Born and raised as a Christian, O. had a father who was martyred. His program of education included the standard variety of classical education but he was also given throughout instruction in the Scriptures. He worked as a grammaticus for sometime before becoming a “full-time” Christian teacher, to whom the instruction of catechumens was soon entrusted. O.’s penchant for speculation estranged him from the Bishop of Alexandria, Demetrius, and he moved to Caesarea in Palestine where he was a presbyter and preached sermons. Despite some travels, he spent the rest of his life there until Decius tortured him in 249, causing his death a few years later.

Perhaps the most prolific writer in Antiquity. Extant is a small still impressive part. His literary career falls into 3 periods:

1) 220-232 (he starts at the request of Ambrose whom he had converted from Valntinianism): Co on Psa 1-25, on Gen; on Res; PA; Co in Io (5 first books) and began at least work on the Hexapla.

2) 232-5 in Caesarea: Co in Io (6-10); orat; exhMart (325) During persecution of Maximinus (235-8) he took refuge in Caesarea of Cappadocia

3) 238-254. After the death of the emperor he returns to Caesarea, founding a school (Gregory Thaumaturgos was one of his students), he preached the majority of his homilies (205, possibly 279; they were preached in a three year liturgical cycle, 238-41). He completed Co in Io in 32 books [he reached only Jn 13:13] (241-2), Co Isaiah; CoCant; CoPsa (reached at least Ps 78); letters; CoRom; Pascha (spiritual exegesis of Ex 12); Dial Hercl (this seems to have had some sort of monarchian theology); CoMatt; Co12Proph; CC. Tortured he died in 254.

The most debated and important work of O. was his De principiis. Problem with Rufinus’ approach to interpolations (omitted or corrected). This work deals with 1) the world prior to creation, including the Trinity and angels, 2) the identity of the creator God and his activity in human history, 3) the free will of the human person, sin, temptation, and eschatological restoration, and 4) the doctrine and interpretative principles of Scripture. In De principiis one sees subordinationist Trinitarian theology, the doctrine of the soul’s preexistence, and the doctrine of avpokata,stasij (the redemption of all things, including Satan). The treatise belongs to the genre represented by the On the Gods and the World of Sallustius and treats the subject that was called physics, i.e., the relation of God to the created world. Such works contains two parts. The first summarized the author’s teaching on these subjects, and the second investigated details related to the larger issues in the first part. Origen expanded this basic format by adding a preface in which he set forth the rule of faith, and concluding summary. Applied to the PA, this schema yields the following structure: Preface, Part One (PA 1.1-2.3), Part Two (PA 2.4-4.3) and Summary (PA 4.4)

The Contra Celsum (his last treatise) by drawing from Greek philosophers and poets and the Bible defends Christianity by defending Judaism and subsequently defends Christianity against Judaism. The crux of the argument is Christ’s role in the fulfillment of the OT and thus proper interpretation of the OT. The majority of O.’s works were exegetical, his commentaries on John, Matthew, Romans, and the Psalms ranking foremost among them. He also produced the Hexapla, a work comparing in six columns various Greek translations of the OT with the Hebrew original, with a view toward assisting Christian apologists use texts they could agree on with their Jewish counterparts. A few works such as the Exhortation to Martyrdom (encourages Ambrose and other friend who are imprisoned), On Prayer (answers Ambrose’s objections, pr. in gral, PN, practice of pr), and the commentary on Song of Songs constitute his “spiritual theology.”

As R. Heine points out, O. was not simply a Platonist, but viewed the world from a Platonic point-of-view. Platonism provided the tools to explain the biblical tradition that O. ultimately had as his first priority. The concrete historicity of Jesus of Nazareth pushed back against an abstract Platonic Logos in his theology. “Faith in the saving incarnation of the Son of God is for O. the background and horizon for all exegesis including the OT.” (DECL 448)

O’s principles for biblical exegesis had long-lasting influence as his allegorical method became common in the medieval Western world. Many of his works were lost, however, when his controversial teachings (primarily from De principiis) were condemned in the fourth century and again in the sixth. In the modern era, his thought has become more and more influential especially in the later part of the twentieth century. Above all, vir ecclesiasticus, a biblical theologian. Origenism clouded O’s fame unjustly because 15 anathemas on statements of Evagrius. Most influential author after Paul.

Debate erupted in last decade of 4c and resurfaced among monks in 6c in Palestine. The theological situation had changed from Origen’s time. Points that he considered open were not more. Stimulus was Rufinus’ translation of PA. But before Epiphanius had attacked him. Later Theophilus of Alexandria In his festal letters and Jerome. Origenism (especially in Ev) developed in a more speculative direction. In the Western debate the central issue was on the body. 6c issue: whether believers in the “restoration of all” will be one in nature with X.