Overview
Scriptural interpretation was an important form of scholarship for Christians in late antiquity. For no one does this claim ring more true than Origen of Alexandria (185-254), one of the most prolific scholars of Scripture in early Christianity. This book examines his approach to the Bible through a biographical lens: the focus is on his account of the scriptural interpreter, the animating centre of the exegetical enterprise. In pursuing this largely neglected line of inquiry, Peter W. Martens discloses the contours of Origen's sweeping vision of scriptural exegesis as a way of life. For Origen, ideal interpreters were far more than philologists steeped in the skills conveyed by Greco-Roman education. Their profile also included a commitment to Christianity from which they gathered a spectrum of loyalties, guidelines, dispositions, relationships and doctrines that tangibly shaped how they practiced and thought about their biblical scholarship. The study explores the many ways in which Origen thought ideal scriptural interpreters (himself included) embarked upon a way of life, indeed a way of salvation, culminating in the everlasting contemplation of God. This new and integrative thesis takes seriously how the discipline of scriptural interpretation was envisioned by one of its pioneering and most influential practitioners.
Full Product Details
Author: Peter W. Martens (Assistant Professor of Theological Studies, Assistant Professor of Theological Studies, St. Louis University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.90cm
, Height: 1.70cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780198717560
ISBN 10: 0198717563
Pages: 294
Publication Date: 22 May 2014
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
`This text is a fresh and edifying reading of Origen's extant literary corpus. Martens's deep reading in Origen is evidenced on every page, and his exemplary interaction with the secondary literature recommends this monograph to every student of Origen.' Jonathan J. Armstrong, Journal of Theological Studies Vol. 65 `Martens here demonstrates something of the integrative power of Origen's vision of the scriptural interpreter with remarkable economy and careful, extensive scholarship.' Ben Fulford, Theology Vol. 116
This text is a fresh and edifying reading of Origen's extant literary corpus. Martens's deep reading in Origen is evidenced on every page, and his exemplary interaction with the secondary literature recommends this monograph to every student of Origen. Jonathan J. Armstrong, Journal of Theological Studies Vol. 65 Martens here demonstrates something of the integrative power of Origen's vision of the scriptural interpreter with remarkable economy and careful, extensive scholarship. Ben Fulford, Theology Vol. 116
This text is a fresh and edifying reading of Origen's extant literary corpus. Martens's deep reading in Origen is evidenced on every page, and his exemplary interaction with the secondary literature recommends this monograph to every student of Origen. --Journal of Theological Studies
Author Information
Peter W. Martens is Assistant Professor for Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. Prior to arriving in St. Louis he taught at the University of Notre Dame and Yale Divinity School. He specializes in Origen and his legacy, and has wide-ranging interests in the history of biblical interpretation.
