The Case Against Origen and Reincarnation

By Eric Liberatos

The Case against Origen and Reincarnation surveys the writings of Origen, a controversial Christian theologian, whose life straddled the third and fourth centuries. By placing his work in the context of his theological predecessors, Eric Liberatos uses this analysis to trace the development of Origen’s distinctive doctrines, such as reincarnation. His review of the history of the period concludes that Origen’s condemnation by ecumenical councils arose from the virulent polemics and contentious politics of various ecclesiastical leaders of the period.

The Case against Origen and Reincarnation will appeal to all who seek to understand the development of Christian thought and the influences of politics and personality on the church’s theologies.

Award-winning book that earned acclaim from the prestigious Next Generation Indie Book Awards!
2016 Winner in Religious Non-fiction
2016 Finalist in Historical Non-fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483441498

Book preview

The Case against

Origen and

Reincarnation

ERIC LIBERATOS

Copyright © 2015 Eric Liberatos.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4148-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4150-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4149-8 (e)

Library of Congress Conbtrol Number: 2015918726

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 12/18/2015

Contents

Acknowledgments

Part 1   A Biography of Origen

Part 2   The Affinity of Plato and Origen

Part 3   The Opera and Doctrine of Origen

Part 4   Christian Platonism

Part 5   Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in Early Christianity

Part 6   Opposition to Origen and His Doctrine

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

To my godparents, Anastasios Diakantonis and Katerina Diakantonis

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:4

World English Bible (WEB)

Ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 1:4

SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment is made to my history master’s thesis advisor, Professor Warren T. Woodfin, and to the Queens College professors Rolf Swensen and John M. O’Brien for their criticism and encouragement. Many thanks to Robert Levin, publisher of the first Bill Clinton biography, Bill Clinton: The Inside Story, for his guidance and inspiration. Last but not least, thank you, Amy Crumly.

PART 1

A Biography of Origen

Introduction

Historians and theologians will find the life, works, and beliefs of Origen (AD 184/185–253/254) to be intriguing because many consider him to be one of the most prominent yet controversial Christian theologians who ever lived. What is especially interesting is an examination of the veracity of Origen’s claims on reincarnation, expounded mainly in his treatise First Principles (220/223). Origen states that reincarnation constitutes an essential doctrine in Christian scripture and is a fact of life with which one must reckon.

Through the course of this book, I, as a Christian, will scrutinize his writings and compare them to the notions of theologians who preceded him, such as Philo, Justin Martyr, and Clement of Alexandria, to find out how Origen justifies some of his unorthodox Christian doctrines, such as reincarnation. Also, I will examine the arguments of ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato, who advocated for reincarnation and the preexistence of the soul, in order to argue that Origen was in fact a Christian Platonist. Ultimately and most importantly, I will focus on the charges against Origen both in the First Origenist Controversy (394–399) and in the Second Origenist Controversy (543–553) to support my contention that Origen’s condemnation was largely due to the virulent polemics of Bishop Epiphanius (310/320–403), the efforts of Theophilus (d. 412), the duplicitous bishop of Alexandria, and the church politics at play during the Second Origenist Controversy. Anti-Origenist sentiment and church politics steered Justinian to anathematize Origen in the Fifth Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Constantinople (553). This council is often studied from a historical perspective, but it can be examined in an ecclesiastical setting as well because it may not fulfill the criteria for validity in the Catholic Church. Therefore, the case against Origen remains debatable.

Who was Origen?

Theologians and historians have conducted an abundance of studies on Origen. A good introductory study dealing with the life of Origen as well as the context of his times is Joseph W. Trigg’s Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-Century Church. Trigg tells us that Origen was a skilled Christian teacher at Alexandria and Caesarea during the early third century. In addition, he was a venerated spiritual guide, a debater, a preacher, a prolific writer, and one of the greatest theologians of early Christianity.¹ According to Frederick Kershner, Origen was perhaps the most indefatigable worker in ecclesiastical history. He wrote incessantly, and one of his biographers informs us that he produced in all some six thousand volumes.² Also, "He was the first systematic theologian, and his work entitled De Principiis is still a model of scholarly speculation, although it probably was written before he reached the age of thirty."³ However, the primary source of information on Origen’s life is the sixth book of the Ecclesiastical History, written by Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–c. 340).

Eusebius was a pupil of the martyr Pamphilus, Origen’s student and apologist. In collaboration with Pamphilus, Eusebius wrote the Apology for Origen, of which only book 1 survives in the Latin translation by Rufinus of Aquileia. As a custodian of Origen’s library in Caesarea, Eusebius had access to Origen’s archives.⁴ Regarding his record on Origen’s life, Eusebius writes, We shall state some few of the facts concerning him, gathering what we set forth from certain letters and information derived from pupils of his, whose lives have been preserved even to our day.⁵ Eusebius also asserts, A great many other things about Origen have been handed down to memory by the older men of our day.⁶ Eusebius claims that his account of Origen’s life is based on Origen’s library, his letters, and stories about him. However, one must consider the fact that Eusebius, as an admirer of Origen, might have attempted to portray Origen in the best possible way, thus largely avoiding references to the controversies that surrounded him.⁷ Nevertheless, a wealth of information can be obtained from Eusebius’s report.

According to Eusebius, Origen was not quite seventeen⁸ during the persecution against the Christians that occurred in the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus. At that time, Laetus was governor of Alexandria, and Demetrius was the new bishop of the city.⁹ Eusebius writes that Origen was born in the middle 180s, with 185 constituting a probable birth year, considering the tenth year of Severus’s reign, when Origen would have turned eighteen, was 202. As for the year of Origen’s demise, Eusebius notes that he died during the reign of Emperor Gallus (251–253) at the age of sixty-nine.¹⁰ On the other hand, Henri Crouzel disputes this claim by Eusebius and instead asserts that Origen died around 254 or 255, while Valerian was emperor.¹¹ Most scholars agree that Alexandria was Origen’s birthplace, even though Eusebius does not mention it. Nonetheless, contention persists concerning Origen’s ethnic background.

The origins of Origen

Eusebius refers to Origen as a Greek educated in Greek learning,¹² and Trigg calls Origen a cultured and thoughtful Greek.¹³