Revisiting the Allegory/Typology Distinction: The Case of Origen
There is a significant debate in Origenian scholarship today about the allegory/typology distinction. Some scholars accept the demarcation between these two forms of nonliteral scriptural interpretation, whereas others reject it. In this paper I seek to determine whether, or to what extent, the alle...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
2008
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2008, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 283-317 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | There is a significant debate in Origenian scholarship today about the allegory/typology distinction. Some scholars accept the demarcation between these two forms of nonliteral scriptural interpretation, whereas others reject it. In this paper I seek to determine whether, or to what extent, the allegory/typology distinction is valid for study of this prominent early Christian exegete. My article unfolds in three steps. First, I canvass the last sixty years of scholarship that insists upon this distinction and determine where consensus has been reached, as well as where disagreement still exists; next, I turn to Origen’s own writings and assess how he used and defined the Greek terms that stand behind “allegory” and “typology”; in the third section I explore if there was in Origen’s writings a distinction that resembled what most scholars today intend to invoke when they speak of allegory and typology. In my conclusion I contend that the literature’s allegory/typology distinction is of mixed value. I propose ways to salvage what is important in this distinction and dispense with what is problematic. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.0.0193 |