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Biblical Theology and Natural Theology in Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms

Budapest campus
Wednesday, November 11, 2020, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Speaker

My talk aims to show how biblical theology relates to natural theology in Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms which was rediscovered in 2012. According to the Alexandrian master, there are several dogmatic key texts in the Psalms, because the psalmists were wise men and prophets. Dogmatic theology, while investigating the Father’s characteristics, focuses on divine immutability. Surprisingly, however, Origen does not speak about God's incorporeal nature. There are only hints at the doctrine of the preexistence of Jesus Christ’s soul. As far as natural theology is concerned, the key text is the First Homily on Psalm 77 where Origen emphasizes that faith in the provident Creator should be based on experience, because heaven and earth manifest a divine order. In the process of becoming Christian, according to Origen, this theistic faith should be prior to the reading of the Scripture because sometimes the manuscripts of the Scripture suffer from serious corruption.