Origen of Alexandria and the Theology of the Holy Spirit offers a comprehensive account of Origen's pneumatology. In examining the Holy Spirit's identity and activity in Origen's writings, this study reads Origen in his context and surveys his entire corpus. It shows that Origen grounds his pneumatology in Scripture and uses Jewish, philosophical, and earlier Christian teachings in exegeting the passages he believes pertain to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is revealed to function in Origen's works as a single hypostasis dependent on the Father and Son for both his being and attributes, which ranks the Spirit below the Father and Son. The Spirit, however, is grouped with the Father and Son, distinct from all other beings and ranked above them. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is ranked third of all things. This relationship serves as the basis for Origen's belief that the Spirit's activities—giving spiritual gifts, sanctifying believers and making them holy, offering intercession, inspiring Scripture, and aiding in the interpretation of Scripture—are a common operation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit, then, plays an integral role in the salvation of the human person. By offering a comprehensive understanding of Origen's pneumatology, Micah M. Miller also provides a fresh perspective of his Trinitarian thought.

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.”

Even though the theology of Origen of Alexandria has shaped the Christian Tradition in almost every way, the controversies over his legacy have been seemingly endless. One major interpretative trend, for example, has suggested Origen’s theology is really akin to the heterodox Gnostics against whom he wrote than the actual teaching of the Gospel, since he (supposedly) had a disdainful attitude towards Creation and ultimately saw little redemptive meaning in the Passion. In Cross and Creation: A Theological Introduction to Origen of Alexandria, Mark Therrien offers an original interpretation of Origen’s theology. Focusing on some of Origen’s most important works (especially On First Principles and the Commentary on John, but ultimately making reference to his writings more broadly), this book retrieves and examines some of the foundational pillars of Origen’s theology through close readings and re-examinations of those texts. It examines eight of these theological foundations: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the end, the soul, the world, the cross, and deification. Moreover, by showing the connections between Origen’s understanding of these foundational pillars, it also shows the coherence of his theology as a whole. Taken collectively, what emerges from these eight chapters is that two doctrines specially shape Origen’s theology: Cross and Creation. As Therrien shows, Origen did not hold contempt for Creation. Rather, Origen thinks that Creation emerges from the very life of God as eternally foreknown and provided for in the person of Christ, the Wisdom of God the Father. Moreover, he also holds that, though fallen, Creation will be restored according to its original, eternal intention in God precisely through the Passion of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Cross is thus not minimalized in Origen’s theology; it is rather its very center.

"Mark Therrien offers an original interpretation of Origen's theology. Focusing on some of Origen's most important works (especially On First Principles and the Commentary on John, but ultimately making reference to his writings more broadly), this book retrieves and examines some of the foundational pillars of Origen's theology through close readings and re-examinations of those texts. It examines eight of these theological foundations: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the end, the soul, the world, the cross, and deification. Moreover, by showing the connections between Origen's understanding of these foundational pillars, it also shows the coherence of his theology as a whole. Taken collectively, what emerges from these eight chapters is that two doctrines specially shape Origen's theology: Cross and Creation"--

This book is an in-depth examination of the pneumatology of Origen of Alexandria. Justin J. Lee argues that Origen conceives of the Holy Spirit as a divine person, but inferior in nature in both person and work. This can be discerned from his understanding of the Son and Father, as well as the influence of Middle Platonism on his theological and cosmological framework. Ontologically, Origen's understanding of Trinity is a hierarchy of divine persons in which the greater ministers to the existence of the lower.Origen's pneumatology can be best understood by examining how he speaks about the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit participates in the divine work of salvation, reflecting an economic Trinity of shared work and will. The Spirit's primary role is to indwell and assist the saints. There are two major actions of the Holy Spirit's work: (1) the downward action of God, where the Spirit is the distributor of the divine gifts and graces and (2) the Spirit's upward work of revelation and sanctification, by which he leads the saints to the Son and Father. The Spirit thus serves as the practical and personal initiator of believers into the greater processes of salvation and deification.

"More than one thousand selections from the various extant writings of Origen, the great Alexandrian theologian. Robert J. Daly has retranslated the majority of these texts from the original Greek and Latin, added the scriptural references in the translated texts and an index, and included updated bibliographical information"--Back cover.