A.D. 381 heretics, pagans, and the dawn of the monotheistic state ( PDFDrive )

1 J. N. D. Kelly, p.197.
Chapter Ten: Epiphanius’ Witchhunt
2 A succinct introduction to Origen can be found in Chapter Twenty-One of
Chadwick. See also Chapter Eleven of Ayres, Young and Louth, ‘The
Alexandrians’ by Ronald Heine.
3 McGluckin, p.37.
4 Chadwick, p.135.
5 . Ibid., p.138.
6 Bynum is the place to start. Origen is dealt with in Chapter Two. Origen’s later
critics, who insisted on an actual material body being reconstituted, got
themselves involved in absurd discussions as to how this body would be,
whether it would still have sinful genitals or not, and so on.
7 Chadwick, p.137.
8 Jerome’s respect for Origen was so widely known that even at the height of the
controversy that followed, Augustine was able to write to Jerome from the west
to ask for more translations of Greek works, ‘especially that Origen you mention
in your writings with particular pleasure’. J. N. D. Kelly provides a good
narrative account of this controversy.
9 The scene is described in Jerome’s letter Against John, which can easily be
accessed in translation on the Internet.
10 Letter 82. The quotation is from J. N. D. Kelly, p.208.
11 Even though he had been declared a heretic, some of Origen’s works
survived, and they were to be championed in the sixteenth century by the great
humanist scholar Erasmus. What attracted Erasmus to Origen was his belief in
free will and reason. Origen’s belief that one should be curious, sceptical and
confident of the possibilities of human creativity appealed to Renaissance
humanists. Erasmus saw Origen’s approach to theology as far superior to the
narrow pessimism of Augustine, who had openly derided what he called ‘the
disease of curiosity’ and portrayed humanity as sunk in sin. Yet like their
Catholic counterparts, the Protestant Reformers would later choose Augustine