Lauro discusses the theologian Origen's employment of three distinct senses of scriptural meaning (pertaining to the body, soul, and spirit) within his exegetical theory and practice and demonstrates how they interrelate to facilitate his audience's spiritual transformation.

Elizabeth Ann Dively Lauro discusses the theologian Origen’s employment of three distinct senses of scriptural meaning within his exegetical theory and practice: somatic (bodily, factually historical), psychic (pertaining to the soul, a figurative call to shun vice and grow in virtue), and pneumatic (spiritual, revealing God’s plan of salvation through Christ’s Incarnation). Lauro first establishes that a correct understanding of the mechanics of Origen’s exegesis is vital to an informed reading of his works, then cites Origen’s theoretical foundations for each sense. She ultimately demonstrates how the relationship between the two “higher senses” (psychic and pneumatic) is central to Origen’s exegetical efforts and facilitates his audience’s spiritual transformation.

Origen (185-ca. 254), one of the most prolific and influential of the early Church Fathers, is best known to us for his Scripture exegesis. Henri de Lubac's History and Spirit is a landmark study of Origen's understanding of Scripture and his exegetical methods. In exploring Origne's efforts to interpret the four different senses of Scripture, de Lubac leads the reader through an immense and varied work to its center: Christ the Word.

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In Genesis and Cosmos Adam Rasmussen examines how Basil and Origen addressed scientific problems in their interpretations of Genesis 1. For the first time, he offers an in-depth analysis of Basil’s thinking on three problems in Scripture-and-science: the nature of matter, the super-heavenly water, and astrology. Both theologians worked from the same fundamental perspective that science is the “servant” of Christianity, useful yet subordinate. Rasmussen convincingly shows how Basil used Origen’s writings to construct his own solutions. Only on the question of the water does Basil break with Origen, who allegorized the water. Rasmussen demonstrates how they sought to integrate science and Scripture and thus remain instructive for those engaged in the dialogue between religion and science today.

Christian exegesis of the Song of Songs has long interacted creatively with - and, more recently, reacted critically against - the allegorical interpretation developed by Origen of Alexandria (c.185-c.254) in his Commentary and two Homilies on the Song of Songs. Interest in Origen's exegesis of the Song's narrative elements has dominated past scholarship, which has almost entirely ignored how Origen assesses the Song itself, in its unity as a revealed text. This study aims to show that the Commentary and Homilies - when read in light of Origen's hermeneutic, his nuptial theology, his understanding of the prophetic mediation of inspired texts, and his doctrine of last things - clearly portray the Song of Songs itself as the divine Bridegroom's perfect marriage-song. As such, it mediates Christ's eschatological presence, as the `spirit' of Scripture, in and through the intelligible structures of the text itself.

Origen of Alexandria is the most influential thinker and writer of the Christian church after John the Evangelist and Paul the Apostle. This book charts his momentous impact on the structures, mindset, and doctrines of Christianity, from the third century when he wrote to the twenty-first century when his work has been enthusiastically revisited. It has been a long and enduring influence that has seen his star rise and wane many times over past centuries, but at each critical juncture of Christian reflection over the ages, he has been rediscovered and invariably offered important insights to contemporary issues.