The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1: De Principiis; Against Celsus, Book 1
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~230,000 words · 1,084 passages
Cite this work
- APAOrigen of Alexandria. (n.d.). The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1: De Principiis; Against Celsus, Book 1. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/origen/the-writings-of-origen-vol-1-de-principiis-against-celsus-book-1
- MLAOrigen of Alexandria. The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1: De Principiis; Against Celsus, Book 1. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/origen/the-writings-of-origen-vol-1-de-principiis-against-celsus-book-1.
- ChicagoOrigen of Alexandria. The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1: De Principiis; Against Celsus, Book 1. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/origen/the-writings-of-origen-vol-1-de-principiis-against-celsus-book-1.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The first volume of Origen's writings in the nineteenth-century English translation: the whole of De Principiis and the first book of Against Celsus.
Context and history
De Principiis is the first Christian attempt to set God, the world, the soul and Scripture inside a single ordered exposition. There is a textual problem worth knowing: nearly all the Greek original is lost, and what we read comes mostly from Rufinus's Latin translation, which he himself admits to having adjusted to remove what already sounded suspect. So this is Origen through a filter, and his most disputed theses — the pre-existence of souls, the final restoration — arrive muffled.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
First, That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed, called all things into being—God from the first creation and foundation of the world—the God of all just men, of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe, Sem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets; and that this God-in the last days, as He had announced beforehand by His prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ to call in the first place Israel to Himself, and in the second place the Gentiles, after the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel. This just and good God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself gave the Jaw, and the prophets, and the gospels, being also the God of the apostles and of the Old and New Testaments. Secondly, That Jesus Christ Himself, who came [into the world], was born of the Father before all creatures; that, after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things—“ For by Him were all things made” ’—He in the last times, divesting Himself [of His glory], became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit: that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer, and did not endure this death common [to man] in appearance only, but did truly die; that He did truly rise from the dead; and that after His resurrection He conversed with His disciples, and was taken up [into heaven]. Then, thirdly, the apostles related that the [oly Spirit was associated in honour and dignity with the Father and the Son.…