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Origen and Prophecy

Fate, Authority, Allegory, and the Structure of Scripture

Claire Hall author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:24th Sep '21

Should be back in stock very soon

Origen and Prophecy cover

Origen is frequently hailed as the most important Christian writer of his period (c.185-c.255 AD), and the first systematic theologian. Origen and Prophecy: Fate, Authority, Allegory, and the Structure of Scripture examines whether there was a system to Origen's thinking about prophecy. How were all of these quite different topics - future-telling, moral leadership, mystical revelation - contained in the single word 'prophecy'? Origen and Prophecy presents a new account of Origen's concept of prophecy which takes its cue from the structure of Origen's thinking about scripture. He claims that scripture can be read in three different senses: the straightforward, or 'somatic' (bodily) sense; the moral, or 'psychic' (soul-ish) sense; and the mystical, or 'pneumatic' (spiritual) sense. This threefold structure, says Origen, underpins all of scripture and is intimately linked through Christ with the structure of the Holy Trinity. This book illustrates how Origen thought about prophecy using the same threefold structure, with somatic (future-telling), psychic (moral), and pneumatic (mystical revelatory) senses. The chapters weave through several centuries of Greek pagan, Jewish, and Christian thinking about prophecy, divination, time, human nature, autonomy and freedom, allegory and metaphor, and the role of the divine in the order and structure of the cosmos.

In Hall's treatment, prophecy emerges as a fruitful entry into such significant themes in Origen as providence, free will, epistemology, and divine inspiration; her thoughtful and balanced explorations of these topics will benefit readers who range, as Origen would say, from the simple to the mature. * David Brakke, The Ohio State University, The Journal of Religion *

ISBN: 9780192846648

Dimensions: 240mm x 164mm x 19mm

Weight: 512g

238 pages