Origen : philosophy of history and eschatology /
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A common accusation made against Origen is that he dissolves history into intellectual abstraction and that his eschatology (if this is recognized at all) is notoriously obscure. In this new work, the author draws on an impressive range of bibliography to consider Origen's Philosophy of History and Eschatology in the widest context of facts, documents and streams of thought, including Classical and Late Antiquity Greek Philosophy, Gnosticism, Hebraism and Patristic Thought, both before Origen and well after his death. Against claims that he causes history to evaporate into barren idealism, his thought is shown to be firmly grounded on his particular vision of historical occurences. Confronting assertions that Origen has no eschatological ideas, his eschatology is shown rather to have made a distinctive mark throughout his works, both explicitly and tacitly. In Origen's view, history was the foundation of scriptural interpretation, a teleological process determined by factors and functions such as providence - prophecy - promise - expectation - realization - anticipation - faith - anticipation - hope - awaiting for - fulfilment - end . Since 1986, the author has argued for the unpopular thesis that Origen is, in many respects, an anti-Platonist. Nevertheless, the author casts light upon the Aristotelian rationale of Origen's doctrine of apokatastasis , arguing that its validity is bolstered by ontological rather than historical premises. The extent of Origen's influence upon what is currently regarded as 'orthodoxy' turns out to be far wider and more profound than has hitherto been acknowledged.
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1 online resource (xvii, 498 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-460) and indexes. :
9789047428695 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Origen : cosmology and ontology of time /
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Origen's Cosmology and Ontology of Time constitute a major catalyst and a massive transformation in the development of Christian doctrine. The author challenges the widespread impression about this theology being bowled head over heels by its encounter with Platonism, Gnosticism, or Neoplatonism, and casts new light on Origen's grasp of the relation between Hellenism, Hebrew thought and Christianity. Against all ancient and modern accounts, the ingrained claim that Origen sustained the theory of a beginningless world is disconfirmed. He is argued to be the anticipator and forerunner of critical notions, with his innovations never having been superseded. While some of the accounts afforded by subsequent Christian writers were more extended, they were not fuller. Of them, Augustine just fell short of even accurately echoing this Theory of Time, since he introduced affinity with Platonism at points where Origen had instituted a radical dissimilarity. With his background fruitfully brought into the study of these questions, Origen's propositions are genuine innovations, not mere advances, however massive.
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1 online resource (xiii, 417 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-392) and indexes. :
9789047417637 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The real Cassian revisited : monastic life, Greek Paideia, and Origenism in the sixth century /
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This is a critical analysis of texts included in Codex 573 (ninth century, Monastery of Metamorphosis, Meteora, Greece), which are published along with the present volume, in the same series. The Codex, entitled 'The Book of Monk Cassian the Roman', reveals a sixth-century heretofore unknown intellectual, namely, Cassian the Sabaite, native of Scythopolis, being its real author. By means of Medieval forgery, he has been eclipsed by a figment currently known as 'John Cassian of Marseilles', native of Scythia. Exploration reveals critical aspects of the interplay between Hellenism and Christianity, the Origenism and pseudo-Origenism of the sixth century, and Christian influence upon Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity. Cassian the Sabaite is probably the last great representative of a prolonged fruitful autumn of Late Antique Christian scholarship, who saw Hellenism as a treasured patrimony to draw on, rather than as a demon to be exorcised -which resulted in his 'second death'(Rev. 2,11). Two edition volumes are now being published along with the present monograph. One, A Newly Discovered Greek Father, Cassian the Sabaite Eclipsed by John Cassian of Marseilles (folia 1r-118v). Two, An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation: A Critical Edition of the Scholia in Apocalypsin . These Scholia were falsely attributed to Origen a century ago, but their real author is Cassian the Sabaite mainly drawing on a lost commentary on the Apocalypse by Didymus the Blind, as well as on Origen, Theodoret, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, and others (folia 210v-290r).
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1 online resource (xvii, 548 pages) : color illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 443-488) and indexes. :
9789004225305 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.