The Westminster Handbook to Origen

Abstract

The Westminster Handbook to Origen. Edited by John Anthony McGuckin. The Westminster Handbooks to Christian Theology. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. xxi + 228 pp. $34.95 (paper). Heretic or saint? That question has beleaguered Origen (d. 254), and Origen's spirit, for 1,700 years and shows no signs of going away. I encountered its lowering presence while doing doctoral research on Saint Peter I of Alexandria (d. 311). The scholarly literature uniformly referred to Peter as an anti-Origenist when, in fact, his anti-Origenism was palimpsest written by Emperor Justinian I some 200 years later. Such has been Origen's fate over centuries. The last forty years have seen significant scholarly reassessment and reevaluation-indeed resuscitation-of Origen, and The Westminster Handbook to Origen will undoubtedly contribute to welcome process. John McGuckin, book's editor, makes his position eminently clear: Origen was the greatest Christian of his age (p. 23); the greatest genius early church ever produced (p. 25); he was church's first and greatest biblical scholar and church's first great mystic (p. ix). In McGuckin, Origen has gotten what he deserves-a sympathetic, able editor who has written an energetic and very accessible introduction to Origen and his works and assembled plethora of Origen scholars who have contributed some eighty articles arranged alphabetically (from Allegory to Worship) on great Alexandrian and Caesarean theologian and exegete. I can hardly think of better introduction to Origen than McGuckin's to recommend to student or seminarian. The editor, in fact, by organizing articles under five categories, offers program of study for someone wishing to undertake a comprehensive study of Origen (p. xi). McGuckin's assessments of Origen are often arresting. For Origen, he says, the footsteps of Creator are left abundantly in cosmos and in mental capacities of humans; professor is high priest of Christian mysteries (p. 8). (These conclusions of McGuckin's and Origen's are not so outre when one remembers gospel writers translate rabbi as didaskalos, teacher, and Alexandrian theologians such as Clement saw Jesus as teacher par excellence.) Origen's efforts at library-building and scholarship in Caesarea left legacy that church leadership ought to base its cultural mission around nexus of higher education services (p. …

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