Teacher of Holiness: The Holy Spirit in Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans illustrates the centrality of the Holy Spirit for his theological project. As both God's exitus into the world and humanity's reditus to God, the Spirit forms the crucial link between Origen's doctrine of God and his spiritual anthropology. Origen's images for the Holy Spirit, understood in the context of second century concepts of "spirit," convey the intersection of theology and anthropology in his thought. His picture of the Holy Spirit as the Teacher of the saints, in particular, draws from Origen's own pedagogical experience a way of expressing both the Spirit's patient love for humanity and the active human involvement in the Spirit's work in the world. This book explores Origen's understanding of the multiplicity of spirits found in the Scriptures, with particular emphasis on the Holy Spirit, the loftiest of all spirit-beings, who emerges as the unique pedagogical center of Origen's Spirit-School. As such, the Spirit is pivotal to God's outreach into the world, necessarily involved in the human soul of Jesus Christ and in that of every human being healed by Jesus. Interpreted through the scriptural language of Cherub, Ring, and Teacher, the Holy Spirit is the sign both of God's love and of human love and the mutual edification of the Christian community. Origen's pneumatology serves as an inspiration for theologians today, who seek to integrate the Spirit fully into their work, rather than just paying lip-service to the Spirit's Person and action.