The Senses of Scripture by Origen

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the three senses (literal, moral, and spiritual) Origen attributes to Scriptures by clarifying some essential aspects to their understanding. These senses are related to the saving character of human history, and it is therefore necessary to present the pneumatological and Christological aspects of Origen's philosophical and theological system. Thus, the article’s overall structure has two major parts. The first one is a general presentation of the most important themes for the interpretation of the scriptures, and the second part, a description of its three senses by relating them to the human saving drama. In this way, in the first half, after a brief commentary on Origen´s work and it’s Neoplatonic context, we will begin with some of Origen's personal life characteristics which place the writing theme and its detailed analysis as one of his central biographical themes. In preparation for the second part of the work, we address some of Scriptures’ characteristics, as seen by Origen: the unity between Old and New Testaments, the moral and spiritual function of the sacred text, and its pneumatological and Christological aspects. Then in the second part we finally define the three senses of the scriptures and their roles in the saving drama of creation.