Chapter 2: Origen
Oft-Reviled but “The Greatest Teacher After the Apostles"
Origen has been considered a bit of a heretic for some issues he proposed. But, he never called them dogma and always said the church was the final decider and he was under that authority.
Jerome called Origen the "greatest teacher …”. He was a prolific writer, but also a Bible teacher. He emphasized personal holiness for making progress to relationship with God with the use of Scripture. He valued asceticism. He taught that There were layers of meaning in Scripture and just looking at the author’s original intent misses the deeper meaning.
Origen developed the fourfold sense of Scripture:
- Literal or historical sense. What happened.
- Allegorical sense. What you should believe.
- Moral or tropological. What you should do.
- Anagogical (Greek for leading up). What we should aim for.
Not all believers will be able to understand all 4 layers.
Origen was fighter for true doctrine. He wrote a 6,5000 page book of biblical criticism.
What can we learn?
- A new say seeing the Bible’s unity.
- A new appreciation for the profundity of Scripture.
- A new openness to Scripture’s role in our spiritual formation.