A common accusation made against Origen is that he dissolves history into intellectual abstraction and that his eschatology (if this is recognized at all) is notoriously obscure. In this new work, the author draws on an impressive range of bibliography to consider Origen’s Philosophy of History and Eschatology in the widest context of facts, documents and streams of thought, including Classical and Late Antiquity Greek Philosophy, Gnosticism, Hebraism and Patristic Thought, both before Origen and well after his death. Against claims that he causes history to evaporate into barren idealism, his thought is shown to be firmly grounded on his particular vision of historical occurences. Confronting assertions that Origen has no eschatological ideas, his eschatology is shown rather to have made a distinctive mark throughout his works, both explicitly and tacitly. In Origen’s view, history was the foundation of scriptural interpretation, a teleological process determined by factors and functions such as providence – prophecy – promise – expectation – realization – anticipation – faith – anticipation – hope – awaiting for – fulfilment – end. Since 1986, the author has argued for the unpopular thesis that Origen is, in many respects, an anti-Platonist. Nevertheless, the author casts light upon the Aristotelian rationale of Origen’s doctrine of apokatastasis, arguing that its validity is bolstered by ontological rather than historical premises. The extent of Origen’s influence upon what is currently regarded as ‘orthodoxy’ turns out to be far wider and more profound than has hitherto been acknowledged.

Origen’s On First Principles is a foundational work in the development of Christian thought and doctrine: it is the first attempt in history at a systematic Christian theology. For over a decade it has been out of print with only expensive used copies available; now it is available at an affordable price and in a more accessible format. On First Principles is the most important surviving text written by third-century Church father, Origen. Origen wrote in a time when fundamental doctrines had not yet been fully articulated by the Church, and contributed to the very formation of Christianity. Readers see Origen grappling with the mysteries of salvation and brainstorming how they can be understood. This edition presents G. W. Butterworth’s trusted translation in a new, more readable format, retains the introduction by Henri de Lubac, and includes a new foreword by John C. Cavadini. As St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor of the Church, wrote: “Origen is the stone on which all of us were sharpened.”

"Cover"--"Title"--"Copyright" -- "Contents" -- "Introduction" -- "Chapter 1 Origen among Christians, Jews and Gnostics" -- "Christian and Jew" -- "The Church in Alexandria" -- "Christian Heterodoxy in Alexandria" -- "Christological Considerations" -- "Concluding Remarks on Origen" -- "Chapter 2 The God of Origen and the Gods of Plato" -- "Platonism and the Name of God" -- "Studying Philosophy in Alexandria" -- "God, Philosophy and Revelation" -- "The Divine Creator" -- "Christ as Logos" -- "The Trinity, Ousia and Hypostasis" -- "Chapter 3 The Doctrine of the Soul in Origen" -- "Did Origen Believe in the Pre-existence of the Soul?" -- "Interlude: the Pre-existence of the Soul of Christ" -- "The Pre-existent Soul: does On First Principles Contradict Itself?" -- "A Pilgrimage of Souls" -- "Image, Likeness and the Fashioning of Saints" -- "Eschatology and Mysticism" -- "Chapter 4 The Interpretation of Scripture" -- "Notes Toward a Definition of Allegory" -- "Allegory and the Philosophers" -- "The Alexandrian Tradition" -- "Origen and the Word of God" -- "The Mystery of Christian Maturation" -- "Mysticism, Platonism, Jewish Literalism" -- "Word and Sacrament" -- "Objections and Replies" -- "Conclusion" -- "Bibliography

"Since 1986, Professor Panayiotis Tzamalikos he has argued that Origen was an anti-Platonist in many respects, and all of the clauses in Origen's official anathematisation in AD 553 were based on nefarious adulteration by unschooled and fanatical drumbeaters. The author's pertinent books heretofore have uprooted all of those charges and demonstrated that they had nothing to do with Origen's real thought. Therefore, Tzamalikos' work constitutes a peripeteia in the Aristotelian sense of the term, referring to tragedian plays of classical Athens, which points to the moment when the hero learns that everything he knew was wrong. This book (like the author's previous ones) brings to light and critically discusses Origen's Greek philosophical background, which he put to full use upon composing his Christian works. Consequently, the author insists on the need for engaging in the onerous task of ascertaining Origen's endowments and feat: whereas he was a Greek 'apostate' who forsook his ancestral religion and converted to Christianity when he was well on in years, nevertheless, he implicitly made ample use of his patrimonial lore upon composing his ground-breaking work which paved the way to Nicaea. The author's thesis is that, in the quest for discovering the real Origen, scrutinised perusal of this illuminating background is inexorable. For in the history of philosophy, Origen ipso facto is an uncategorised author, whose thought constitutes an unexampled chapter of its own, revealing a perfect match between Christian exegesis and Greek philosophy, which imparted the later episcopal 'orthodoxy' the gravamen of its anti-Arian doctrine"--

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

The theory of apokatastasis (restoration), most famously defended by the Alexandrian exegete, philosopher and theologian Origen, has its roots in both Greek philosophy and Jewish-Christian Scriptures and literature, and became a major theologico-soteriological doctrine in patristics. This monograph—the first comprehensive, systematic scholarly study of the history of the Christian apokatastasis doctrine—argues its presence and Christological and Biblical foundation in numerous Christian thinkers, including Syriac, and analyses its origins, meaning, and development over eight centuries, from the New Testament to Eriugena, the last patristic philosopher. Surprises await readers of this book, which results from fifteen years of research. For instance, they will discover that even Augustine, in his anti-Manichaean phase, supported the theory of universal restoration.

A courageous and well-executed attempt to eliminate long-standing miscomprehensions about Origen's thought. The enterprise is understanding this thought on the basis of Origen's concept of Time, all the more since this view of time has never been ad hoc studied before. The author shows how essential facets of an entire theology and philosophy are related to a view of time: Anthropology, cosmology, eschatology, theology, the attitude to death, moral ideas are aspects both determining and determined by a certain view of time. There is a thorough reassessment of the relation between Hellenism and Christianity, both in general and as this is demonstrated in Origen's work. The author takes the opportunity to exonerate the Alexandrian from the traditional charge that he compromised his theology by mingling it with much of the substance of Platonist and Stoic philosophy. This old fallacy has resulted in Origen being regarded as one of the chief architects of the Hellenization of Christianity. Against any ancient or modern account, it is proven that Origen did not hold any notion such as the so-called «eternity of creation»: a revolutionary thesis, which though is substantiated and confirmed through Origen's own texts in Greek, most of which have remained unstudied hitherto. Equally original is the thesis that Origen does have an eschatology, which is expounded in detail in this book. As a matter of fact, this is the case of an intensely and fervently eschatological thought, determined by notions such as providence - prophecy - promise - expectation - realization - faith - hope - waiting - fulfilment - end. A thought earnestly oriented towards a promised, and thus expected, end.