Homilies on Numbers (Ancient Christian Texts) - Hardcover

Scheck, Thomas P.; Hall, Christopher A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0830829059 ISBN 13: 9780830829057

Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press,US, 2009

Synopsis

Origen of Alexandria (185-254), one of the most prolific authors of antiquity and arguably the most important and influential pre-Nicene Christian theologian, was a man of deep learning and holiness of life. Regrettably, many of his works are no longer extant, in part due to the condemnation of his ideas by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553. The condemnation, however, took little account of his historical circumstances and the tentative nature of his speculations. The anathemas were more likely directed toward sixth-century Origenist views than to the views of Origen himself, though clearly he expounded some views that would be judged unacceptable today. Origen's numerous homilies provide the oldest surviving corpus of Christian sermons and shaped exegesis for succeeding centuries. With Jerome he was one of the early church's great critical and literal exegetes. Devoutly he sought to develop a spiritual exegesis of the Old Testament grounded in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Homilies on Numbers presented here offer a splendid example of his spiritual interpretation of Old Testament texts. He asks, What foreshadowing, what warning, what instruction, what encouragement, reproof, correction or exhortation, do we find in the narratives of Numbers for our benefit as Christians? Here, based on Baehren's critical Latin text, is the first English edition of these homilies, ably translated with explanatory notes by Thomas P. Scheck. Ancient Christian Texts are new English translations of full-length commentaries or sermon series from ancient Christian authors that allow you to study key writings of the early church fathers in a fresh way.

About this title

About the Author

Origen was an early Christian scholar, theologian, and one of the most distinguished of the early fathers of the Christian Church. Thomas P. Scheck (Ph.D., University of Iowa) is assistant professor of classics and theology at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. He is the author of Origen and the History of Justification and the translator of other commentaries by Origen and Jerome. Christopher A. Hall is chancellor at Eastern University. He is associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and author of Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press,US
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0830829059
• ISBN 13: 9780830829057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 196