Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

THE ALEXANDRIAN ORIGEN: THE PLATONIC CONTEXT WHICH GAVE RISE TO HIS ALLEGORICAL HERMENEUTIC

A Paper Prepared for the 2012 Seminary Scholarship Symposium

by Landon Schnabel February 3, 2012

Table of Contents
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 1 THE ALEXANDRIAN ORIGEN: THE PLATONIC CONTEXT WHICH GAVE RISE TO HIS ALLEGORICAL HERMENUETIC ............................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 Alexandrian Platonism: Origens Hermeneutical Environment ................................................. 3 Plato, Realism and the Roots of Platonism ............................................................................. 3 Alexandria and the Allegorical Hermeneutical Tradition ....................................................... 4 Origens Hermeneutical Framework: Synthesis of Christian and Hellenistic Thought ............. 5 Origens Background .............................................................................................................. 5 Origens Education and Writings............................................................................................ 6 Overview of Origens Theology and Style of Biblical Interpretation in His Writings ........... 7 Alexandrian Platonisms Influence upon Origens Allegorical Hermeneutic ........................ 8 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 8

Abstract This paper examines the Platonic Alexandrian context in which Origens allegorical hermeneutic arose. The Platonic view of reality is shown to promote a dualistic hermeneutic. Origens life, which exhibits ample opportunity to incorporate Platonism into his worldview and hermeneutic, is briefly explored. His writings are surveyed to consider whether his spiritual method of biblical interpretation is in line with the tradition of Hellenistic thinkers developing in Alexandria. This paper concludes that the Platonic Alexandrian environment in which Origen constructed his worldview provided a context which facilitated his allegorical method of biblical interpretation, the impact of which continues to this day.

THE ALEXANDRIAN ORIGEN: THE PLATONIC CONTEXT WHICH GAVE RISE TO HIS ALLEGORICAL HERMENUETIC Introduction The world is perceived through the glasses of culture, even if the subject is oblivious to their spectacles of worldview. Location in time and place determine the way information is processed and interpreted. Tradition is constructed within a social and intellectual environment and tends to be built upon recent great thinkers who have shaped the mindset of the era.1 While many great thinkers were a part of the progression of thought from Greek philosophy to allegorical hermeneutics, Plato, Philo and Origen were the most influential figures in this line because of their strong impact on their areas of expertise. Plato was arguably the most important figure in Western thought, Philo bridged the gap between Hellenism and Judaism and Origen was arguably antiquitys most influential biblical interpreter. In the patristic age, especially in Alexandria, Greek philosophy, and subsequently a dualistic understanding of reality, was prevalent. Origen, who has been labeled the greatest biblical scholar of antiquity,2 was a prominent Platonic allegorizer of the patristic period whose influence has continued throughout history and continues to impact Christianity. Both Origens prominence and the development of his hermeneutic provides a valuable case study in understanding the impact of personal context upon interpretation. In considering Origen for this purpose, this paper proposes that Alexandrian Platonism gave rise to Origens allegorical3 hermeneutic which attempted to harmonize Christianity and Hellenism.
This is illustrated by the succession of thought from Greek philosophy to patristic biblical interpretation, which goes from Socrates to Plato to Philo to Clement and finally to Origen. Great minds who continued the Platonic vein of thought and interpretation after Origen include Saint Augustine and Plotinus. Plotinus, who founded Neoplatonism five centuries after Plato, was said to understand the Masters [Platos] intentions even better than the Master himself. John M. Rist, Plotinus: The Road to Reality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 24. Rist continues this thought: As Plato is to Socrates, Plotinus is to Plato.
2 1

Gerald Lewis Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past & Present (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,

1996), 83. An introductory definition of allegory from an important work on Origens hermeneutic ma y prove useful to some: Allegory is the interpretation of an object or person or a number of objects or persons as in reality meaning some object or person of a later time, with no attempt made to trace a relationship of similar situation between them.3 This method can be compared and contrasted with typology, which is also defined by the same book: Typology is the interpreting of an event belonging to the present or recent past as the fulfillment of a similar situation recorded or prophesied in Scripture. R. P. C. Hanson, Allegory and Event: A Study of the Sources and Significance of Origen's Interpretation of Scripture (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 7.
3

Alexandrian Platonism: Origens Hermeneutical Environment Plato, Realism and the Roots of Platonism It is important to examine the roots of Platonism, Platos own writings, in order to explore their impact on Origen and his hermeneutic. Plato focused on radically new ways of making the distinction between appearance and reality.4 In his day there were various perspectives on the relation of appearance to reality,5 but Platos view, realism, is the one best remembered today. Throughout his writings, Plato makes an effort to redraw the appearance-reality distinction6 for his readers. Beyond merely trying to make people rethink the way they see reality, he strove to single out the fundamental underlying elements that account for the rest of what we would call real.7 This search for the real continued throughout Platos life and permeated his writings. Later, this realism dominated Platonism and Neoplatonism. Platos realism is illustrated by his cave allegory in The Republic. Plato proposed the image of a reality beyond what can be examined with the five senses. He said that humankind is limited to the shadows if never allowed to move their heads.8 He concluded that to them [who cannot move their heads] the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the real.9 In Phaedo, Plato described death as separation and release of the soul from the body10 which has previously encapsulated the eternal spiritual soul. He considered life on earth to be but a shadow in which souls are trapped in an imperfect imitation of their real existence. The Timaeus, which had a profound impact on the early Church,11 focused on the basis of realism, namely Platos idea of the dual nature of reality composed of the physical and the spiritual. Through the character Timaeus, Plato said it is important to distinguish between that which always is and never becomes from that which is always becoming but never is. Plato believed the world was created through higher power. He proposed that the one is apprehensible by intelligence with the aid of reasoning, being eternally the same. Being at some distance from the One, reality as we perceive it is the object of opinion and irrational sensation, coming to be and ceasing to be, but never fully real.12 Plato asserted that God therefore, wish[es] that all things should be good, and so far as possible nothing be imperfect.13 Plato believed that any
J. M. E. Moravcsik, Plato and Platonism: Plato's Conception of Appearance and Reality in Ontology, Epistemology, and Ethics, and Its Modern Echoes (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992), 56.
5 6 7 8 9 4

Ibid., 56. Ibid., 56. Ibid., 58. Plato, The Republic and Other Works, trans., B. Jowett (New York: Doubleday, 1973), 205. Ibid., 206. Ibid., 499.

10 11

Louis P. Pojman and Michael Rea, Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, 5th ed. (Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth, 2008), 222.
12

Plato, Timaeus and Critias, trans., Desmond Lee, The Penguin Classics (London: Penguin Books, 1977), Ibid., 42.

40.
13

object we see aims at being some other thing, but falls short of, and can not attain to it.14 He said that all we can perceive can only be known through the medium of sight or touch, or some other sense.15 These things that we sense with our imperfect bodies are also an imitation of an absolute beauty, and goodness, and essence in general.16 He asserted that the soul is the very likeness of the divine, and immortal, and intelligible, and uniform, and indissoluble, and unchangeable. This was in opposition to his opinion of the body, which he thought is in the very likeness of the human, and mortal, and unintelligible, and multiform, and dissoluble, and changeable.17 Platos dichotomous realism was based upon the paradox between material reality and the proposed truly real perfect reality of which the material world is only an inferior copy. Furthermore, physical objects are but temporal representations of unchanging Ideas. This perspective can be labeled dualism, implying an inherent imperfection and shortfall of the material in comparison to the spiritual. Plato saw the body as material, and therefore inferior, and the soul as divine, to which he attributed the essence of true beauty. Alexandria and the Allegorical Hermeneutical Tradition As it developed, Christianity revealed itself to have developed within a society permeated by Platonic philosophy. There was a penchant within Christianity to deny the goodness of matter.18 When the real as we perceive it was demonized, belief systems such as Gnosticism arose. Gnosticism claimed that bits of the divine are trapped in material, and thus evil, bodies. The popular Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul can also be linked to Platos ideas about the body and soul which attracted Christians who were searching in Greek philosophy for support for the Christian doctrine of the future life.19 In the patristic age, two main schools of thought competed for influence: Antioch and Alexandria.20 The Antiochian school is associated with literal reading of the text, while the Alexandrian school would come to be associated with allegorical interpretation. Platonism had a strong impact on the Alexandrian school of thought, which generally followed the Platonic type of exegesis associated with Philo and Origen.21 Clement, and then Origen,22 borrowed heavily from the writings of the Jewish Platonist, Philo of Alexandria,23 and subsequently,
14 15 16 17 18

Plato, The Republic and Other Works, 507. Ibid., 507-508. Ibid., 510. Ibid., 513-514. Gerald Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1996), Justo L. Gonzlez, A History of Christian Thought, Rev. ed., 3 vols., vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, Ibid., 83. Ibid., 79.

98.
19

1987), 83.
20 21 22

Origen studied under Clement in Alexandria and was heavily influenced by him. Though mentorship is a more contemporary concept, it could be said that Clement mentored Origen who took over Clements mastership of the Alexandrian Catechetical School at the young age of 18. See Charles Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968).
23

Gonzlez, 78.

future interpreters borrowed from Origen whose influence continued to be felt throughout antiquity.24 Philo, the foremost Hellenistic Jewish interpreter of the Old Testament in this Alexandrian school, was a zealous follower of the sect of Plato and Pythagoras.25 According to well-known church historian Justo Gonzalez, Philo believed that the Scriptures teach the same things that Plato does, although they use allegories to do it.26 Jewish Hellenism had roots in Alexandria where scripture often passed through allegorical exegesis, a significant heritage of Hellenistic culture.27 The Alexandrian school of biblical interpretation, which came to be dominated by Origen, had its roots in Platonic thought and became the Christian center of Neoplatonism. To better understand how Alexandrian Platonism contributed to Origens hermeneutic, it will be beneficial to explore the life of the man himself. Origens Hermeneutical Framework: Synthesis of Christian and Hellenistic Thought Origens Background Origen lived from 185 to 254 CE, from the reign of Commodus to that of Valerian and Gallienus.28 He was an Egyptian, one of the children of the soil, despised by the Greek colonists for their animal-worship.29 Born to Christian parents, he still bore the name of one of his countrys deities, Origenes, child of Hor the god of Light.30 In his early years Origen was no stranger to persecution. His father, Leonides, fell victim to the persecution of Severus, and it was his mother who prevented him from self-destruction by open defiance of the authorities.31 In the persecution, Origen narrowly escaped stoning in the streets.32 At just eighteen years of age he gained mastership of the Alexandrian catechetical school in a position left vacant by the flight of Clement. He somehow escaped death and even contrived throughout the reign of terror to keep his school together.33 In addition to experiencing oppression, Origen flung himself into asceticism, selling manuscripts of the Greek classics he wrote out by hand so that he could teach without a fee.34 Charles Bigg says that: He was learning in strange and unexpected ways the true meaning of Christian sacrifice. He had been willing and eager to give his body to be burned, he had given all his
24 25 26 27

Ibid., 78. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, trans., Isaac Boyle (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989), 54. Gonzlez, 43.

Ilaria L. E. Ramelli, "Christian Soteriology and Christian Platonism: Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Biblical and Philosophical Basis of the Doctrine of Apokatastasis," Vigiliae Christianae 61, no. 3 (2007): 313-314.
28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Bigg, 151. Ibid., 152. Ibid., 152. Ibid., 153. Ibid., 153. Ibid., 153. Ibid., 154.

goods to feed the poor, and his reward had been not the martyr crown but the martyr spirit, love which beareth all things.35 Origen exemplified this martyr spirit when he assumed voluntary poverty and looked with a somber eye on the affections of the flesh.36 Having experienced persecution and turned to asceticism, Origen renounced material pleasure.37 Origens Education and Writings Having briefly explored Origens life, this section is an overview of Origens education and writings. Living on minimal sleep and food,38 Origen sought knowledge and understanding of scripture throughout his life. In this quest for knowledge, Origen attended the lectures of Ammonius Saccas, an esoteric eclectic Platonist, with whom some eleven years later Plotinus was to study.39 Renowned church historian Henry Chadwick has said that in his Life of Plotinus Porphyry mentions Origen as one of Plotinuss fellow-students under Ammonius.40 However, he continued on to say that it is so difficult to reconcile Porphyrys statements about this Origen with what is known of the Christian Origen that almost all scholars recognize the existence of two Origens.41 Regardless of the challenge of distinguishing the factual from the mythological regarding Origens learning under Ammonius, it is at least certain that his writings display a masterly knowledge of the debates of the Greek philosophical schools and a first-hand acquaintance with the works of Plato.42 Origen sought after philosophical knowledge, and in this quest was under the tutelage of Platonic scholarship and may have even studied with the man who is accredited with the founding, or at least the codifying, of Neoplatonism. Platonic influences resulting from his education are clear in Origens writings. In Stromateis, a work by Origens mentor now extant in just a few fragments, Clement sought to translate into Platonic language some basic New Testament ideas like eternal life and to show the harmony of Jesus and Plato.43 In his commentaries, Origen continued and developed Clements thought and sought meanings in scripture that go deeper than the surface meaning apparent to ordinary Church readers.44 The nature of his biblical exposition showed kinship to
35 36 37

Ibid., 155. Ibid., 155.

It has even been rumored that Origen castrated himself in a desire to maintain sexual asceticism. Intriguingly, this would mean that his Platonic dualism influenced a decision to interpret the text about severing troublesome extremities quite literally. Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition; Studies in Justin, Clement, and Origen (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966), 68.
39 40 41 42 43 44 38

Ibid., 68. Ibid., 68. Ibid., 68-69. Ibid., 69. Ibid., 71-72. Ibid., 74.

the great allegorical commentary of Philo on the Pentateuch.45 In his writings, Origen confirmed that he was acquainted with the Stoic and Platonic allegorical interpretations of Greek myths, already applied to the Bible by Philo and Clement of Alexandria.46 Like Philo, Origen believed that higher minds perceive truths in the Bible that are obscure to inferior understandings.47 Using his higher mind to interpret scripture, Origen modified the typical two parts of Platonism, physical and spiritual, and constructed his view in accordance with the Pauline division of man into three parts body, soul, and spirit.48 Origen lived in a world highly influenced by Platonic thought, learned from Platonists, and may have been a classmate of Plotinus. Though his writings show knowledge of Greek philosophy, and evident influence from Plato, it is important to remember that Origen was a Christian first and [a] Platonist second.49 Origen expressed New Testament ideas in such a way that they would be compatible with Platonism. Overview of Origens Theology and Style of Biblical Interpretation in His Writings The ultimate compatibility of Origens writings with Platonism was rooted in his use of Platonic categories when interpreting the Christian text. Origen has been called the first great scholar, first great commentator, the first great dogmatist.50 Origen believed there were two Adams that were created, the first made after the image and likeness of God and the second formed from the dust of the ground.51 Origen believed Paul understood these dichotomous Adams clearly because in his letters he wrote openly and clearly that every person is two different men, differentiating between the outer and inner man.52 Origen believed that both symbolic and literal texts contain underlying spiritual insight to be discovered by the enlightened. He supposed the Song of Songs was about Christs love for us. He postulated that, whatever has been written about loving affection you must understand as though it were said of love, paying no attention to the different words.53 Origen believed that superior intelligences saw the allegorical truths underlying the basic meanings of scripture. He believed that the hearer of limited understanding54 would see only some parts of scripture as helpful, and would regard such books as Numbers and Leviticus as useless. However, those with spiritual insight would find all scripture to be valuable and applicable. He saw multiple meanings in historical narrative, such as the supposed double Exodus from Egypt, which he saw as either when we leave our life as Gentiles and come to the knowledge of divine Law or when the soul leaves its
45 46 47 48 49 50 51

Ibid., 74. Ramelli: 314. Chadwick, 74. Ibid., 75. Ramelli: 314. Bigg, 151.

Origen and Rowan A. Greer, Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, and Selected Works, The Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1979), 220.
52 53 54

Ibid., 220. Ibid., 227. Ibid., 247.

dwelling place in the body.55 Origen believed the Bible was a full of spiritual illumination for the intelligent and spiritually fit. Alexandrian Platonisms Influence upon Origens Allegorical Hermeneutic Like the rest of his worldview, Origens hermeneutic did not take form in a vacuum. He believed the Bible was highly inspired and full of esoteric truth, both from his religious subculture and the assumption of the dualistic nature of truth and reality from his philosophical subculture. According to Origen scholar and translator, Joseph Trigg, Origen was exposed to Christianity, Hellenism, and Gnosticism during his formative years growing up in Alexandria.56 Hellenistic Judaism imparted significant influence on Origen. Clement introduced Origen to Philos works. Philo had taught Clement how to relate Platonism to the Bible, and this modus operandi was passed on to Origen. Philos works were congruent with Platonisms overall effect upon Origens allegorical interpretation of scriptures as he wrote treatises in impeccable Greek interpreting the Torah in terms of Plato and vice versa.57 The impact of Philo upon Origen is evidenced by the fact that Origens personal library is the source of the manuscript tradition for all of Philos extant works. Trigg continues to trace the influence of Platonic interpretation of scriptures through Philo to Origen: In Philo allegorical interpretation of Scriptures opens up a mystical understanding of the text inaccessible to those who were intellectually and morally unworthy of it. Like the author of the Wisdom of Solomon, Philo thus, in effect, extends the Hebrew wisdom tradition, assimilating Greek philosophy just at that tradition had assimilated the wisdom of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Drawing on Philo, Clement and Origen extend that tradition still further.58 Alexandrian Platonic thought shaped Philos interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures which played a vital role in the formation of Origens allegorical hermeneutic. Though Jewish presence was not strong in Alexandria during Origens time, he was still greatly affected by Hellenistic Jewish thought by Clement who studied under Philo.59 Conclusion In an aptly titled book, From Philo to Origen: Middle Platonism in Transition, Robert Berchman contributes the following: Origens Neo Platonism is proved in two ways. Origen was said by Porphyry and Eusebius to have been in [the] circle of Platonic of Platonic thinkers. In many passages
55 56

Ibid., 248. This idea was of great import to the Platonic philosophers. Joseph Wilson Trigg, Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-Century Church (Atlanta: J. Knox, Ibid., 52. Ibid., 52. Joseph Wilson Trigg and Origen, Origen, The Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 1998), 11.

1983), 52.
57 58 59

Origen spoke of three divine hypostases and a First Principle beyond intellect and being. These notions were also held by Plotinus, ergo Origen presented a cogent, if incomplete Neo-Platonic philosophical theology which may be explained from the writings of the fully developed Neo Platonisms of Plotinus, Porphyry, or even the Christian Neo Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa. The second method of proof rests on negative evidence. Origen was a member of the school of Ammonius Saccas. As one of the earliest formulators of Neo-Platonic doctrine he was intimately familiar with its ideas. Although he was not a creative thinker in the mold of Plotinus, his works constitute a fons for early or primitive Neo Platonic thought. Analyzed within the context of the writings of the developed Neo-Platonist Plotinus it is clear that the residuum of Origens thought is important as a milestone on the road to Neo Platonism.60 Berchman, starting with Philo and continuing to Origen, discerned the significant historical roles these men played. The ideas of Plato have become meshed with all forms of Western thought, including biblical interpretation through Origen, whose principles of interpretation made their way to the heart of biblical hermeneutics. Origen learned from Platonists such as Ammonius Saccas, read the writings of Platonists such as Philo, and studied Greek philosophy, including Plato himself. Origen differentiated between the material and the spiritual, the physical and the intelligible. His philosophical perspective was influenced by Plato, but he still held the Bible in high regard and was an ardent Christian who experienced martyrdom. He altered Greek thought in line with his Christian beliefs and proposed that humans are composed of three parts, instead of the two proposed by Platonists. Origens writings blended Christianity and what was to become Neoplatonic Hellenism through allegorical hermeneutics. In conclusion, no individuals ideas arise in a vacuum, and this is true of Origen. He grew up in a Platonic thought environment and learned with and from people central to what developed into Neoplatonism. Origen was socialized to be a proponent of Philos hermeneutic, which sought to harmonize the Bible and Hellenistic philosophy. Alexandrian Platonism gave rise to Origens allegorical method of interpreting the Bible which attempted to harmonize Christianity and Hellenism, and has permeated biblical hermeneutics.
Robert M. Berchman, From Philo to Origen: Middle Platonism in Transition , Brown Judaic Studies (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1984), 115.
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