Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (Oxford Early Christian Studies) - Softcover

Martens, Peter W.

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9780198717560: Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (Oxford Early Christian Studies)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0198717563 ISBN 13: 9780198717560
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2014

Synopsis

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.

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About the Author

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.

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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication date
2014
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0198717563
ISBN 13 
9780198717560
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
294
Rating
  • 4.57 out of 5 stars
    23 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780199639557: Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (Oxford Early Christian Studies)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0199639558 ISBN 13:  9780199639557
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012
Hardcover