Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/commentaries-introduction.asp?pg=8

ELPENOR - Home of the Greek Word

Three Millennia of Greek Literature
ORIGEN HOME PAGE  

Introduction to the Commentaries of Origen

By Allan Menzies.

Origen Resources OnLine & in Print

ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT

The Original Greek New Testament

9 Pages


Page 8

It follows from this that the commentaries are deficient in order and sequence. The method which calls the writer to look at every step for spiritual meanings, combined with his own extraordinary fertility of imagination and wealth of matter, makes these books very disconnected. At each point a number of questions suggests itself as to possible meanings; a host of texts is brought at once from every part of Scripture to afford illustration, and these again have to be considered. Very modestly are the questions and themes introduced. The tone is as far as possible from being ex cathedra; it is rather that of a student groping his way, and asking at each step for assistance. And the great mass of the questions thus raised is left, apparently, unanswered. So that the work as a whole is rather a great collection of materials for future consideration than a finished treatise.

Such being the characteristics of Origen's commentaries, they have by many been regarded as unsuitable for the general reader, and unfavourably compared with those of later writers, to whom the interpretation of Scripture was not weighted with such difficulties as Origen had to contend with. Our author does not carry us along in his commentaries with a stream of golden eloquence; his interests are intellectual more than literary or practical, his work is scientific rather than popular. Perhaps the historical student has more to gain from them than the preacher. But among the pages which witness chiefly to restless intellectual energy and unwearied diligence, there are also many passages of rare and touching beauty, when the writer realizes the greatness of the Christian salvation, or when the heavenly things to the search for which all his labour is devoted shine by their own brightness on his sight.

Previous Page / First / Next Page of the Introduction to the Commentaries of Origen
Origen Home Page ||| More Church Fathers

Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons
Three Millennia of Greek Literature

 

Greek Literature - Ancient, Medieval, Modern

Origen Home Page   Origen in Print

Elpenor's Greek Forum : Post a question / Start a discussion

Learned Freeware

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/commentaries-introduction.asp?pg=8