The Psalm Homilies of Origen: Third-Century Christian Paideia in Caesarea Maritima

John Solheid, University of St. Michael’s College

This lecture will explore the evidence of advanced Christian education found in a recently discovered manuscript containing a collection of Origen of Alexandria’s homilies on the Psalms. These homilies, preached in Caesarea Maritima during the middle of the third century, provide important evidence for the textual practices and theological problems that occupied the attention of a teacher and his students in an early Christian learning community. At the same time, as homilies, they reveal how an early Christian preacher presented these issues of his academy to his broader, non-generalized audience, in order to educate them in Christian teaching and practice. The homilies thus reflect the interplay between an early Christian academy and the broader Christian community.

Co–sponsored by the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute.