Origen, The Philosophical Theologian. New Research in Anthropology and Ethics. Selected Studies / Kleine Schriften (en Inglés) - Ilaria L. E. Ramelli

How did Origen, one of the major Patristic thinkers, construct his philosophical theology? We have already addressed in the first volume of Kleine Schriften his metaphysics, protology, Trinitarian Theology and Christology, and the relation between philosophy and theology. The present volume asks what Origen’s main innovations are in anthropology, ethics, and partially cosmology, in a collection of over twenty essays, mostly from world-leading journals and books from outstanding publishers, besides two new ones, from Professor Ilaria L.E. Ramelli’s life-long, and always continuing, research on Origen. This coherent set of studies is divided into three parts: the first addresses important facets of Origen’s ethics, anthropology, and cosmology against the background of ancient philosophy; the second investigates Origen’s anthropology and its relation to Plotinus and Porphyry through some case studies; the third delves into some aspects of Origen’s anthropology and ethics and their impact on Origen’s followers.

The essays address Origen’s rational, philosophical (and exegetical) foundation of Christianity of second-century apologetical debates between “Pagan” and Christian thinkers, each side defending their own use of rationality against mere habit; forgiveness in Patristic philosophy and its bases in repentance and divine race; the transformation of the Stoic doctrine of Oikeiosis in Origen and followers; the relation between human intellect, soul, and body and the negation of the pre-existence of disembodied souls; Origen’s constructions of gender; prophecy in Origen  between Scripture and philosophy; the Strategy and functions of philosophical exegesis in Origen; harmony between arkhē and telos in Origen and Patristic Platonism; Plotinus’ potential knowledge and criticism of Origen’s theory of the Form of the body; the debt of Porphyry’s d(a)emonology on Origen’s; continuity and polemics between Origen and Porphyry in psychology and eschatology; degrees of corporeality and comparative angelologies/d(a)emonologies in ‘Pagan’ and Christian Platonism; Socrates’ arguable construction of parallel portraits for the ascetic Christian Platonist Origen and the ascetic Neoplatonist Hypatia of Constantinople; Origen’s autobiographical self-fashioning; decadence denounced in the controversy over Origen: the fading of a direct reading of sources and counteractions; Origen on the unity of soul and body in the earthly Life and afterwards and his impact on Gregory Nyssen; Origen’s Legacy in Nyssen’s “Theology of Freedom”; Plato and Origen’s impact on Nyssen’s treatment on the soul and the restoration; Origen’s critical reception of Aristotle and aftermath in Christian Platonism; the relation between slavery, religion, asceticism, and justice in and the principle that excessive wealth is tantamount to theft; Origen’s theory of universal culpability and its relation to ethical intellectualism and Augustine’s doctrine of original sin; Origen’s probable impact on Martianus Capella as a Neglected aspect of late antique Platonism; the revisitation of Origen’s identity; Origen, the Stoic City of Zeus, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and Augustine’s City of God. The volume is rounded off by an investigation into Proclus’ reception of Origenian ideas, possibly including those related to apokatastasis and its relation to reversion (epistrophé).

 This book is very relevant to the study of Origen, the foundations of Christian thought, and ancient and late antique philosophy, theology and culture.

Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte first began publication in 1925 and can claim to be one of the most tradition-rich historical book series. It presents research on the history of Christian churches and dogmas through the ages but also publishes papers on related disciplines such as archeology, history of art and literary studies. One of the series’ leading features is its consistent striving to combine historical-methodical precision with systematic contextualization of each examined topic. In recent years the series has increasingly published studies on themes relating to the history of Christian culture and ideas, viewed within a methodically open perspective on the history of Christianity.

Die seit 1925 erscheinenden Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte bilden eine der traditionsreichsten historischen Buchreihen im deutschsprachigen Raum. Sie enthalten Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte des Christentums aller Epochen, veröffentlichen aber auch Arbeiten aus verwandten Disziplinen wie beispielsweise der Archäologie, Kunstgeschichte oder Literaturwissenschaft. Kennzeichnend für die Reihe ist der durchgängige Anspruch, historisch-methodische Präzision mit systematischen Kontextualisierungen des jeweiligen Gegenstandes zu verbinden. In jüngerer Zeit erscheinen verstärkt Arbeiten zu Themen einer Kultur- und Ideengeschichte des Christentums in einem methodisch offenen christentumsgeschichtlichen Horizont.