Articles

Reading Origen of Alexandria from the Perspective of Contemporary Semantics

Trostyanskiy, Sergey

In this article I will be looking at a third-century Alexandrian theologian, Origen, and his approach to Scriptural interpretation. I will be making an attempt to justify this approach philosophically. I will demonstrate that the epistemological value of Origen’s approach to the Scriptures is equal to that of the contemporary critical-historical method, and that any attempts to diminish the value of the traditional patristic approach to the Scriptures or to present it as epistemologically inferior are philosophically unjustified. I will be paying attention to the original context out of which Origen’s theology emerged, namely, certain philosophical premises of late antiquity. However, I will also use some notions and concepts that mark twentieth-century philosophical development, assuming that they can facilitate a proper understanding of Origen’s exegesis. I believe that as of today it is impossible to study the patristic tradition without taking into account twentieth-century logic and philosophy of language.

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Union Seminary Quarterly Review
Publisher
Union Theological Seminary

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Academic Units
Union Theological Seminary
Publisher
Union Theological Seminary
Series
Union Seminary Quarterly Review
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September 15, 2015