Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life by Peter W. Martens (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 315 sacrifice” for any society, or, more understandably, for the biggest society one can find. But the main problem here is that the phrase “intellector of being” is often wielded rather bluntly and this threatens to make it simply a kind of slogan. It appears over and over again as the answer to problems without much in the way of explanation. It is not at all clear how most non-Thomists could find this persuasive. Not that one should expect miracles: there are no silver bullets and no way to deal with the deep theoretical, moral, and cultural disagreements that beset us save through patient continuing argument. There is, a propos of this, a generosity evident in Knasas’s “fraternal” approach, the exposition of which is one of the book’s virtues. At the same time one wishes this admirable spirit had led to more in the way of detailed explanation of and engagement with the work of others. V. BRADLEY LEWIS The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life. By PETER W. MARTENS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. xii + 280. $125.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-19-963955-7. In this book, Peter Martens urges us to think of Origen’s biblical exegesis, not merely as an academic task that Origen undertook in service to Christian scholarship, but as a way of life. Martens is indebted to Pierre Hadot’s understanding of ancient philosophy as a “way of life” that is fully integrated within a set of practices that enable the philosopher to live well and prepare for death. In Origen’s case, this means envisioning the work of the biblical interpreter as a privileged mode of participating in the drama of salvation in Christ Jesus. Among Christians, Origen distinguishes between the simpliciores and those who are learned. Those who would be learned must study philosophy, philology, and the other disciplines, and must then make use of these disciplines in scriptural study. Origen’s own learning in these disciplines was recognized by Porphyry, who in fact criticized Origen for putting his erudition to Christian use. Martens rightly corrects Frances Young’s contention that Origen considered biblical and classical learning to be rival options. He devotes a full chapter to the philology in which Origen was expert and in which he expected his students to be expert: text criticism; analysis of historical, logical, and factual accuracy (which required scientific and cultural knowledge); and literary and etymological analysis. Literary analysis especially 316 BOOK REVIEWS provided Origen with an opening for allegory; things like disruptions in literary sequence are signals, Origen thinks, that an allegorical meaning is intended. He assumes that the things described in the Old Testament prefigure things in the New, and the things described in the New Testament prefigure things in the Church or in eternal life. Philology thus plays a necessary role not only in determining the literal meaning of Scripture but also in determining the allegorical meaning. As Martens goes on to show, for Origen the Greco-Roman disciplines could not simply have originated in the minds of human teachers. Rather, Origen traces all wisdom back to God (Mind) and to God’s Word or Son. God not only stands as the origin of all wisdom but also sustains all activity of created rationality. God revealed certain truths to Greek philosophers such as Plato, and Greek philosophers also borrowed from King Solomon. Origen insists, too, that allegory is not a Greek invention but rather belongs to Scripture itself, as Paul’s letters especially show. Scriptural interpretation, therefore, requires both literal and allegorical reasoning. As Martens observes, scriptural study constitutes part of the ascetical life recommended by Origen. Humans tend to cleave to creatures, but since God is incorporeal, the ascetical path involves raising the mind from creatures to God. For Origen, minds were originally created without bodies but fell into bodiliness due to a primordial turning away from contemplation of God. In this fallen state, minds remain distracted by corporeal things. Scriptural study, however, means that the exegete has turned away from worldly matters and instead has begun to concern himself with God, just as...