Interpreting the Bible and Aristotle in Late Antiquity

The Alexandrian Commentary Tradition between Rome and Baghdad

Josef Lössl, John W. Watt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780367878955
• eBook ISBN: 9781317113492
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia antigua

This book brings together sixteen studies by internationally renowned scholars on the origins and early development of the Latin and Syriac biblical and philosophical commentary traditions. It casts light on the work of the founder of philosophical biblical commentary, Origen of Alexandria, and traces the developments of fourth- and fifth-century Latin commentary techniques in writers such as Marius Victorinus, Jerome and Boethius. The focus then moves east, to the beginnings of Syriac philosophical commentary and its relationship to theology in the works of Sergius of Reshaina, Probus and Paul the Persian, and the influence of this continuing tradition in the East up to the Arabic writings of al-Farabi. There are also chapters on the practice of teaching Aristotelian and Platonic philosophy in fifth-century Alexandria, on contemporaneous developments among Byzantine thinkers, and on the connections in Latin and Syriac traditions between translation (from Greek) and commentary. With its enormous breadth and the groundbreaking originality of its contributions, this volume is an indispensable resource not only for specialists, but also for all students and scholars interested in late-antique intellectual history, especially the practice of teaching and studying philosophy, the philosophical exegesis of the Bible, and the role of commentary in the post-Hellenistic world as far as the classical renaissance in Islam.

PART 1
Alexandria to Rome

Chapter 1
Origen: Exegesis and Philosophy in Early Christian Alexandria

Alfons Fürst

Origen as the Inventor of the Biblical Commentary

The Alexandrian philosopher and theologian Origen is considered to be the inventor of the Christian commentary tradition. This is admittedly a rather sweeping statement. Yet it is true, and at the beginning of a book that deals with Christian commentaries in the Latin and Syriac traditions of Christianity it may be useful to determine precisely in what sense Origen has established this tradition.1

As is well known, Origen was certainly not the first Christian to expound the Bible. During his lifetime, but shortly before he started his career as a writer in about 220, Hippolytus wrote a commentary on the Song of Solomon, which actually is better considered a homily, and a Commentary on Daniel, which is really the first extant Christian biblical commentary. From Origen himself we learn that even earlier, some time in the second half of the second century (at any rate before 180/185 when Irenaeus mentioned him), the gnostic Heracleon had composed a commentary on the Gospel of John in which the text is explained primarily from a philological point of view.2 Origen refers to this book as hypomnemata,3 from which we may conclude that it consisted of a series of notes originally used in school for the purpose of teaching philosophy.4 About fifty fragments are preserved, nearly all of them in the extant books of Origen’s Commentary on John.

When we consider the practice of reading and interpreting biblical texts, we can go back even further. It is presumably not a misconstrual of early Christianity to conceive it as an interpretation of Jewish biblical traditions in connection with the doings and sayings of Jesus. Indeed, Christian belief is rooted in a Christological interpretation of certain passages in the Hebrew Bible which were used to explain the life and death of Jesus, the Jewish rabbi, and to argue for what his disciples and followers believed about his resurrection and second coming in the future. From the outset, Christian belief was shaped by interpretation of the Jewish Bible (which during the first generations of Christians consisted of the Hebrew books later called the ‘Old Testament’). In this sense, the apostle Paul is the first Christian exegete, and without any doubt a great one. The unknown authors of the Gospels are also exegetes, as can be seen simply by surveying their countless quotations of, and references to, the Hebrew Bible (in its Greek translation, the Septuagint). Even Justin Martyr in his literary discussion with the Jew Trypho is acting as an exegete. However, we know of very few second-century authors or the titles or fragments of their books explaining biblical (and other) texts.5 Biblical exegesis therefore is as old as Christianity. It would obviously be wrong to dub Origen the first Christian exegete. He is not the inventor of Christian exegesis in general. He is rather the inventor of a specific kind of exegesis, namely of a running explanation of the Bible in the form of what came to be called a ‘commentary’.

It is therefore correct to identify Origen as the first writer of commentaries, even allowing for Heracleon’s and Hippolytus’ endeavours in this realm. Comparing both of them to Origen may seem quite unfair. But if we do so, it becomes very clear why it is Origen who deserves pride of place. Origen was the first Christian scholar who made use of the whole range of ancient scholarly knowledge to elucidate the text of the Bible. He draws heavily on the philological techniques that had already been established in Hellenistic Alexandria for hundreds of years to interpret the lore of ancient Greek literature. From Heracleon’s fragments cited by Origen we get the impression that this gnostic Christian already read and expounded the text of the Gospels explicitly as a philologist. Origen, however, went much further in adapting philological techniques to the Bible. The creation of such an impressive synopsis of the Old Testament as the Hexapla is a philological enterprise par excellence. As a former grammarian, Origen had a profound knowledge of philological techniques and, based on that, he was able to criticize Heracleon for misusing them.6 In his own exegesis, Origen made pervasive use of different philological techniques: textual criticism, the explanation of words, the techniques of describing events, of figures of speech, and of style.7 Though Heracleon’s efforts should not be disparaged, Origen far surpasses him. Furthermore, Origen took into consideration the established tradition of the Christian church. It is well known that he considered himself an orthodox member of the church whose only intention was to be regarded as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.8 In this respect he owes much more debt to previous Christian theologians than he was ready to exhibit. This debt is especially present in the case of his Alexandrian predecessor Clement, whom Origen never mentions, but whose works, to conclude from a host of allusions, he must have read.9 Apart from the ecclesiastical traditions, Origen was deeply influenced by Greek philosophy. He knew the tenets and the key texts of the main philosophical schools as well as he knew the Bible, and studied philosophy in the school of the legendary Ammonius Sakkas in Alexandria, the future teacher of Plotinus. He also taught Christian philosophy in Alexandria and later in his own school in Caesarea, where his curriculum encompassed all major philosophical works except those deemed atheistic.10 Moreover, Origen referred to scientific knowledge outside the Christian church: to mathematics, to geometry, to astrology (which was closely intertwined with astronomy), to physics, and not least to medicine. In addition to these ecclesiastical and pagan influences on Origen’s exegesis, he made use of Jewish or Rabbinic traditions to an extent never again equalled by subsequent exegetes, with the notable exception of Jerome. In Alexandria and in Caesarea, Origen was acquainted with contemporary Jewish scholars (not only Jewish-Christian converts). He consulted them about the meaning of difficult passages in the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Old Testament and discussed their opinions in his exegetical works, both in homilies and in commentaries. The Jewish author to whom Origen was most indebted, however, is Philo of Alexandria. From his works, all written about 40 AD, Origen not only learned the allegorical method by means of which he sought the deeper, spiritual significance of any event described in the text, but even more importantly, the combination of exegesis and philosophy in expounding the Bible. The Hellenistic Jew Philo must be regarded as the great precursor who paved the way for the kind of allegorical interpretation of the Bible Christian exegetes indulged in from the times of Clement and Origen onwards.

When one appreciates Origen’s skills and achievements in all these fields, he emerges as a unique figure in the history of early Christianity, a real giant who towers above all the other theologians and exegetes in the pre-Constantinian era. In comparison to amateurs like Heracleon and Hippolytus, Origen employed a profound and masterly methodical approach to the interpretation of the Bible. In the words of Richard Hanson: ‘In contrast to these [men], Origen brought the whole weight of contemporary scholarship – linguistic, critical, and philosophical – to bear upon the task of making the biblical commentary a permanent literary form for Christian writers, and he succeeded brilliantly.’11 The greatest achievement of Origen’s lifelong exegetical work was to connect biblical and ecclesiastical traditions with non-Christian streams of thought, especially with contemporary Platonic philosophy. The device he created and used to demonstrate the possibility and reasonableness of this connection was the ‘commentary’. Origen is the inventor of the scientific or scholarly (wissenschaftlich) commentary on Scripture. He fulfilled this task with a thoroughness and effectiveness that led Christian exegetes to follow in his footsteps for ages.

Despite its great success, Origen’s combination of biblical exegesis and Platonic philosophy should by no means be taken for granted or as self-evident. It is based on two presuppositions, the one more technical, the other hermeneutical and closely linked to Origen’s concept of science. The technical premise concerns the place of Origen’s Christian commentaries within the wider range of ancient commentary traditions. His hermeneutical approach implies the philosophical structure that in Origen’s view underlies the Bible. Both premises could and of course should be analysed in all of his extant exegetical writings, but in order not to exceed the confines of this chapter, I will limit myself to Origen’s prefaces to his commentaries, of ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Contributors
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Note on Transliteration
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• PART 1: ALEXANDRIA TO ROME
• PART 2: ALEXANDRIA TO BAGHDAD
• Bibliography
• Index of Passages
• Index of Names and Subjects