Origen of Alexandria: Master Theologian of the Early Church

by John Anthony McGuckin

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.

Genres: Church History, History

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 21, 2022

About the author

John Anthony McGuckin is the Nielsen Emeritus Professor of Byzantine Christian Studies at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, and currently professor of early Christianity in the Theological Faculty of Oxford University. An archpriest of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has written more than thirty scholarly books. He lives in the UK.

Reviews

[Rory Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Origen ‘is arguably the most important Christian in the history of the Church after the evangelists and St Paul…’ (p.3).

With an opening like that, the book sets itself an enormous challenge of justifying the pre-eminent importance of Origen. It approaches this goal by trying to explain the considerable breadth and depth of Origen’s thought, and the way that it has never ceased to influence future generations.

The first couple of chapters provide accounts of Origen’s life and thought. That was informative, but it was also very brief. Understandably the book wanted to devote considerable space to explaining the reactions to Origen. And those later sections were also informative and well-written, as there is indeed a very important story to be told about how people reacted to Origen.

But in a book about Origen, I would have expected more than just ¼ of the book to be devoted to expounding Origen’s thought (ie the first 39/173 pages). This very tight allocation of space meant that where aspects of Origen’s work was raised, it was often dealt with a little brusquely. For example, we heard that Origen produced a Hexapla to compare biblical texts, but we didn’t hear of any of the significant textual issues which Origen was able to raise, from doing so.

One of the issues which Origen discussed was the story of Susanna in the book of Daniel. It appeared in his Greek Christian bible, but not in the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures (nor later Protestant bibles). Issues like that have continuing theological implications for Christians, and Origen had interesting things to say about textual issues like that, but there is no indication of it in the book.

Another surprising omission was the allegation of Origen’s self-castration. Over the centuries historians have disagreed about whether that allegation was true, or not; or whether it was just a clumsy attempt to discredit the validity of his ordination. It is a serious issue, but the only mention of self-castration in this book occurs on p.113 where the reader is informed that twelfth Century Abelard reflected on the issue. It is a little odd to hear about medieval figures reflecting on an important incident in Origen’s life which the book doesn’t actually explain or discuss.

Overall, this is an informative and useful book about Origen… as far as it goes. But its brevity means that it doesn’t go as far as readers might wish. It mentions many interesting issues relating to Origen, but it is limited in its ability to comprehensibly cover all of the main contours of Origen’s thought and the controversial incidents alleged to have occurred in his life.

(These comments are based on the 2022 edition of the book).

[Chandler Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work defending the place of Origen of Alexandria as a theologian in the Christian tradition and as a foremost shaper of theological tradition. McGuckin is very much frustrated and tired of the caricatures and misunderstandings that have arisen concerning Origen over the years. McGuckin explains the life, thought, and reception history of Origen to show how he was misunderstood throughout church history, but how his work persevered and continues to have an impact today despite being (falsely) labeled as a heretic. Spoiler alert: the Cappadocian Fathers played a major part in preserving the memory and work of Origen! McGuckin makes a very compelling and convincing defense of Origen’s theological work. This book made me appreciate Origen’s work even more. I do disagree with McGuckin about his argument that Origen was a passibilist theologian, and I wish that McGuckin did more work showing the orthodoxy or non-heretical nature of Apokatastasis since that is what Origen gets faulted for most of the time and it is the teaching that seems most strange to our modern ears, but McGuckin at least shows the prevalence of the concept of Apokatastasis in the early church. Origen was ultimately a theologian who liked to ask questions and put out theoretical or potential ideas rather than make dogmatic, certain claims. Excellent work from McGuckin!

[Rob Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

An expansive and helpful clarification of Origen and the influence (and often misrepresentation) of his work. It clarified him for me. I will say that I would have liked a little more expansive section on the breadth of Origen's work. McGuckin only presents those things that became really influential or controversial. It fits with the goal of his work. I simply expected a broader sweep over his theology. I suspect that some of the biographies or translations of the work might be more helpful for those looking for that. This did help however to put in order the importance of the work. For those who want the history of Origen's influence this is a superb work. For those looking for something else, there are probably other sources that may be what you are looking for.