centre
The Origen Research Centre, located at the WWU Münster and led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Alfons Fürst, follows several projects concerning the Alexandrian philosopher and theologian Origen (185-253/4). The research center edits not only a bilingual edition of Origen's writings and a publication series dedicated to the thought of the great Alexandrian theologian and the history of its reception, but also organises various workshops and seminars on Origen's Nachleben. Finally, several PhD projects are supervised.
Recent workshops, organised by the Origen Research Centre and by other Origen-related institutes, can be found here, and recent publications of the centre can be found here.
On the Occasion of the 25th volume in the series Adamantiana and Origenes Werke Deutsch, the Origen Research Centre organized a Book Launch and Celebration with international guests via zoom on December 17th 2020.
After welcoming remarks and a short introduction from Alfons Fürst, head of the Origen Research Centre in Münster, two representatives from publishing houses, Albrecht Döhnert (de Gruyter) and Bernward Kröger (Aschendorff) talked about their longstanding work with the Origen Research Centre. Furthermore, Markus Schmitz (Office of Typographic Services) shared his insights on the exciting work with the Latin and Greek texts as a compositor.
The celebration continued with four interviews with international experts on Origen. Christoph Markschies (Berlin), Peter Martens (St. Louis), Holger Strutwolf (Münster) and Anders-Christian Jacobsen (Aarhus) answered questions about the work and legacy of Origen of Alexandria. They focussed in their explanations on the translations and editorial work which is done in the series Origenes Werke Deutsch as well as on the Research on Origen within conferences and workshops, whose results are being published in the series Adamantiana.
The Origen Research Centre wants to thank everyone who contributed to this amazing milestone! We are looking forward to the many new projects that are yet to come.
Conclusion of the EU-project "The History of Human Freedom and Dignity in Western Civilization"
From 30-10-2019 to 02-11-2019, the final conference of the EU-project "The History of Human Freedom and Dignity in Western Civilization" took place in Hungarian Pécs. By this, the project comes to an end after three years of analysing the impact of the christian philosopher Origen on the western thinking of freedom. Besides Prof. Dr. Dr. Fürst as one of the co-coordinator, four PhD Fellows were in Münster in the project involved: Kristian Bunkenborg, Karen Felter, Joshua Roe, and Elisa Zocchi.
An Angel, a Demon, and Origen - Alfons Fürst makes a Contribution on the Theological Background of the Series "Good Omens"
The German radio station Deutschlandfunk reported 2019-06-28 on the new BBC-production "Good Omens" and thereby made the link to Origen's Christian Philosophy. At the centre of the series are angel Erziraphael and demon Crowley who are enemies with each other, but form an unequal alliance against the apocalyptic end of the world. That the angel thus acts against God's will, triggers two paradigms of faith dealing with predestination and free will. Alfons Fürst, head of the Origen Research Centre, takes up these two paradigms within a guest commentary and expands on the Origen's defense of free will. The guest commentary is audible and readable on the following website:
Origen in Late Antique Upper Egypt: Schenoute's Treatise against the Origenists
On 10/11 May 2019, the workshop "Origen in Late Antique Upper Egypt. Schenoute's treatise against the Origenists" took place in Münster. It was opened by a lecture given by the coptologist Stephen Emmel (Münster) on the tradition of the treatise I am amazed by Shenoute of Atripe, the abbot of the white monastery in upper Egypt from the end of the fourth to the middle of the fifth century. The following workshop was shaped by stimulating papers on various aspects of Schenoute's treatise. The first speaker was Alberto Camplani (Rom) who gave a talk on the influence of Theophilus's Festal Letters on Schenoute, the second speaker, Franz Xaver Risch (Berlin), outlined the Origenian background on the handed down beginning of Schenoute's treatise which can be revealed by Origen's scholia, and the third speaker, Jacqueline Wormstädt (Berlin), expounded Schenute's refutation of the denial of corporeal resurrection and situated it within the first Origenist controversy. The end of the workshop was marked by the lecture of Hugo Lundhaug (Oslo) who discussed Schenoute's christology in his treatise I am amazed, which is distinguished from Arianism, Nestorianism, and Apollinarism.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Alfons Fürst, project coordinator of the Origen Research Centre, gave in march of 2019 two lectures on the exegesis and philosophy of Origen of Alexandria in Cairo and Alexandria. He was invited by the Alexandria School Foundation for Christian Studies, an institute of the Coptic Church in Cairo, which offers lectures to interested students, regardless of age and profession. Two lectures were recorded and can be seen here:
In October 2008, the Origen Research Centre was established at the Department of Catholic Theology of Münster University. The 10th anniversary was celebrated on Thursday, 25 October 2018, followed by a workshop on „Freedom as Key Category in Origen and in Modern Theology“. The opening lecture was given by Prof. Dr. Volker Gerhardt (Berlin) on “Freiheit als philosophische und theologische Schlüsselkategorie”.
