A Genuinely Original Appreciation of Early Christianity -Four and a Half Stars, August 6, 2005

Throw out everything you think you know about early Christianity. For most of us moderns & postmoderns (especially if our understanding of Christianity derives from the Latin West, the Orthodox East is another matter) it is a dour, unimaginative and inhumane thing. In this fascinating work Edward Moore shows us an early Christian thinker -Origen- whose speculations can be said to rank up there with Plotinus or Hegel, whose emphasis on human freedom reminds one of existentialism, and whose enthusiasm for Existence is contagious.

How does Origen remind one of the existentialists? In his respect for the freedom of each individual soul. Moore effectively demonstrates that the eschatology of Origen insists not only on the absolute freedom of each human soul to choose (or not) to engage God in the midst of His History, but also that, given the Absolute nature of this human Freedom, a 'saved' soul could choose to fall again!

But this should not be understood as his last word. Origen is, philosophically, a neo-Platonist. (Both Origen and Plotinus, according to Moore, are students of Ammonius Saccus, although it seems that there is some room for scholarly doubt about this.) And like all Greek philosophers he could not believe that anyone could knowingly choose evil. Thus, he thought all of us would one day be saved. But, or so Origen (and Moore) insist, not in the 'same' way. Each individual soul is saved in its own personal way. For Origen, it would seem that there is no script, no apocalyptic/eschatological line, which trumps the precise specificity of the Love that God has for Each of his Creatures.

In order to situate (and demonstrate) the originality, the Christian Originality, of Origen's position, Moore gives us, as an Introduction, a first-rate (but all-too brief) history lesson of the understanding of the early Church on Eschatology, including an informative discussion of the Gnostics in relation to this topic. Then he discusses (Ch. 1) the intellectual background of Origen, (Ch. 2) His theology, (Ch. 3, 4) His influence and lastly (Ch. 5, 6) his influence on and differences with (the far more 'Orthodox') Maximus.

All of this is important but it is the speculations of Origen (and perhaps Moore too) that steal the show. For instance, Moore insists that (for Origen) God placed Himself at Risk in the Act of Creation. "The culmination of history, dependent upon humanity's response to God, is potentially both the deification of humanity and the justification of God. His decision to create absolutely free, self-determined beings will be judged at the end-time, along with the humans who defied the conditions of this creation." In other words, the History He Judges also sits in judgment of Him!

Another example of the commitment to the individual freedom of each soul, and the Speculative nature of Origen's thought is his belief in the pre-existence (and reincarnation) of Souls. Each Soul chose, at some specific point, before any incarnation, to Fall. One finds oneself wondering (or Speculating) that since each Soul's Fall was unique so too (for Origen/Moore) each path to Salvation must also be utterly unique. Moore insists that all these Speculative Acts on the part of Origen -reincarnation, pre-existence of souls, the ability of a 'saved' soul to fall again- derive from Origen's overwhelming commitment to a place, an Eternal Place, for Human Freedom in a World no human made.

Exercise your freedom and explore a Christianity that no one (at least in Western Christendom) knows. Then pick up something by Origen. I give 4.5 stars to Moore and 5 stars to Origen himself. Bravo! ( )