Word and Mystery in Origen

In the history of Western thought, there exists a lineage of systems in which obscurity is not merely accidental. The aim is not to withhold a truth—clear in itself—from the uninitiated, but rather to demonstrate, with the utmost clarity, how the Mystery conceals itself. Several Greek Fathers belong to this tradition: Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, and, above all, Origen. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to organize Origen’s major theological ideas around the concept of Mystery.

The approach adopted is not purely historical; for although Origen’s thought is lucid and synthetic, it is not systematic in the strict sense. It will be necessary to highlight certain features and condense specific ideas into expressive formulations that do not appear verbatim in Origen’s own vocabulary. This method seeks only to reveal—through language more familiar to our own age—the deepest aspirations of this great theologian, for whom God was simply "Light and Fire: fire for all impurity, and light without shadow for the saints."

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Format: Paperback

Page Count: 199