Origen of Alexandria (born circa AD 185) is one of the most influential of the Church fathers, and ranks among the most prolific writers and teachers in the history of the Church. He preached on most of the bible, and his homilies influenced Christian writers and theologians for centuries after his death. Origen's approach to the Bible was to analyse passages word by word, and this is reflected in his homilies, which regularly begin with a literal reading of the text. For Origen, the key to the meaning of a word in the Bible is often the use of the same word elsewhere in Scripture. He assumed that each word had a meaning that is both profound and relevant to the reader, for the Holy Spirit is never trite and what the Holy Spirit says must always touch the listener. There are 39 of Origen's homilies on the Gospel of Luke which survive in Jerome's Latin translation. Here, they are translated into English for the first time, along with a selection of more significant fragments of his commentaries on Luke. The first 39 homilies treat chapters one through four of Luke's Gospel; the remaining six treat passages from the 10th to the 20th chapters.
Origen preached these homilies in Caesarea, perhaps around the year 234 or 240, to a congregation of catechumens and faithful. Most of the homilies are short, discussing, on the average, about six verses of the Gospel, and would have lasted between eight and twelve minutes. Origen's homilies are the only extant patristic writing on Luke's Gospel before Ambrose's "Exposition on Luke", written circa 390. Homilies 1 to 20 also constitute the only extant commentary from the pre-Nicene Church on either Infancy Narrative.
- ISBN10 0813211948
- ISBN13 9780813211947
- Publish Date December 1996 (first published 1 June 1996)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 18 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint The Catholic University of America Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 279
- Language English