num_pages: 196
description: 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.
language: English
title: Homilies on Numbers
publisher: IVP Academic