"Earn the Grace of Prophecy": Early

Christian Prophecy as Practice

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Choi, Jung Hyun. 2016. "Earn the Grace of Prophecy": Early Christian Prophecy as
Practice. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard Divinity School.

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“Earn the Grace of Prophecy”: Early Christian Prophecy as Practice

A dissertation presented

by

Jung Hyun Choi

to

The Faculty of Harvard Divinity School

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Doctor of Theology

In the Subject of

New Testament and Early Christianity

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

August 2016
© 2016 Jung Hyun Choi
All rights reserved.
Advisor: Professor Laura S. Nasrallah Jung Hyun Choi

“Earn the Grace of Prophecy”: Early Christian Prophecy as Practice

Abstract

This dissertation explores discussions of prophecy in early Christianity focusing

on Origen of Alexandria’s works. It argues that Origen engages the contested terms of

prophetic activity to persuade his audience(s) toward the cultivation of a particular moral

self.

The dissertation situates early Christian discourse on prophecy within a larger

philosophical conversation in the Greco-Roman world from the first to fourth centuries

C.E., in which cultivating a properly religious self involves discipline or askēsis. Some

early Christian debates about prophecy are predicated on the idea that certain practices

are necessary to be considered worthy of the indwelling of the divine/the Holy Spirit.

Using Pierre Hadot’s insights, the dissertation contends that discourses on prophecy in

early Christianity call for training in a particular way of living, and thus could be

influential to early Christians regardless of whether they would ever attain the status of

prophet or not.

By encouraging his Christian readers to participate in reading and studying the

Scripture as a way to purify their souls, Origen argues that everyone needs to cultivate

himself or herself to be worthy to receive spiritual gifts such as prophecy. In his

Commentary on Romans, Origen turns Paul’s exhortation to “strive for spiritual gifts, and

especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor 14:1) into a more general call to cultivate

iii
virtue through scriptural study. In Contra Celsum and the Homilies on Numbers, Origen

invites the readers to participate in disciplined training so that they may become worthy

instruments of the divine, just as the prophets are. The dissertation also compares

Origen’s arguments with those of the Shepherd of Hermas and Iamblichus’s De

Mysteriis, demonstrating that the ancient discussions of prophecy deploy similar

strategies to persuade the audiences to participate in particular disciplined training, even

if they have different ideas about what the best form of prophecy may be.

iv
 Table of Contents

Abstract iii-iv

Abbreviations vii

Acknowledgements viii-ix

Introduction

Topics and Thesis 1

Cultural Contexts 5
History of Scholarship
Prophecy 10
Origen 14
Theoretical Foundations: Contestation, Persuasion, and Cultivation 16
Contestation and Persuasion 17
Cultivation 21
Chapter Organization 23

Chapter 1:
Prophecy and Scriptural Practice: “Be Worthy to Receive Charismata” 27

Commentarial Practices and Moral Formation in the Greco-Roman World 30

Origen, Commentary on the Romans: Why 1 Corinthians in Romans? 37
The Human-Divine Relationship in Prophecy 40
“Be Worthy of the Spiritual Gifts and especially Prophecy” 45
The Cultivation of a Self through Moral Formation and Scriptural Study 47
Commentary on the Romans 9.3.8: “Strive for Prophecy” 51
Commentary as Polemics: Origen Joins a Larger Debate about Prophecy 58
Conclusion 64

Chapter 2:
A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of the Spirit?: Cultivating Virtue and Control
65

The Shepherd of Hermas: Why the Shepherd of Hermas? 67

A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of The Spirit 69
Cultivate Passivity To Become an Appropriate Vessel 72
Is Everyone a Potential Prophet? 78

v
Origen’s Contra Celsum Book 7
The Wrong Form of Prophecy 79
Balaam an Unworthy Prophet: the Homilies on Numbers 14-17 86
“God put God’s Words in his Mouth” 87
Conclusion 93

Chapter 3:
“Earn the Grace of Prophecy”: Prophecy, Training, and Preparation
96

De Principiis 3: Human Freedom and God’s Providence 97

De Principiis 3.3.3: “Earn the Grace of Prophecy” 100
Orientation: To Choose the Right Divinity 102
Methods to Prophecy 104
Attain the Portion of the Divinity and Earn the Grace of Prophecy 107
The Prophets: The Model for a Christian Self 111
Polemics against the Other: They Choose the Wrong Spirit 114

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis 3 118

Iamblichus’s Philosophical Project 119
Taxonomy of Divination and Theurgy 121
Preparation for Divination 125
Is Everyone a Potential Theurgist/ Diviner? 128

Conclusion 130

Conclusion 132

Bibliography 139

vi
 Abbreviations

This dissertation uses abbreviations for journals, serial titles, and ancient texts as found in
SBL Handbook of Syle (Peabody, MA: Hendrikson, 2014).

vii
 Acknowledgements

There are many people to whom I am indebted for the completion of this

dissertation. I could not express my gratitude to my advisor, Professor Laura S.

Nasrallah, enough. She showed a great commitment to me and my project, devoted

countless hours to read my drafts and to have conversations with me, challenged me, and

encouraged me from the inception to the end of this dissertation. I always try to emulate

her scholarship and mentorship when I teach my students. I appreciate Professor

Giovanni Bazzana for his support and encouragement for me and my project all these

years. Professor Charles Stang was generous with support, feedback, and conversation.

These committee members were extraordinarily patient in accommodating me when I

worked on my dissertation outside of Cambridge. The late Professor François Bovon had

supported my project for many years. I fondly remember his fierce scholarship and gentle

spirit. The help and inspiration from Professors Karen King and Elisabeth Schüssler

Fiorenza have also been integral to this project. I am also grateful to Professor M. Eugene

Boring at Brite Divinity School.

My colleagues at Harvard University, particularly members of the New Testament

and Early Christianity Doctoral Seminars, have helped me to hone this project by offering

encouragement as well as constructive criticism on drafts. My Dissertation Writing

Group (Margaret Butterfield, Eunyung Lim, Tyler Schwaller, and Jennifer Quigley) has

been essential in the development of this dissertation, especially in the last two years. We

read each other’s drafts, panicked together, cheered each other on, and celebrated every

achievement together. I received valuable help from Arminta Fox from Drew, Lydia

viii
Bremer and Karen Connor McGugan from Harvard, and Jeehyun Baek from Duke, as the

project came to an end. Kathryn Kunkel, the administrator of the Doctor of Theology

Program at Harvard, encouraged me and helped me with many practical matters in the

program. I am thankful for these friends and colleagues.

I am grateful to my family. I wish that my father, Jo Young Choi, had been able to

see the end of this dissertation. My mother, Myung Hee Park, and my parents-in-law,

Dong Joo Kim and Yeon Hyuk Lee, have given me their unfailing support. Ruth and

Michael Godderz received me as their own and supported me for these years in various

ways, especially by offering me a room of my own so that I might write and think

whenever I visit Boston. My children, Ian and Luke, have largely been patient when I

work on my dissertation. They are happy that now I can spend more time with them. I am

deeply thankful for my husband, Dr. Sangwoo Kim, who has trodden this academic and

spiritual journey with me.

ix
 Introduction

Topic and Thesis

This dissertation analyzes discussions of prophecy in early Christian literature and

argues that these debates work rhetorically, to persuade the reader or hearer toward the

construction of a particular kind of Christian self. I focus on some of the writings of the

famous early Christian thinker Origen in which he addresses prophecy: Commentary on

Romans, Contra Celsum, the Homily on Numbers, and De Principiis. While Origen’s

texts on prophecy are the main focus of this dissertation, I also bring in various

comparanda—both Christian and non-Christian works, and in particular the Shepherd of

Hermas and Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis. My project contextualizes the early Christian

debates about prophecy within a larger philosophical conversation in the Greco-Roman

world from the first to fourth centuries C.E., in which cultivating a properly religious self

is an important discipline or ἄσκησις.

In a class on “Introduction to New Testament” which I taught at a well-known

seminary, a student told the class, “I believe in the Scripture only because I believe that

the Holy Spirit held the arms of the humans when they were writing the Scripture. I also

believe that prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit just like that!” It seems to me that

his statement is undergirded by two assumptions: first, that scripture is inspired, and,

second, that the idea of some connection between human agency and divine agency1 in

1
For the discussions on human and divine agency in antiquity, see Troels Engberg-
Pedersen, “Self-Sufficient and Power: Divine and Human Agency in Epictetus and Paul,” in
Divine and Human Agency in Paul and His Cultural Environment, ed. John M. G. Barclay and
Simon J. Gathercole (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 116-39; Engberg-Pedersen,

1
prophecy. This second theological assumption, that is, the understanding that a prophet

passively receives revelation from the divine, is particularly interesting to me. The

student’s opinion about prophecy is far from unique. It reflects an influential popular

understanding in the modern world. This understanding operates in the scholarship on

prophecy in antiquity as well. There is a significant strand of scholarship that has been

invested in reading ancient Christian texts in such a way that human activity in prophecy

is excised, as we shall see in the following section. While early Christian texts that

mention prophecy often have an apologetic and polemical nature, modern scholars

oftentimes have failed to recognize how their arguments intertwined with the idea that

certain practices are necessary in order to become a prophet or to be considered a worthy

dwelling-place for the divine/the Holy Spirit.

This dissertation seeks to give a richer history of early Christian debates about

prophecy and to uncover evidence of early Christian thinkers who considered prophecy to

be undergirded by certain practices and exercises of the self. Thus, the dissertation

contributes to the development of a broader cultural history of understanding prophecy

and self in the ancient Mediterranean world. To reach these broader goals, this

dissertation asks: To what extent, and in what ways, did Origen as well as others who

wrote about prophecy argue that the prophets depend on the divine? How do early

Christian texts, specifically that of Origen, deal with the question of what it means to be a

prophet who communicates with the divine? 2 What kinds of human efforts in prophecy

Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit (Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press, 2010), esp. 106-38.
2
For a discussion of the theme of the self in antiquity, see, inter alia, David Brakke,
Michael L. Satlow, and Steven Weitzman, eds., Religion and the Self in Antiquity (Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2005); Christopher Gill, Personality in Greek Epic,

2
are portrayed as being cultivated or contested? In trying to answer these questions, this

dissertation seeks to demonstrate how Origen in particular and Origen’s two notable

comparanda (namely, the Shepherd of Hermas and Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis) engage the

contested terms of prophetic activity in order to persuade their audience(s) toward the

cultivation of a certain kind of self.

By reading Origen’s works in conversation with Hermas and Iamblichus, we can

have a better understanding of how early Christianity was “a fluid religious phenomenon,

or set of phenomena, very much in the formative phase.”3 In this fluidity, Christian texts

share common philosophical arguments with “pagan” counterparts regarding prophecy.

This dissertation will demonstrate that the discussions of prophecy in a variety of texts

serve as a means of constructing identity, negotiating and renegotiating boundaries, and

crafting an ideal self that is worthy of divine indwelling. As we shall see in the following

chapters, the discussions of prophecy are oftentimes inextricably connected to

discussions of disciplined practices—bodily and philosophical/intellectual. The

cultivation of a particular philosophical self is thus often at the heart of the discussions on

prophecy. As we shall see in Chapters 2 and 3, prophets are presented as models for

ethical imitation by the audience.

Tragedy, and Philosophy: The Self in Dialogue (New York: Oxford University press, 1996); Guy
Stroumsa, Barbarian Philosophy: The Religious Revolution of Early Christianity (Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 1999); D. Shulman and Guy Stroumsa, Self and Self-Transformation in the
History of Religions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
3
Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, Philostratus’s Heroikos: Religion and Cultural Identity in the
Third (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004). Aitken argues, “Christian identity gradually developed, not
as a uniform phenomenon, but rather as an amalgam of diverse constructs taking shape in a
variety of historical places and social circumstances,” 33. Also see Maren Niehoff, “A Jewish
Critique of Christianity from Second-Century Alexandria: Revisiting the Jew mentioned in
Contra Celsum,” JECS 21.2 (2013): 152; Judith M. Lieu, Christian Identity in the Jewish and
Graeco-Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

3
 Many writers—both Christian and non-Christian—use similar arguments about

prophecy and prophetic experiences and attempt to persuade their respective audiences to

craft themselves vis-à-vis the divine. Even as he participates in this discursive struggle,

Origen also takes pains to distinguish Christian prophetic practices from non-Christian

prophetic practices. The nature of “true” Christian prophetic practice, as Origen sees it, is

established over and against other types of prophecies, as they emerge from pagan divine

practices or other Christian prophetic traditions.4 By encouraging his Christian readers to

participate in both bodily and intellectual practices, Origen argues that everyone needs to

cultivate themselves to be worthy to receive spiritual gifts such as prophecy. In this way,

Origen discusses prophecy and spiritual gifts in an ethical register, for moral formation is

integral in this cultivation.

4
My perspective stems from scholarly discussions that examine prophecy in terms of
power struggles among Christian groups or between the Christian and the non-pagan world. I am
interested in the function of rhetoric in these debates. See, for example, the works of Antoinette
Clark Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction through Paul's Rhetoric
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990); Christine Trevett, Montanism: Gender, Authority and the
New Prophecy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Karen King, “Prophetic Power
and Women’s Authority: The Case of the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene),” in Women Preachers
and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity, ed. Beverly Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 21-41; Laura Salah Nasrallah,
“An Ecstasy of Folly”: Prophecy and Authority in Early Christianity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2003); Giovanni Bazzana, Autorità e successione: Figure profetiche nei testi del
giudeo-cristianesimo antico (Milano: Edizioni Biblioteca Franciscana, 2004).
For the rhetorical critical method that emphasizes power struggles, see Elisabeth
Schüssler Fiorenza, Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies (Minneapolis: Fortress,
1999), esp.105-10, 128; Schüssler Fiorenza, "Re-Visioning Christian Origins: In Memory of Her
Revisited," in Christian Origins: Worship, Belief, and Society, ed. Kiernan J. O. Mahoney (New
York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003), 225-50.

4
Cultural Context

In the ancient Mediterranean world, discussions of prophecy were ubiquitous.

As John Hanson and Laura Nasrallah discuss, phenomena such as prophecy,5 divination,

possession, and inspiration in antiquity are considered to be part of the same

phenomenon, namely, as Nasrallah dubs them, “prophetic experience(s).”6 I will employ

this terminology of “prophetic experience(s)” because it allows me to bracket the

question of the applicability of modern categories of prophecy to antiquity, for modern

categories of prophecy map quite poorly to ancient articulations of the prophetic

relationship between the divine and the human.

Drawing upon this scholarship, I examine the way in which Origen in particular

made attempts to privilege certain practices intended to cultivate a particular prophetic

self, while denying legitimacy to other practices. My research investigates crucial terms

that undergird Origen’s thoughts about prophecy, divination, possession, and inspiration.

Early Christian writers often attempt to persuade the audience of their own

understanding of prophecy, frequently in relation to, or over against, divination.7 The

5
The term prophecy (προφητεία, prophetia) has a particularly broad meaning in
antiquity. In its simplest form, it means the verbal message given by the divine. See David Aune,
Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids, MI:
William E. Eerdmans, 1983), 23-47; R. W. L. Moberly, Prophecy and Discernment (Cambridge,
UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 1-40.
6
“Arguments about the phenomenon that encompasses divination, prophecy, dreams,
visions, ecstasy—a phenomenon to which I shall refer using the term ‘prophetic experience(s)’—
are launched in contexts of struggle and debate” (Nasrallah, An Ecstasy of Folly, 9); John S.
Hanson, “Dreams and Visions in the Graeco-Roman World and Early Christianity,” in Aufstieg
und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neuren
Forschung, ed. H. Temporini and W. Haase (Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 1972), 23.2:1395-
1427.
7
For an excellent survey on this theme, see “Prophecy and Divination,” in J. Reiling,
Hermas and Christian Prophecy: A Study of the Eleventh Mandate (Leiden: Brill, 1973), 58-96.

5
overlaps and relationships between prophecy and divination8 are well documented and

have received significant scholarly attention, for instance in Aune’s particularly valuable

analysis of prophecy and divination.9 Especially in the late second and early third

centuries CE, conversations about prophecy and divination happened across boundaries

among important groups of intellectuals as well as on the “popular” level.

In addition, a revival of traditional religion under Hadrian rekindled a keen

interest in divination, which resulted in reviving the ancient prophetic shrines and in

establishing new oracles. Then, the Antonine revival led to a revitalization of illustrious

oracles such as Delphi, Didyma, and Claros. In this religious-historical atmosphere, it

was all the more crucial for Christian thinkers to consider how their ideas of prophecy fit

with those of others, to investigate the connection between Christian prophecy and

broader Christian identity,10 and to articulate acceptable practices in order to construct an

identity of Christianity amongst different and competing practices and religions.11

8
Sarah Iles Johnston and Peter T. Struck, eds., Mantikē: Studies in Ancient Divination
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005), esp. David Frankfurter, “Voices, Books, and Dreams: The
Diversification of Divination Media in Late Antique Egypt,” 233-54, and Sarah Iles Johnston,
“Delphi and the Dead,” 283-306; Sarah Iles Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination (Malden, MA;
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Pub., 2008).
9
Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 23-47. See also Christopher Forbes, Prophecy
and Inspired Speech: In Early Christianity and its Hellenistic Environment (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997), 279-302.
10
Polymnia Athanassiadi, “Dreams, Theurgy and Freelance Divination: The Testimony
of Iamblichus,” JRS 83 (1993): 115; Athanassiadi, “The fate of oracles in late antiquity: Didyma
and Delphi,” DChrAE (1989-90): 271-8; Herbert William Parke, The Oracles of Apollo in Asia
Minor (London: Croom Helm, 1985); S. Swain, “Plutarch, Hadrian and Delphi,” Historia 40
(1991): 318-30; Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination; Heidi Marx-Wolf, Spiritual Taxonomies and
Ritual Authority: Platonists, Priests, and Gnostics in the Third Century C.E. (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).
11
“Christian identity gradually developed, not as a uniform phenomenon, but rather as an
amalgam of diverse constructs taking shape in a variety of historical places and social

6
 Just as it was a common practice that people in antiquity circumscribed

boundaries among “prophetic experience(s)” and tried to figure out the relationships of

these phenomena, so it was quite common that people discuss practices—both

philosophical and bodily— that could lead to prophecy, and the importance of proper

preparation for prophecy. These practices were prevalent in both Christian and non-

Christian (be they Jewish or “pagan”) groups,12 and thus the audience in the ancient

Mediterranean was familiar with the concept, whether they agreed with the practices or

not.

While some scholars have noticed in the literature of antiquity a tendency to

assume that certain practices are necessary before prophecy can occur, this has not been a

major focus of the studies of prophecy.13 Thus my dissertation contributes to the

scholarship by examining the discussions of prophecy of one of the most important early

Christian thinkers, Origen. Juxtaposing Origen’s thought with two key comparanda,

especially the Shepherd of Hermas and the work of Iamblichus, allows me to analyze

circumstances” (Maren Niehoff, “A Jewish Critique of Christianity,” 152). Also see Lieu,
Christian Identity.
12
For the provisional value of these groupings, see Kristi Upson-Saia, Early Christian
Dress: Gender, Virtue, and Authority (New York: Routledge, 2011). “The terms ‘pagan’ and
‘heathen’—employed by early Christians to designate non-Christian and non-Jewish Romans—
have come under scrutiny in recent years. Michele Salzman and Maijastina Kahlos have shown,
however, that alternative terms, such as ‘polytheists’ or ‘adherents of Greco-Roman cults and
religion’ are equally problematic and imprecise” (Upson-Saia, Early Christian Dress, 109 n. 5).
For a detailed discussion of this topic, also see M. R. Salzman, “Pagans and Christians,” in the
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 187-79.
13
For example, Peter Brown, “Martyrdom, Prophecy and Continence: Hermas to
Tertullian,” in The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early
Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 65-82; Giovanni Bazzana," 'Il corpo
della carne di Gesù Cristo,'” 122; Violet MacDermot, The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle
East: A Contribution to Current Research on Hallucinations Drawn from Coptic and other Texts
(London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, 1971).

7
better alternative ways of thinking about antiquity. By analyzing these texts, this

dissertation aims to fill the lacuna by attending to the broad and persistent strain of

discourses about practices that lead to prophecy in the Greco-Roman world.

Regarding practices necessary for prophecy, one might think only of pilgrimage

to an oracle or of awaiting divine insight in order to experience ecstasy or a prophetic

moment in antiquity.14 Yet the discussions of prophecy in various works describe people

cultivating themselves in order to be able to prophesy. Preparation for prophecy involves

the inculcation of both bodily and intellectual dispositions,15 and training in virtue is vital

in this preparation. Practices that lead to prophecy are inextricably linked to preparing

one’s soul in a proper way, for prophecy is considered to be an enterprise that takes place

in the soul.16

14
Regarding these practices, see Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination.
15
See Julia Annas, Hellenistic Philosophy of Mind (Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 1992), esp. 103–120; Martha Nussbaum, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and
Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994); Christopher Gill,
“The Emotions in Greco-Roman Philosophy,” in The Passions in Roman Thought and Literature,
ed. Susanna Morton Braund and Christopher Gill (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997), 5-16; Juha Sihvola and Troels Engberg-Pederson, eds., The Emotions in Hellenistic
Philosophy (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1998); Margaret Graver, Cicero on the Emotions: Tusculan
Disputations 3 & 4 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002); Christopher Gill, The
Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 207–
324.
16
In Apophthegmata Patrum, we find another illuminating instantiation on the topos of
preparation coupled with receiving mystery from God. “A pagan priest came to the desert of
Scetis and stayed overnight in the cell of one of the monks. Observing the austere way of life of
the monks, he asked his host whether, by such a life, they did not receive revelations from their
god. When the monk answered no, the priest was surprised and said, ‘As long as we perform the
sacred rites to our god, he [sic] conceals nothing from us but reveals his [sic] mysteries to us. And
you, undergoing so many bodily penances, vigils, and ascetic exercises, say that you have no
revelation?’” (William Harmless, Desert Christianis: An Introduction to the Literature of Early
Monasticism [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004], 178).

8
 As we shall see in Chapter 1, one set of practices that leads to prophecy is

connected to scripture: that is, reading, exegetical, and commentarial practices, which

were thought to purify the soul. As Pierre Hadot puts it, “each commentary was

considered a spiritual exercise […] because the reading of each philosophical text was

supposed to produce a transformation in the person reading or listening to the

commentary.”17 Cultivating a properly religious and moral self through philosophical

exercises (ἀσκήσεις) is thus important, as we shall see in the following chapters. Chapter

2 discusses controlling the emotions, and Chapter 3 explores specific spiritual

exercises—both physical and philosophical practices—such as practices of discernment,

training in knowledge, and participation in abstinence).

The association between purity and prophecy is significant. Fasting is understood

as a way to foster purity in one’s life. For example, in Exhortation to Chastity 10:5,

Tertullian discusses purity of life coupled with prophecy. “‘For purification produces

harmony,’ she [the holy prophetess Prisca] says, ‘and they see visions, and when they

turn their faces downward, they also hear salutary voices, as clear as they are secret.’”18

Indeed, Robin Lane Fox, in his Pagans and Christians, says: “In the pagan world, fasting

was deliberately practiced at cults and oracles to elicit significant dreams and ‘receive’

the gods’ inspiration.”19 For example, in Cicero’s De Divinatione, while discussing

natural divination, Quintus is concerned to “dispute the inference that a few false dreams

17
Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2002), 155.
18
See Peter Brown, “Prophecy and Continence,” 65-82; Giovanni Bazzana, “ ‘Il corpo
della carne di Gesù Cristo,’” 122.
19
Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York: Knopf, 1987), 396.

9
invalidate the entire enterprise” (1.29.60). This concern leads Quintus to argue that

“untrustworthy dreams come to ill-prepared people, and those unskilled interpreters

misconstrue the meaning of dreams and oracles” (1.29.60).20 Cicero’s argument drew on

the long-held philosophical tradition from Plato as well as Pythagoras. He says, “then

Pythagoras and Plato, who are most respectable authorities, bid us, if we would have

trustworthy dreams, to prepare (praeparatos) for sleep by following a prescribed course

in conduct and in eating” (1.30.62, emphasis added).21 Although Cicero criticizes those

who participate in these practices, these passages are a potent example of how the

preparation for dreams, ecstasy, divination, and prophecy is a prevalent topic in the

ancient Mediterranean. What Cicero discussed is still relevant in Iamblichus’s works, as

we shall see in Chapter 3, when Iamblichus discusses rituals of preparation for prophecy

at shrines such as Delphi and Claros.

History of Scholarship on Prophecy

Scholars have produced multitudes of works discussing early Christian prophecy.

In one avenue of scholarship, early Christian prophecy is examined in terms of form

criticism, as in the works of Hermann Gunkel and David Aune.22

20
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Cicero on Old Age, on Friedship, on Divination, trans. W. A.
Falconer, LCL 154 (Cambridge, MA; London, U.K.: Harvard University Press, 1923), 290-95.
21
“Iam Pythagoras et Plato, locupletissimi auctores, quo in somnis certiora videamus,
praeparatos quodam culta atque victu proficisci ad dormiendum iubent” (De Divinatione, II.
lviii.119).
22
Hermann Gunkel, The Influence of the Holy Spirit: The Popular View of the Apostolic
Age and the Teaching of the Apostle Paul, trans. Roy A. Harrisville and Philip A. Quanbeck
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979); David Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity.

10
 Many of the scholarly discussions analyze prophecy in early Christianity in terms

of “charismatic origins”23 and subsequent degradation based on Max Weber’s

sociological theory, either implicitly or explicitly, including the discussions of Gunkel,

Aune, James Dunn, Adolf von Harnack, H. von Campenhausen, and Cecil Robeck.24

Another strand of scholarly discussion examines prophecy in terms of power

struggles among Christian groups or between the Christian and the so-called pagan

world, and is interested in the function of rhetorical forms, such as the works of Christine

Trevett, Antoinette Clark Wire, Laura Nasrallah, and Giovanni Bazzana.25 My

perspective stems from the insights of this second group of scholars. What still remains to

be explored, and what will be my contribution, is the examination of prophecy in the

context of cultivation of a proper self that is open to and worthy of God/the divine.26

This study also contributes to scholarship on prophecy in early Christianity by

demonstrating ideological problems in one significant strand of scholarship. This

scholarship assumes that human agency is theologically problematic. One cannot but

23
Nasrallah, An Ecstasy of Folly, 18.
24
James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic
Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1997); Adolf von Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity, trans.
James Moffatt (Glouchester, MA: Peter Smith, 1972); H. von Campenhausen, Fathers of the
Greek Church (London: A.&C. Black, 1963); Cecil M Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage: Perpetua,
Tertullian and Cyprian (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1992).
25
Antoinette Clark Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets; Christine Trevett,
Montanism; Nasrallah, An Ecstasy of Folly; Giovanni Bazzana, Autorità e successione.
26
One of the crucial lines of scholars in prophecy and prophetic experiences take the
optic of the anthropological studies. For example, Karen McCarthy Brown, Mama Lola: a Vodou
Priestess in Brooklyn (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001); Mary Keller, The
Hammer and the Flute: Women, Power, and Spirit Possession (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2002); Giovanni Bazzana’s Jesus and Beelzebul: Early Christian Possession
and Exorcism in an Anthropological Perspective (in preparation).

11
notice that theological convictions lurk behind the work of contemporary biblical

scholars, that is, “an Augustinian or Protestant anxiety lest human agency be thought to

diminish the all-sufficiency and sovereignty of the divine agent.”27 This mainly Protestant

penchant is surely at work in the case of translating various phrases/verbs regarding

prophetic activity. The translation of ζηλόω in 1 Corinthians 14:1 (14:39 as well as

12:31) is a case in point that reflects the scholarly tendency that I problematize.

1 Cor 12:31 “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.”
(NRSV)
ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσµατα τὰ µείζονα. Καὶ ἔτι καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑµῖν
δείκνυµι.
1 Cor 14:1 “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may
prophesy.” (NRSV)
Διώκετε τὴν ἀγάπην, ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ πνευµατικά,
µᾶλλον δὲ ἵνα προφητεύητε.
1 Cor 14:39 “So, my friends, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
(NRSV)
ὥστε, ἀδελφοί µου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν µὴ κωλύετε
γλώσσαις·

Most contemporary scholars have translated ζηλόω “to strive to obtain.”28 However,

many scholars have resisted this translation because this implies human effort.29 To

borrow J. Reiling’s terms, this translation “undoubtedly denote[s] a human activity.”

27
John Barclay, “Introduction,” in Divine and Human Agency in Paul and his Cultural
Environment, ed. John M. G. Barclay and Simon J. Gathercole (London; New York: T&T Clark,
2006), 3.
28
For the discussion of this translation, see Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the
Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 2000), 1082-87.
29
For example, Johannes Louw, “The Function of Discourse in a Sociosemiotic
Theology of Translation Illustrated by the Translation of zeloute in 1 Corinthians,” Bible
Translator 39.3 (1988): 329-35.

12
Reiling asks, “But how can human activity go together with a gift from God?"30 To give

another example, Anthony Thiselton, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, maintains, “to

read [ζηλόω] strive for can be pastorally misleading and theologically doubtful.”31 In a

similar fashion, Pheme Perkins, in her recent commentary on 1 Corinthians, does not

consider it tenable to understand ζηλοῦτε in 1 Cor 14:1 as imperative (“strive for”).32

According to many translators and interpreters of 1 Corinthians 14, if human

efforts are emphasized in prophecy, the prophecy cannot be true, or belongs to another

category, such as mysticism.33 Such arguments are not limited to Paul and 1 Corinthians.

For example, Lindblom argues that Origen's concept of a prophet is of a mystic.34 By

allocating Origen’s prophetic practices to the realm of mysticism, Lindblom ignores the

rhetorical nature of texts on prophecy, and creates a simplified dichotomy between

unpredictable phenomena and complete human effort in relation to prophecy. In this way,

30
J. Reiling, Hermas and Christian Prophecy: A Study of the Eleventh Mandate (Leiden:
Brill, 1997), 147.
31
Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1083.
32
Pheme Perkins, First Corinthians, Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 150.
33
Similarly, Robert Hauck argues, “Origen’s views on prophecy have usually been
treated in relation to his exegesis or his mysticism.” Robert J. Hauck, The More Divine Proof:
Prophecy and Inspiration in Celsus and Origen (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989), 106.
34
J. Lindblom asserts, "...religious training plays no part in the religious life of the
prophets. Mysticism is in large measure a religion of effort." J. Lindblom, Prophecy in Ancient
Israel (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), 309. According to G.von Rad, the prophets got their revelations
"suddenly and completely unpredictably." G. von Rad, Theologie des Alten Testaments
(München: Kaiser, 1960), 72. On discussions of Origen and his mysticism, see, among others,
Andrew Louth, The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition from Plato to Denys (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1981). Louth argues: “This ultimate theoria comes: we can be ready for it, we can
prepare for it, we cannot, however, elicit, for it is theoria of that which is beyond knowledge,
beyond the reach of the power of our understanding” (The Origins of Christian Mystical
Tradition, 14).

13
modern scholars wrongly limit the definition of prophecy and eliminate some key texts

regarding prophecy.35 While not negating the scholarship on Origen and mysticism, I

want to challenge the scholarly prejudice behind the view that Origen only discusses

mysticism, not prophecy.

History of Scholarship on Origen

Scholarship about Origen had long been split, with some arguing that Origen was

an intellectual (though not quite a thoroughly systematic thinker36) and others that Origen

was a mystic. 37 Harl Koch thoroughly examines Origen’s ideas in terms of paidei/a

(teaching and education), and pronoia (providence). Koch, however, does not pay much

attention to the issues of spiritual warfare, prophecy and inspiration, and demonology,

which are reflected in Origen’s works. M. Harl develops Koch’s thesis. In constrast,

Henri Crouzel focuses on the mystical nature of Origen’s ideas. His thesis is popular and

35
Scholars have also followed early Christian polemics and have argued that at some
point in antiquity, prophecy ceased. But this, too, is an ideologically driven argument and draws
on the “periodization of prophecy” which Nasrallah discussed in her Ecstasy of Folly. As
Nasrallah points out, in the discussions on prophecy, “the periodization of prophecy” serves as an
important means of constructing identity, negotiation and renegotiation boundaries, and claiming
authority. Many early Christian authors read the prophetic texts in the Hebrew Bible from the
perspective of the “Christ-event.” For instance, instead of reading Isaiah in its own historical
context, early Christian authors interpreted the messages of Isaiah as pointing towards Jesus’s
coming. Origen (Contra Celsum 2:8) and Cyprian (Treatise 12:1.3), for instance, read many
passages in Isaiah were understood be prophecies of Jewish unbelief in Jesus. Thus, the nature of
prophet and prophecy were ultimately transformed and differed from those of the Hebrew Bible.
The role of the prophet and prophecy no longer pointed to a future event. For a good discussion
on the theme of the cessation of prophecy, see Niels C. Hvidt, “Prophecy’s Alleged Cessation in
Early Christianity,” in Christian Prophecy: The Post-Biblical Tradition (Oxford; New York:
Oxford University Press, 2007), 73-81.
36
J. W. Trigg, “Was Origen Systematic? A Reappraisal,” StPatr 41; 260; Ulrich Berner,
Origenes (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1981).
37
For a helpful enumeration of past Origenist scholarship, see Peter Martens, Origen and
Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 3-4.

14
influential in scholarship on Origen. Instead of subscribing to one side of the dichotomy,

however, in my analysis of Origen’s works, I draw on insights from both of these

arguments that are represented by Koch, Harl, and Crouzel.

Some recent scholarship focuses on Origen as a biblical exegete and scholar.

Peter Martens explores in greater detail Origen’s works in terms of scriptural practice,

examining the way in which Origen in his exegetical works aligns “moral progress” with

“exegesis” and “spiritual gifts.” Martens forcefully notes that those who are “worthy” and

“pure” (and hence moral) could become good exegetes of scripture. Martens’ discussion

concerns the enterprise of Origen’s scriptural exegesis. However, his observation also

applies to other aspects of Origen’s thoughts, especially to his understanding of spiritual

gifts and prophecy. Thus, those who are “worthy,” namely, “those who have made some

moral progress on the itinerary of the Christian faith”— as Martens put it— could receive

spiritual gifts.38

Other scholarship focuses on Origen’s grand theological narrative, namely, the

centrality of pedagogical structure in Origen’s thought.39 Torjesen specifically examines

the way how the idea of progressive training of individual readers frames the general

38
Martens, Origen and Scripture, 161.
39
Karen Jo Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Structure in Origen’s
Exegesis (Berlin; New York: De Gruyter, 1986), esp. 70-107; Peter Martens, Origen and
Scripture; Catherine Chin, “Who is the Ascetic Exegete? Angels, Enchantments, and
Transformative Food in Origen’s Homilies on Joshua,” in Asceticism and Exegesis in Early
Christianity: The Reception of New Testament Texts in Ancient Ascetic Discourses (Göttingen,
Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 203-18; Mark S.M. Scott, Journey Back to God:
Origen on the Problem of Evil (Oxford; New York: Oxford University, 2012).
Winfried Gruber argues that Origen’s exegesis is conducted with a pedagogical structure,
“which posits many layers of meaning in the scriptures that correspond to individual levels of
understanding of the audience.” Winfried Gruber, Die Pneumatische Exegese bei den
Alexandrinern: Ein Beitrag zur Noematik der Heilgen Schrift (Graz: Akademische Druck- U.
Verlagsanstalt, 1057), 5, 77. As cited in S. Hong “Origen’s Rhetoric as a Means to the Formation
of the Christian Self” (Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate University, 2004), 12.

15
structure of Origen’s exegesis of the Song of Songs, Numbers, Jeremiah, and the

Gospels.40 In my dissertation, I join these scholars who have moved beyond the limited

approach to Origen as either an intellectual or a mystic, working toward the

demonstration of prophecy for Origen as a matter of training the whole self. In doing so,

my dissertation contributes to this larger discussion by exploring prophecy and

cultivation in Origen, which is squarely overlooked in Origen scholarship, especially in

the Anglophone world. 41

Theoretical Foundations:

Contestation, Persuasion, and Cultivation42

Origen (as well as other thinkers in Greco-Roman culture) engages the contested

terms of prophetic activity in order to persuade his audience(s) toward the cultivation of a

certain kind of self. These three points—contestation, persuasion, and cultivation—are

40
Judith Kovacs convincingly suggests that Torjesen’s scholarly observation is equally
applicable to the Pauline corpus. Judith L. Kovacs, "Servant of Christ and Steward of the
Mysteries of god: the Purpose of a Pauline Letter according to Origen's Homilies on 1
Corinthians," in In Dominico Eloquio=In Lordly Eloquence, ed. Paul M. Blowers et al. (Grand
Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 169.
41
It is a telling example that The Westminster Handbook to Origen does not have any
entry devoted to prophecy, among its 79 entries. John Anthony McGuckin, ed., The Westminster
Handbook to Origen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004). Italian scholarship has
produced an important study of Origen and prophecy, see Giovanni Filoramo, “Profezia,” in
Origene. Dizionario: La cultura, il pensiero, le opera, ed. A. Monaci Castagno (Roma: Città
nuova, 2000), 376-79; Filoramo, “Lo Statuto della profezia in Origene,” in Veggenti, Profeti,
Gnostici: Identità e conflitti nel cristianesimo Antico (Morcelliana, 2005), 205-18; Filoramo,
“Vero e false profeta in Origene,” in Veggenti, Profeti, Gnostici, 219-39. However, what is still
missing is the analysis of Origen’s prophecy in terms of the cultivation of a proper self, which is
the topic of this dissertation.
42
For the useful schema of contestation and cultivation with different subject matter, that
is, angels, see Ellen Muehlenberger, Angels in Late Ancient Christianity (Oxford; New York:
Oxford University Press, 2013).

16
central to my dissertation. These main areas of focus of this dissertation, however,

operate on different levels. Contestation and persuasion have been amply discussed in the

scholarly landscape in the fields of New Testament and early Christianity in general, and

in the field of prophecy in particular. The idea of cultivation in the context of prophecy,

in contrast, is my contribution to the scholarly discussion about prophecy in early

Christianity, as many scholars have ignored how early Christian sources discuss the

formation of a self who is able to prophecy.

Contestation and Persuasion

This dissertation draws on feminist scholarship which influenced my research at

three levels: historiography, rhetoric, and the discussions of gender and prophecy. First,

my research is influenced by feminist historiography that emphasizes that ancient

literature should be read not as descriptive but as prescriptive—as engaged in struggling

over and contesting practices and ideas. Enacting a feminist historiography, I focus on the

way in which the authors authorize, valorize, or erase particular practices in their texts.43

Second, in doing so, my primary methodology for analyzing these texts consists of a

rhetorical-critical method. The rhetorical-critical method recognizes ancient texts as

engaged in persuasive linguistic practices with a particular rhetorical-historical

43
See, inter alia, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist
Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (London: SCM, 1995); Elizabeth A. Clark, "The
Lady Vanishes: Dilemmas of a Feminist Historian after the 'Linguistic Turn,'" CH 67 (1998): 1–
31; Anne Jensen, God’s Self-Confident Daughters: Early Christianity and the Liberation of
Women, trans. O.C. Dean, Jr. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996); Ross
Shepherd Kraemer, Her Share of the Blessings: Women's Religions among Pagans, Jews, and
Christians in the Greco-Roman World (New York: Oxford, 1992); Mary Rose D'Angelo and
Ross Shepherd Kraemer, eds., Women and Christian Origins (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1991).

17
situation.44 By rhetoric, I refer to two things. Firstly, I pay attention to the ancient

techniques of rhetoric, which are well attested in antiquity.45 Second, I also refer to more

recent definitions and studies of rhetoric that emphasize power and persuasion. I draw on

theories of rhetoric as discussed by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, and thus I analyze

historical texts as rhetorical, that is, I ask how and to what ends the text persuades.

Analyzed in this light, texts both make claims about who can and has acted effectively in

the world, and attempt to produce conditions for practice, enabling certain people to act

effectively and preventing others from doing so. The practices discussed in the texts are

prescribed in order to persuade the readers and hearers to cultivate a certain type of self.

I also examine the way in which Origen in particular denigrates his rhetorical

opponents who uphold different ideas on prophecy. In this way, instead of attempting to

pin down “Montanists” or “Gnostics” as Origen’s main rhetorical opponents, as many

scholars of Origen have done, I rather argue that there is no single rhetorical opponent

against whom Origen writes in his works. Origen engages multiple opponents in order to

construct Christian identity.

Origen takes pains to distinguish Christian prophetic practices from non-Christian

prophetic practices. Under the rubric of non-Christian prophetic practices, Origen in

effect includes all the prophetic practices that he deems problematic, be they enacted by

44
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Rhetoric and Ethic, esp. 105-10; 128; Schüssler Fiorenza
"Re-Visioning Christian Origins,” 225-50.
45
For example, George A. Kennedy, Classical Rhetorics and Its Christian and Secular
Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1980) ; Margaret M. Mitchell, Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical
Investigation of the Language and Composition of 1 Corinthians (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1991).

18
non-Christian prophets and mantic prophetic practices, or intra-Christian dissenters.46

Origen thus polemicizes not only against "pagan” prophets, but also against Christian

ones that he deems to be problematic.47

Third, with the insights of feminist scholarship, I also challenge some modern

scholarship on gender and prophecy. Some scholars posit the main imagery of interaction

between human beings and the divine in prophecy as a kind of "divine rape."48 The theme

of “prophecy as penetration” is commonly expressed in many literary works in

antiquity.49 This popular theme is used in sexual invectives and polemics in order to

discredit the opponents, as we shall see in Chapter 2. Modern scholars often have

uncritically duplicated the ancient rhetoric. For example, Gail Corrington argues that the

theme of divine rape, which also shows in the case of Pythia at Delphi, is also exhibited

in Montanist women prophets. She uncritically confuses a rhetorical topos with the

reality, neglecting that gender politics are used as a polemic. As we shall see in detail in

46
This last point concerning Christians who are not yet “mature,” Origen discusses in
greater detail in his fragmentary Homilies on 1 Corinthians, which is a major source in my
chapter on Origen and his exegesis on 1 Corinthians 11-14.
47
See Jennifer Wright Knust, Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient
Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
48
Gail Paterson Corrington, "The 'Divine woman?' Propaganda and the Power of
Celibacy in the New Testament Apocrypha: A Reconsidering," in Women in Early Christianity,
ed. D. Scholer (New York: Garland, 1993), 169-182: see especially 171-2.
49
For example, Aeschylus’s Agamemnon portrays Apollo as seducing Cassandra when
she prophesies. The god’s desire for her makes her prophecy possible.
Cassandra: It was the seer Apollo who appointed me to this office.
Chorus: Can it be that he, a god, was smitten with desire?
Cassandra: Oh, but he struggled to win me, breathing ardent love for me.
Chorus: Came ye in due course to wedlock’s rite. (Agamemnon 1202-1207)
Cited in Martin, The Corinthian Body, 239.

19
Chapter 2, for example, Origen associates the female with the passive, and polemically

argues that the Pythian prophetesses are penetrated by demonic spirits.

Discussions of gender are often intertwined with the discussion with prophecy. In

analyzing the gender imagery in Greek tragedies in the classical Greek period, Ruth Padel

claims, “The mind—like a woman in society, like female sexuality in relation to male—is

acted upon, invaded, a victim of the outside world (especially of divinity).”50 Although

Padel’s subject matter is in the classical Greek period, her analysis is pertinent for Greco-

Roman culture as well. For example, Tertullian in his Prescription against Heretics

attempts to disclaim the prophetess Philumene, using the trope of lack of control. He

portrays Philumene as one “who permits thoughts and beliefs to penetrate her mind

without being scrupulously just as she allows her body to be penetrated by men.”51 Anne

Jensen argues that the manuscript traditions of the prophetess depict her as a woman who

is passive and unable to resist the approaches of evil spirits.52

In this way, early Christian debates over prophecy are usually rhetorically

constructed such that the prophet should be passive (and thus feminized)53 before the

50
Ruth Padel, In and out of the Mind: Greek Images of the Tragic Self (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1992), 111.
51
Tertullian, Prescription againt Heretics, 6. 25.30. Philumene is also mentioned in
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 5.13. For a discussion of Philumene, see Brad Windon, “The
Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian's Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian
‘Heresy,’” in Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourses, ed. Todd Penner and Caroline
Vander Stichele (Leiden; Boston, MA: Brill, 2006), 457-78.
52
Anne Jensen argues that the early recensions of the manuscript traditions depict
Philumene particularly as a woman with a stereotype of passive one, whereas the later recensions
have slightly different portrayal of her. Anne Jensen, God’s Self-Confident Daughters: Early
Christianity and the Liberation of Women, tran. O.C. Dean, Jr. (Louisville, KY: Westminster
John Knox Press, 1996), 304.
53
Regarding passiveness versus activeness as one way of thinking about gender and
sexuality, see Giulia Sissa, Sex and Sensuality in the Ancient Word (New Haven, CT; London:

20
divine. I complicate the contemporary scholarly discussions on early Christian prophecy

that imitate ancient rhetoric and assume that prophets are passive.

Cultivation

Throughout this dissertation, I argue that the writers of these ancient texts on

prophecy often exhort their audience to attain a certain ethical standard and to cultivate a

particular self. In developing this new focus on cultivation in studying prophecy, I draw

on Pierre Hadot to develop a framework to study how literature on prophecy functions to

train the reader or hearer toward particular dispositions that are worthy for prophecy. I

use Hadot in order to understand not merely how a Christian individual is formed, but

even more how ideal Christian communities are inscribed, for I am interested in the

formation of the self in the context of social locations of the readers and hearers of the

texts that I examine.54

Hadot delineates “spiritual exercises” 55 as endemic in the cultural and religious

context of many early Christian writers, including Origen. In Greco-Roman culture,

Hadot accentuates, it was critical to cultivate a philosophical self. Just as to cultivate a

proper disposition in philosophical and theological terms is important, so is it to cultivate

Yale University Press, 2008); Marilyn B. Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture
(Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005); Thomas Walter Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from
the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990); Bernadette Brooten,
Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1996).
54
Particularly with this idea, the question lies on the potential possibilities of women
scribes at the time, and women pupils in Origen’s schools. These women scribes and pupils are
potentially encouraged to have a disposition to be worthy of the divine to dwell on.
55
Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to
Foucault (Oxford, New York: Blackwell, 1985).

21
a proper disposition in one’s heart and body.56 Examining a shift in education,57 Hadot

argues that the reading and exegesis of texts took a central place in the curriculum of

philosophical classes, and the students were encouraged to write and transmit

commentaries on classical texts such as Plato’s works. The teachers not only taught their

pupils, but also assumed “the role of genuine directors of conscience who cared for their

students’ spiritual problems.”58 Hadot examines the way in which the emphasis on

education in the time—reading, exegetical and commentarial practices focused on the

texts— are practices for the soul’s intense purification. As he puts it, “each commentary

was considered a spiritual exercise [… ] because the reading of each philosophical text

was supposed to produce a transformation in the person reading or listening to the

commentary.”59

Recent studies in various fields have employed Hadot’s “spiritual exercises” as a

useful tool of explaining disciplines and training.60 For instance, some scholars have

explored how the self is disciplined in stories of martyrdom. Nicole Kelley in particular

provides an innovative way of studying early Christian martyr acts, suggesting that we

56
See Hadot, “Spiritual Exercises,” in Philosophy as a Way of Life, 81-125.
57
Hadot, “Philosophical Schools in Imperial Period,” in What is Ancient Philosophy?
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), 146-71.
58
Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy?, 156.
59
Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 83, 155.
60
Elizabeth A. Castelli, Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making (New
York: Colombia University Press, 2004), 86; Nicole Kelley, “Philosophy as Training for Death:
Reading the Ancient Christian Martyr Acts as Spiritual Exercises,” CH 75:4 (2006): 723-47;
Karen King, “Martyrdom and its Discontents in the Tchacos Codex” in Proceedings of the
International Congress on the Tchacos Codex Held at Rice University, Houston Texas, March
13-16, 2008 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010); Mikael Haxby, “The First Apocalypse of James:
Martyrdom and Sexual Difference” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 2013).

22
read them as “instrument(s) of discipline,” by which ancients audience are exhorted to

train themselves as potential martyrs.61 She cogently argues that, regardless of whether

such Christians really became martyrs or not, they were encouraged to adopt a particular

lifestyle to prepare themselves to become martyrs. Drawing on Hadot’s scholarship as

well as Kelley’s insights, I contend that discourses on prophecy in early Christianity call

for training in a particular way of living, and thus could be influential to early Christians

regardless of whether they would ever attain the status of prophet or not.

Chapter Organization

The argument of the three chapters develops in the following manner.

Chapter 1, “Prophecy and Scriptural Practice: ‘Be Worthy to Receive Charismata,’”

focuses on Origen’s Commentary on Romans 9:1-3, exploring the way in which Origen

provides a compelling glimpse of prophecy as a relationship between the divine and the

human insofar as human beings can desire and attain prophecy. In the commentary, by

weaving 1 Corinthians 14:1 into his exegesis of Romans 12:6-8, Origen aims at

reinforcing his over-arching premise that the gifts of God are located in a complex

synthesis in divine-human relationship and his more specific premise that prophecy is

necessitated by the relationship between God and humanity. In the absence of a

Commentary on 1 Corinthians, and given that his Homilies on 1 Corinthians now only

exists in fragments, Origen’s Commentary on Romans gives us a crucial lens to

61
The works of both Kelley and Haxby help me to develop my research on cultivation in
terms of prophecy in early Christianity. “The study of ‘preparation for martyrdom’ thus focuses
on how texts shaped by martyrdom discourse could produce such a new practice economy.”
Haxby, “The First Apocalypse of James,”13.

23
understand his analysis of 1 Corinthians 11-14, one of the most substantial discussions of

prophecy in the New Testament.62

This chapter explores the way in which Origen emphasizes participation in

prophecy and spiritual gifts, and seeks to persuade his (Christian) readers to cultivate a

life worthy to receive the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. According to Origen, the

worthy life is based on cultivating virtues such as self-control. Origen suggests an

implicit way to cultivate virtue: by reading and exegeting scripture. I read Origen as a

biblical exegete par excellence. It is essential to start by exploring Origen’s scriptural

practice, which runs throughout his corpus. In the following two chapters, deploying the

rhetorical-critical methodology, I will examine the ways in which Origen, the author of

the Shepherd of Hermas, and Iamblichus deploy similar discussions and use similar

rhetorical strategies but with different targeted audiences.

Chapter 2, “A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of the Spirit?: Cultivating Virtue and

Control,” continues to demonstrate how Origen engages the contested terms of prophetic

activity in order to persuade his audience(s) toward the cultivation of a certain kind of

self, and to examine the way in which Origen discusses prophecy, a particular spiritual

gift, regarding cultivating a particular self that is worthy of the Holy Spirit. In order to

better understand the way in which Origen’s texts exhort readers to cultivate themselves

to be a proper self vis-à-vis the Holy Spirit, this chapter will bring in the Shepherd of

62
I draw on Karen Jo Torjesen’s argument that “Origen uses the term ‘perfect soul’ for
those who are ready to understand the mysteries; ‘perfect’ does not mean that the soul has
reached the highest level of its development, but rather that it has freed itself from vice and
established itself in virtue such that it is now able to receive the mysteries” (emphasis mine).
Karen Jo Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Method in Origen’s Exegesis
(Berlin; New York: Walter De Gruyter, 1986), 60, n. 36.

24
Hermas (especially Mandate 11)63 as a major conversation partner with Origen’s

substantial discussions on prophecy in Contra Celsum Book 764 and Homilies on

Numbers 14-17 (“The Book of Balaam”).

When we put Origen’s work alongside the Shepherd of Hermas, the three foci that

operate in this project—contestation, persuasion, and cultivation— are clearly shown.

These discussions of prophecy are ultimately connected to the theme of personhood and

self, and the discussions of prophecy oftentimes interweave with the question of who is a

good person. Since the texts that we examine exhort the readers and audience to

participate in a disciplined training for a particular self in which the divine may dwell, the

question of what is a good human intersects with the discussion of who is a true prophet.

Origen’s works and the Shepherd of Hermas show how prophecy and prophet are

contested categories insofar as these texts express different ideas regarding what

constitutes true prophecy and a true prophet. Yet in modeling their own views of a true

prophet and true prophecy, the texts agree on the centrality of cultivation in becoming a

true prophet. Works such as Origen’s and the Shepherd of Hermas are not manuals to be

a prophet, but rather serve to educate and thus influence the (Christian) audience in a

particular way.

Having compared Origen’s works with the Shepherd of Hermas, which is a potent

instantiation of Christian counterpart that holds a seemingly different idea on true

63
Bart D. Ehrman, ed. and trans., The Shepherd of Hermas, The Apostolic Fathers
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 161-473. English translation follows but
sometimes modifies Ehrman.
64
Origen, Contra Celsum, trans. Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1953); Origen, Contre Celse, ed. Marcel Borret, 5 vols., Sources chrétiennes 132, 136, 147,
150, 227 (Paris: Cerf, 1967-76). English translation follows but sometimes modifies Chadwick.

25
prophecy as a lack of control, and yet that has similar rhetorical strategies, in Chapter 3

“‘Earn the Grace of Prophecy’: Prophecy, Training, Preparation,” we will examine the

ways in which Origen and Iamblichus deploy similar discussions and use similar

rhetorical strategies but with a different targeted audience. Sharing Middle-Platonic

philosophical perspectives, both texts engage contested notions of prophetic activity and

extensively discuss the practices that lead to prophecy. In this chapter, I read Origen’s De

Principiis 3.3.3 along with Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis 3, and thus examine how Origen’s

work is in conversation with Middle Platonic traditions about opening oneself to the

divine. This chapter underlines how early Christian discourses on prophecy are situated

in Greek culture, where cultivating a properly religious self is an important discipline.

Origen prescribes a program that is geared towards preparation for prophecy,

which may lead to “earning the grace of prophecy.”65 I discuss preparation for prophecy

in terms of Christian exercises (ἀσκήσεις). The practitioner is instructed to purge

himself/herself of all traces of impurity by elaborate rituals of seclusion, fasting, ablution,

etc. Origen explicates prophetic practices in terms of his comprehensive understanding of

God’s pedagogy, that is, the divine plan for training and teaching every human according

to the image of God. Through the discussions in this chapter, we will be able to see that

the accounts of prophecy and the exhortation to cultivate oneself to be a worthy

instrument for the divine were privileged loci for the discursive philosophical and

theological discussions in both Christian and non-Christian texts.

65
De Principiis 3.3.3. Origen says, that one "devotes oneself wholeheartedly to God and
denounces the daemons.”

26
 Chapter 1

Prophecy and Scriptural Practice:

“Be Worthy to Receive Charismata”

But in these things the question is asked whether in us or from us a certain

kind of prophecy can exist that is not entirely from God but derives even in
small measure from human efforts. This will be viewed as totally
impossible to other people, but with Paul it is clearly approved when he
says, “Strive for the spiritual gifts, but most of all that you should prophesy.”
– Origen, Comm.Rom. 9.3.81

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself
more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each
according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as one body we have
many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are
many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in
proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter,
in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the
compassionate, in cheerfulness.
– Apostle Paul, Letter to the Romans 12:3-82

1
Sed in his quaeritur si potest esse aliqua in nobis uel ex nobis profetiae species quae non
totum habeat ex Deo sed aliquantulum eitam ex humanis studiis capiat. Hoc quidem apud ceteros
ualde impossibile uidebitur, apud Paulum tamen euidenter probatur dicentem: ‘aemulamini autem
dona maiora magis autem ut profeteis.’
The critical edition of Origen’s Comm.Rom. is from Caroline P. Hammond Bammel et
al., eds., Der Römerbriefkommentar des Origenes: Kritische Ausgabe der Übersetzung Rufins
Buchs 1-10 (Freiburg: Herder, 1990-1998). References cite the book and chapter number in PG,
which Thomas Scheck followed in his English translation. Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to
the Romans, Books 1-5, trans. Thomas Scheck, The Fathers of the Church 103 (Washington, DC:
Catholic University of America, 2001); Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books
6-10, trans. Thomas Scheck, The Fathers of the Church 104 (Washington, DC: Catholic
University of America, 2002). English translation follows Scheck unless otherwise noted.
Origen composed his Comm.Rom. in Caesarea around 243. See Bammel, ed., Der
Römerbriefkommentar des Origenes (1985), 300-01.
2
3 Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης µοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑµῖν µὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν
παρ’ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν, ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐµέρισεν µέτρον πίστεως.
4 καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν ἑνὶ σώµατι πολλὰ µέλη ἔχοµεν, τὰ δὲ µέλη πάντα οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει πρᾶξιν,
5 οὕτως οἱ πολλοὶ ἓν σῶµά ἐσµεν ἐν Χριστῷ, τὸ δὲ καθ’ εἷς ἀλλήλων µέλη. 6 ἔχοντες δὲ
χαρίσµατα κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡµῖν διάφορα, εἴτε προφητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς

27
 In Book 9 of his Commentary on Romans (Comm.Rom. hereafter), Origen

provides a potent glimpse of prophecy as a relationship between the divine and the

human. He argues that human beings can desire and attain prophecy. By weaving 1

Corinthians 14:1 into his interpretation of Romans 12:6-8, Origen aims at reinforcing his

over-arching premise that the gifts of God (χαρίσµατα) are located in a complex synthesis

of divine-human relationships and, specifically, that prophecy is inextricably connected

to the relationship between God and humanity.

It is appropriate to start our discussions of Origen’s ideas about prophecy with his

biblical interpretation, for Origen is par excellence a biblical scholar.3 Thus, to fathom

the ways in which Origen strategically deploys prophecy, we will start our investigation

with Origen’s biblical interpretation in commentaries.4 This chapter focuses on his

πίστεως, 7 εἴτε διακονίαν ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ, εἴτε ὁ διδάσκων ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, 8 εἴτε ὁ παρακαλῶν

ἐν τῇ παρακλήσει, ὁ µεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, ὁ προϊστάµενος ἐν σπουδῇ, ὁ ἐλεῶν ἐν ἱλαρότητι.
All biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) unless otherwise
noted.
3
Henry de Lubac claims and Henry Crouzel later affirmed. Thus Origen’s commentaries
and homilies are important materials for tracing his concept of prophecy and prophets. Henri de
Lubac, History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen, trans. A.E. Nash
(San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1976); Henri Crouzel, Origène et la “connaissance
mystique” (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1961); Crouzel, Origen: The Life and Thought of the First
Great Theologian, trans. A.S.Worrall (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989).
4
Joseph W. Trigg, in his Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third Century Church,
contends that “Origen’s practice of commentary took a variety of forms of expression: exegetical
notes (scholia) and commentaries per se, the Hexapla, tractates, sermons. Origen’s sermons were
delivered in prompt (extemporaneously); stenographers took notes of these oral performances,
which then were edited in the form of the written homilies that remain to us. Thus the homilies
had a double rhetorical life as oral presentations (to potentially widely diverse audiences) and
study documents.” Joseph W. Trigg, Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third Century
Church (Atlanta: John Knox, 1983), 176-77.

28
Comm.Rom. 9.1-9.3, where Origen discusses Romans 12:3-8, in order to explore

Origen’s notion of prophecy as a joint enterprise between God and human beings.

The topics that this chapter explores are threefold. First, I examine the theme of

free will and divine grace in Origen’s understanding of prophecy. I do so in order to

demonstrate how this theme interacts with Origen’s interpretation of Romans 9.1-9.3,

particularly with his focus on prophecy among spiritual gifts and his emphasis on both

divine and human participation.5 Put differently, Origen understands that prophecy, as

well as other spiritual gifts (χαρίσµατα), is a cooperation between the divine and the

human. Second, this chapter explores the way in which Origen’s discussions in

Comm.Rom. 9:1-3 aims to persuade his audience to cultivate the sort of self that is worthy

of receiving spiritual gifts. That is, Origen emphasizes a moral component in the

reception of the charism of prophecy. In discussing the theme of spiritual gifts, Origen

ultimately taps into broader ancient conversations about human and divine agency.6

Third, this chapter also explores how Origen understands prophecy and other gifts from

God. I argue that Origen emphasizes not only the cultivation of the self and the self’s

relation to God, but also the communal aspect of prophecy. He shifts Paul’s exhortation

5
For this double emphasis, see Gunnar Af. Hällström, Charismatic Succession: A Study
of Origen's Consept [sic] of Prophecy (Helsinki: Toimittanut Anne-Marit Enroth, 1985). While
Hällström’s notion of double emphasis in prophecy—human efforts and divine grace—is useful
for my work, I do not agree with his arguments that there is a neat development from prophecy to
teaching. It is much more nuanced.
6
The scholarship on divine agency and human participation in antiquity is vast. For
example, Troels Engberg-Pedersen, in his "Self-Sufficient and Power: Divine and Human Agency
in Epictetus and Paul," in Divine and Human Agency in Paul and His Cultural Environment, ed.
John M. G. Barclay and Simon J. Gathercole (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 116-39;
Engberg-Pedersen, Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit (Oxford; New
York: Oxford University Press, 2010).

29
to “strive for spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor 14:1) into a

more general call to cultivate virtue through scriptural study.

I begin this chapter by briefly exploring commentarial practices in Greco-Roman

culture and especially in Alexandria, the city that birthed Origen’s thoughts, in order to

place Origen’s interpretive methods into context. A careful analysis of the source

(Comm.Rom. 9.1-9.3) follows. I explore the way in which Origen frames the topic of

prophecy as well as other spiritual gifts. By carefully analyzing several section in

Comm.Rom. 9.1-9.3, I then trace how Origen explores the human-divine relationships in

spiritual gifts, in general, and in prophecy, in particular, and brings in 1 Corinthians 14:1

to reinforce his premise that prophecy is the prime locus for the relationship between

human and divine. Finally, the chapter explores Origen’s commentarial/exegetical

practices, particularly examining Origen’s explication of Romans in relation to Paul’s

corpus as a whole, and Origen’s attempts to inculcate certain practices in the (Christian)

readers/audience.

Commentarial Practices and Moral Formation in the Greco-Roman

World

In order for us to better contextualize the thrust of Origen’s exegetical practices, it

is necessary to analyze the Greek intellectual and cultural matrix within which Origen

writes. Pierre Hadot in his Philosophy as a Way of Life delineates what he dubs as

“spiritual exercises,”7 as a key philosophical, educational, and personal practice of

antiquity, a practice that extended to many early Christian writers. In Greco-Roman

7
Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 81-125.

30
culture, as Hadot accentuates, it was critical to cultivate a particular philosophical self,

that is, a self that is open to spiritual formation of some sort.

The understanding that reading and careful interpretation of the texts is one of the

ways for the soul’s intense purification coheres with elite emphasis upon paideia more

broadly at the time. Paidei/a signifies not just education; as Henri Marrou defines,

paidei/a is “a collective technique which a society employs to instruct its youth in the

values and accomplishments of the civilization in which it exists.”8 The meaning of

paidei/a also has another important rendering: “culture.” Thus, paidei/a is also more

broadly construed to mean, to borrow Nasrallah’s succinct phrasing, a “larger set of

cultural practices.”9

Origen engaged in broader discourses and adopted a scholarly form of

commentary/scriptural practice similar to that of Philo. Regarding the scriptural and

commentarial practices which were prevalent in the Greco-Roman world, Maren R.

Niehoff specifically examines Second Temple Judaic practices, particularly in

Alexandria.10 There, the Alexandrian Jew, Philo, further develops his scriptural and

commentarial practices as part of this larger Graeco-Roman cultural activity.11 Similarly,

8
Henry Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity, trans. Geroge Lamb (Madison, WI:
The University of Wisconsin Press, 1956), xiiii; Ilaria Ramelli, "Late Antiquity and the
Transmission of Educational Ideals and Methods," A Companion to Ancient Education 120
(2015): 267.
9
Laura Nasrallah, Christian Reponses to Roman Art and Architecture: The Second-
Century Church amid the Spaces of Empire (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press,
2010), 30.
10
Maren R. Niehoff, “A Jewish Critique of Christianity from Second-Century Alexandria:
Revisiting the Jew mentioned in Contra Celsum,” JECS 21.2 (2013): 151-75; Niehoff,
“Commentary Culture in the Land of Israel from an Alexandrian Perspective,” DSD 19 (2012):
442-63.
11
Niehoff, “Commentary Culture,” 444.

31
Origen seems to explicitly problematize the biblical text and to offer literary solutions, as

he is deeply immersed in the contemporary Greek discourse on education and cultivation

of a particular self, by carrying on the tradition of academic inquiry into the biblical text,

which Philo was also deeply engaged in.12

Hadot analyzes the philosophical schools of the time, saying, “All of them linked

their therapeutics to a profound transformation of the individual’s mode of seeing and

being. The object of spiritual exercises is precisely to bring about this transformation.”13

Hadot delineates one of the most important developments in philosophical practices in

the imperial period: a shift in education. The reading and interpretation of texts took a

central place in the curriculum of philosophical schools as students were encouraged to

write and transmit commentaries on the classical texts such as Plato’s works. Teachers

did not just teach the pupils, but also assumed “the role of genuine directors of

conscience who cared for their students’ spiritual problems.”14 Hadot examines the way

in the educational emphases of the time, on reading, exegetical, and commentarial

practices, were thought to purify the soul.15 As he puts it, “each commentary was

considered a spiritual exercise [… ] because the reading of each philosophical text was

12
Niehoff, “Commentary Culture,” 449. Alexandrian Biblical interpretation originates
from the second century B.C.E. Demetrius, whose fragmentary works Eusebius preserved (pp.
445-49).
13
Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy?, 83.
14
Ibid., 156.
15
Thus in the cultural milieu of paideia, Second Sophistic writers were commenting and
retelling the shared past. See Tim Whitmarsh, Greek Literature and the Roman Empire: The
Politics of Imitation (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); Withmarsh, Ancient
Greek Literature (Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2004).

32
supposed to produce a transformation in the person reading or listening to the

commentary.”16

Commentarial practices in the Roman imperial period are also discussed by

Frances M. Young, who notes how early Christian interpretive practices are performed

within their larger intellectual and cultural milieu. This context can be noted especially in

the “process whereby the books of scripture were substituted for the Graeco-Roman

classics as the basis for Christian education, with the same methods utilized and similar

outcomes expected.”17 Young also points out the centrality of the “moral meaning of the

Graeco-Roman classics” for school teachers in the rhetorical-intellectual tradition who

sought after “truth and ethics not just in philosophical books, such as those of Plato, but

also in classics such as Homer.”18

An equally important point to note in the intellectual milieu is the nearly

ubiquitous nature of scriptural/commentarial practices for Jews and Christians. As Young

succinctly notes, “All kinds of people could attend this ‘school’, not just the elite, and its

aim was to produce lifelong learners progressing in understanding of the truth and in

living according to the way of Christ through teaching offered on the basis of the

scriptures.”19 David Brakke also examines the pervasive nature of scriptural practice in

early Christianity when he writes,

16
Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 155.
17
Frances M. Young, “Interpretation of Scripture,” in The Oxford Handbook of Early
Christian Studies (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 848; Young, Biblical
Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1997).
18
Young, “Interpretation of Scripture,” 848.
19
Ibid., 851.

33
 This scriptural practice should not be distinguished from study and contemplation
in terms of learned versus unlearned, or rational versus irrational, or even
scientific versus inspired. Rather, the practices of effacing one’s own identity as
reader and writer and of producing new texts that mimic the genres of existing
scriptures construct different understandings of how scripture is inspired, how
learning is applied, and how divine knowledge is revealed. Again, we are not
dealing here with an alternative canon or a competing Bible, but with a specific
way of reading and writing within a religious movement.20

As we have briefly seen, Hadot, Young, and Brakke focus on scriptural practice in

early Christianity by reiterating the centrality of commentarial practice in the Graeco-

Roman world and by examining the way in which early Christian scriptural practice

stems from the intellectual world to which it belonged. As these scholars explicate early

Christian culture as ingrained in Hellenistic intellectual culture generally, it is necessary

to examine the intellectual tradition in Alexandria which formed Origen’s intellectual and

spiritual life in order to better contextualize the thrust of Origen’s exegetical practice.

While Alexandrian tradition influenced Origen in his spiritual and intellectual life,

Caesaera is where Origen stayed in the later part of his life and wrote most of his

commentaries and preached regularly. While recognizing Caesarea’s significance,

however, I consider Alexandria as the crucial factor in the formation of Origen’s

thought.21 Even though Comm.Rom. and many other commentaries were written in

20
David Brakke, “Scriptural Practices in Early Christianity: Towards a New History of
the New Testament Canon,” in Invention, Rewriting, Usurpation: Discursive Fights over
Religious Traditions in Antiquity, ed. David Brakke, Anders-Christian Jacobsen, and Jörg Ulrich
(Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2012), 263-80; quotation in 275.
21
On understanding Origen in the Alexandrian intellectual tradition, see Karen Jo
Torjesen, “The Alexandrian Tradition of the Inspired Interpreter,” in Origeniana Octava: Origen
and the Alexandrian Tradition, ed. L. Perrone (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2003), 287-302;
David T. Runia, “Origen and Hellenism”, in Origeniana: Octava, 43-8; John A. NcGuckin,
“Origen as Literary Critic in the Alexandrian Tradition,” in Origeniana: Octava, 121-36; Peter
W. Martens, “Interpreting Attentively: The Ascetic Character of Biblical Exegesis according to
Origen and Basil of Caesarea,” in Origeniana: Octava, 1115-23.

34
Caesarea after Origen was expelled from Alexandria, it is clear that the city’s influence

was formative.

Alexandria was the center of intellectual life in the Roman Empire and the hub of

Roman administration of Egypt. The Alexandrian intellectual tradition displays a double

emphasis on education through scriptural practice and moral formation. In “Alexandria:

A School for Training in Virtue,” Robert Wilken argues that Origen, as a philosopher,

encouraged his students and readers of his works to espouse a new way of life, that is,

“the philosophical life.” He says, “to ‘philosophize’ meant turning from one’s former

ways, fundamentally changing one’s life—not simply to be ‘reformed (emendari),’ said

Seneca, but to be ‘transformed (transfigurari).’”22

In a recent comprehensive study of Origen, Martens emphasizes the pedagogical

aspect of Origen’s thought. Martens examines Origen’s notion of the ideal interpreter of

Scripture who is “holy” and “worthy of” the divine mystery, deftly indicating that the

formation of the interpreter’s soul is connected to the interpretation of scripture.23

Origen’s grand theological narrative, namely, the centrality of pedagogical structure in

Origen’s thought, is amply discussed by scholars in addition to Martens including Karen

Caesarea Maritima was the city where diverse populations interfaced with one another.
Hans Bietenhard, Caesarea, Origenes und die Juden (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1974); Lee I.
Levine, Caesarea under Roman Rule, Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity (Leiden: Brill, 1975);
John McGuckin, “Caesarea Maritima as Origen Knew It,” in Origeniana Quinta, ed. Robert J.
Daly (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1992), 3-25; Anders-Christian Jacobsen, “Conversion to
Christian Philosophy—the case of Origen’s School in Caesarea,” Zeitschrift für Antikes
Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity 16.1 (2012): 145-57.
22
Wilken, “Alexandria: A School for Training in Virtue,” 20-1.
23
Martens, Origen and Scripture, 160.

35
Torjesen, Judith Kovacs, and Catherine Chin.24 Torjesen specifically examines how the

idea of progressive training of individual readers frames the general structure of Origen’s

interpretation of the Song of Songs, Numbers, Jeremiah, and the Gospels. Kovacs

convincingly suggests that Torjesen’s scholarly observation is equally applicable to the

Pauline corpus.25

Drawing on this scholarship, I argue that Origen’s Comm.Rom. 9:1-9:3 aims at

inculcating a specific disposition in the readers and hearers, that is, a life worthy to

receive spiritual gifts and prophecy in particular, and asserts that the cultivation of this

worthy life involves the of scripture. Origen invites and educates the readers/audience on

the path towards virtue. In this way, Origen’s discussions on prophecy and spiritual gifts

are embedded in the educational and cultural practices of his time. On the one hand,

Origen, as a teacher, educates the Christian audience/readers to cultivate a particular way

of life that equips them to receive the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and prophecy. On the

other hand, Origen maintains that cultivating such a worthy and holy life goes in tandem

with studying the scripture (e.g., Comm.Rom. 9.1.12.). Both this emphasis on education

and the cultivation of the self displays the strong cultural practices that operated in the

time of the Roman Empire generally and in Alexandria particularly.

24
Karen Jo Torjensen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Structure in Origen’s
Exegesis, esp. 70-107; Peter Martens, Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life;
Catherine Chin, “Who is the Ascetic Exegete? Angels, Enchantments, and Transformative Food
in Origen’s Homilies on Joshua,” in Asceticism and Exegesis in Early Christianity: The Reception
of New Testament Texts in Ancient Ascetic Discourses (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 2013), 203-18; Mark S.M. Scott, Journey Back to God: Origen on the Problem of Evil
(New York: Oxford University, 2012).
25
Judith Kovacs, “Servant of Christ and Steward of the Mysteries of God”: The Purpose
of a Pauline Letter according to Origen's Homilies on 1 Corinthians" in In Dominico Eloquio= In
Lordly Eloquence (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2002), 169.

36
Origen, Commentary on the Romans: Why 1 Corinthians in Romans?26

Before we plunge into Comm.Rom., however, I should explain something of the

process by which I came to this text. 1 Cor 14:1 and verses with similar wordings, such

as 1 Cor 12:31 and 1 Cor 14:29,27 are crucial passages for my overall argument in the

dissertation. Naturally, I wanted to find Origen’s commentary or sermons on this letter of

Paul. Moreover, Origen emphasizes Pauline epistles as the resources for his thought more

generally. 28 Among the Pauline epistles, 1 Corinthians and Romans emerge as central

texts.29 A search of the Biblia Patristica yields 3,827 references to Romans, the most

26
Vasile Mihoc and Daniel Patte, eds., Greek Patristic and Eastern Orthodox
Interpretations of Romans (London; Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2013); Patout Burns, Jr., trans. and
ed. with Constantine Newman, Romans: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators (Grand
Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012); Mark Reasoner, Romans in Full
Circle: A History of Interpretation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005); Kathy
Gaca and L. L. Welborn, eds., Early Patristic Readings of Romans (New York: T&T Clark,
2005); Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans (Grands Rapids: Baker Academic,
2014); Riemer Roukema, The Diversity of Laws in Origen’s Commentary on Romans
(Amsterdam, Netherlands: Free University, 1988).

27
1 Cor 14:1 “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may
prophesy.” (NRSV)
1 Cor 12:31 “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent
way.” (NRSV)
1 Cor 14: “So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in
tongues.” (My translation)
28
Origen, Comm.Rom., 9. Maureen Beyer Moser, Teacher of Holiness: The Holy Spirit in
Origen’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2005), 154ff;
Richard Ashby Layton, “Origen as a Reader of Paul: A Study of the Commentary on Ephesians”
(Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 1996), 21-4.
29
Joseph Trigg argues that many cornerstones of Origen’s theology are grounded in 1
Corinthians. It was even suggested that the reason why Origen did not write a commentary on 1
Corinthians is that he did not feel the need to write one since he extensively uses the epistle to
“buttress key concepts” as Joseph Trigg says, across his corpus. 1 Corinthians is one of the most
important texts in the New Testament that substantially discuss prophecy, and the longest and
most extensive discussion of Christian prophecy in the New Testament is found in 1 Corinthians

37
among the Pauline letters, and 3,572 references to 1 Corinthians in Origen’s corpora.30

Yet Origen did not write a commentary on 1 Corinthians and the extant Homilies on 1

Corinthians—which is extremely fragmentary—does not contain his interpretation of 1

Corinthians 12-14.

Origen refers extensively to 1 Corinthians in book 9 of Comm.Rom., which is

logical because certain sections of Romans reflect the same topics and even some of the

same language of arguments found in 1 Corinthians. These two texts—Romans 12 and 1

Corinthians 12-14—are often discussed together by New Testament scholars. Regarding

the discussions of spiritual gifts, Romans 12 is often considered to be a précis of 1

Corinthians 12-14. Origen’s reference to 1 Corinthians 12-14 is most extensive in book

9.2-3, in which he analyzes Romans 12:3-8. Origen’s Comm.Rom. 9:1-3 serves as an

indispensable locus to examine Origen’s understanding of prophecy, and themes such as

the human-divine relationship in prophecy.31

Subscribing to a particular mode of interpretation, namely, to “interpret scriptures

with scriptures,”32 Origen weaves Romans 12:3-8 with his interpretation of 1 Corinthians

12-14. Joseph Trigg, Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-Century Church (London:
SCM, 1983), 49-52.

30
Kovacs, “Servant of Christ and Steward of the Mysteries of God,” 150.
31
The noun προφητεία is the most occurring form of the word group in the New
Testament, occurring 144 times. It occurs 37 times in Matthew, six times in Mark, 30 times in
Luke-Acts, 14 times in John, and, 14 times in the Pauline corpus. Of these, five occur in 1
Corinthians (1 Cor 12:28; 29; 14:29; 32, 37), three in Romans (Rom 1:2; 8:21; 11:3), and the
others in 1 Thess 2:15, with four in Ephesians and Titus (including the “list” in Eph 4:11).
Anthony Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 957. G. Friedrich, “προφητεία,” TDNT,
6:781-861.
32
Kovacs, "Servant of Christ and Steward of the Mysteries of God," 154; J. C. Beker,
Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 94-
108, 351-55.

38
12-14.33 It is clear that Origen sees similarities between Romans and the passages in 1

Corinthians:

This is why to me [Origen] he [Paul] appears to be teaching, when writing both to

the Romans and to the Corinthians, that there are three ways for grace to be
received, in order that he might indicate that something is done even by us in this,
but the greater part is based upon the generosity of God. (Comm.Rom. 9.3.3)34

As a biblical exegete, Origen notes that both Romans and 1 Corinthians share the theme

of divine agency and human participation,35 and both discuss “the spiritual gifts” from

God, in which the rhetorics of grace, the will of God, and human reception of the spiritual

gifts appear.36

33
Origen, considering the Pauline corpus as a single unit, explores the issue of unity and
diversity, and freely draws on other Pauline works to interpret a certain text in question. As
Ronald Heine succinctly notes, Origen “considered the Holy Spirit to be the author of all
Scripture, Scripture’s obscurities were to be solved by searching for similar topics and, especially,
vocabulary in other passages throughout the Bible which could then be applied to the passage
being studied [….] To find the key to open Scripture’s meaning one must search for similar
words and ideas that are scattered throughout the Scriptures.” Ronald Heine, “Origen,” in The
Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought, ed. D. Jeffrey Bingham (London; New York:
Routledge, 2010), 193. Peter Martens, Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life,
(Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 3.
34
Unde mihi uidetur tam ad Romans quam ad Corinthios scribens tres capiendae gratiae
modos docere ut et ex nobis in eo agi aliquid ostendat, plurimum tamen in Dei largitione
consistere.
35
As a few examples of the recent trend of scholarship on divine agency and human
participation/agency, see Jason Maston, Divine and Human Agency in Second Temple Judaism
and Paul: A Comparative Study (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010); John M.G. Barclay and Simon
J. Gathercole, eds., Divine and Human Agency in Paul and His Cultural Environment (London:
T&T Clark, 2006); Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul, esp. 106-
137.
36
Paul draws on the interplay between grace and spiritual gifts in Romans 12. As Jewett
notes, “There is a paronomasia that links the congregational χαρίσµατα (“charismatic/spiritual
gifts”) to the divinely granted χάρις (“gift of grace”) received by each Christian in 12:6.” Robert
Jewett, Romans: A Commentary, Hermeneia, ed. Eldon Jay Epp and Roy David Kotansky
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007), 707.

39
The Human-Divine Relationship in Prophecy

Origen’s analysis of the seeming divergence between Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians

12 serves to reinforce his overarching theme of the relationship between

faith/choice/humanity and grace/the divine, fitting well within my attempt to overcome

the unhelpful binary between faith and grace in God’s dealing with humanity, in general,

and in spiritual gifts, particularly.37 As I shall show in more detail below, Origen

interprets prophecy in the context of a double emphasis on divine grace and human

efforts, and in doing so, he aims at cultivating a specific disposition among readers and

hearers. For the discussion of prophecy in terms of both divine grace and human

elements, I draw on Gunnar Af Hällstrom’s scholarship.38 The human-divine relationship

for Origen does not denote that two actors (the human and God) have equal powers in the

relationship; it is clear for Origen that the highest and greatest actor is God.39 As many

scholars maintain, Origen’s overall thought operates in a framework of questions

regarding the relationship between divine providence and human free will, as we shall

also see in Chapter 3.40

37
Regarding this point, see Charles Raith, Aquinas and Calvin on Romans: God’s
Justification and Our Participation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014); Thomas P. Scheck,
Origen and the History of Justification: The Legacy of Origen’s Commentary on Romans (Notre
Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008).
38
Gunnar Af Hällstrom, Charismatic Succession: A Study on Origen’s Consept [sic] of
Prophecy (Helsinki: Toimittanut Anne-MaritEnroth, 1985), 10-5, 45-8.
39
In another of his works, Contra Celsum, Origen succinctly puts: “We affirm that
human nature is not sufficient in any way to seek God and find him [sic] with purity unless it is
helped by the one who is the object of the search” (Cels., 7.42).
40
See Hal Koch, Pronoia und Paideusis: Studien über Origenes und sein Verhältnis zum
Platonismus (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1932); Henri Crouzel, Origène et la “connaissance
mystique” (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1961); Henri De Lubac, History and Spirit: The
Understanding of Scripture According to Origen, trans. A. E. Nash (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius

40
 Themes such as fate, free will, and providence are interwoven in the matrix of

prophecy and divination in antiquity. For example, Maximus of Tyre questions, “If

divination exists, what is left of Free Will?”41 Origen also contends that human free will

is integral to prophecy, which is, in a way, a Christian counterpart to divination insofar as

it is the site of a convergence of the divine and the human.42 Origen by no means initiates

the discussion of human free will in early Christianity. In “An Early Christian View on a

Free Will: Origen,” Michael Frede explores how Origen augments the theme of a human

free will among other early Christians, such as Justin Martyr and Tatian. Justin Martyr, in

Press, 1976); G. W. Butterworth, trans., Origen on First Principles (London: Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1936; Repr., Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1973).
In the time of early Christianity, questions such as fate and prophecy, human agency and
divine agency, cosmology etc. were important fabric of religio-societal culture. For fate and
cosmology, see Nicola Denzey Lewis, Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman
Antiquity (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013).
On human freedom and grace in Origen’s works, see W. J. P. Boyd, “Origen on
Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart: A Study of Justification and Election in St. Paul and Origen,” StPatr
7/1 (1966): 434-42; Henri Crouzel, “Theological Construction and Research: Origen on Free
Will,” Scripture, Tradition, and Reason: A Study in the Criteria of Christian Doctrine: Essays in
Honour of Richard P.C. Hanson, ed. Richard Bauckham and Benjamin Drewery (Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 1988), 239-65; Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, “Origen on Free Will, Grace,
Predestination and their Ecclesiological Implications,” PBR 9 (1990): 95-121; Robert L. Wilken,
“Justification by Works: Fate and the Gospel in the Roman Empire,” Concordia Theological
Monthly 40 (1969): 379-92; Michael Frede, “An Early Christian View on a Free Will: Origen,” in
A Free Will: Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought, ed. A. A. Long (Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 2011), 102-24; Mark S. M. Scott, Journey Back to God: Origen on the
Problem of Evil (Oxford; New York: Oxford University, 2012), 74ff.
41
The important work of Alexander of Aphrodisias, also called De Fato, written toward
the beginning of the third century. Robert L. Wilken, “Justification by Works: Fate and the
Gospel in the Roman Empire,” Concordia Theological Monthly 40 (1969): 382.
42
“Origen’s purpose was to show that human being possesses free will and that, for this
reason, rewards and punishments, praise and blame had meaning. He wanted to show that the life
of virtue, or of vice, was in human being’s power.” Wilken, “Justification by Works: Fate and the
Gospel in the Roman Empire,” 386. Lyman writes, “Origen’s speculations dramatized how
creation was both estranged from God and longing for reunion—a leitmotif actually shared with
Gnosticism but stripped of Gnostic determinism. Indeed, Origen’s cosmology in his on First
Principles and related texts appears as a grand apology for providence and for the interconnected
freedom of Creator and creatures.” J. R. Lyman, Christology and Cosmology: Models of Divine
Activity in Origen, Eusebius, and Athanasius (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 47-69.

41
his First Apology, writes: “We have learned from the prophets and declare as the truth,

that penalties and punishments and good rewards are given according to the quality of

each person’s actions” (First Apology 43).43 As Justin Martyr specifically demonstrates

that the issue of free will is at stake in prophecy, Origen’s project was to emphasize

human free will as the crux of the reception of the gift of prophecy.

Origen essentially grapples with an important question: “to what extent is a

human being dependent on God?”44 If spiritual gifts are to be understood in the context of

an amalgam of the human and divine relationship, Origen poses another question: what

would be the implication of Paul’s mandate, “to strive for prophecy” shown in 1

Corinthians 12-14? Indeed, what would be the implication when such an injunction (“to

strive for prophecy”) could be an oxymoron for some who think that human beings could

not possibly strive for prophecy and that human beings receive prophecy passively from

the divine, as if they were radio transmitters, or, to use the more common image from

antiquity, as if they were musical instruments touched by the divine? Origen argues that

Paul’s mandate is not an oxymoron. On the contrary, according to Origen, the imperative

to strive for prophecy fits his theological framework, which emphasizes the cultivation of

a particular self that is worthy to receive the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.

Origen deepens his discussion by taking pains to analyze the Greek phrase κατὰ

τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως (“according to the measure of faith,” Romans 12:6),45

43
As cited in Wilken, “Justification by Works,” 379-92.
44
Troels Engberg-Pedersen,"Self-Sufficient and Power: Divine and Human Agency in
Epictetus and Paul," in Divine and Human Agency in Paul, 116.
45
Because we only have Origen’s words here in Latin, through the translation (and
interpretation) of Rufinus, it is important to offer a brief comment on the Latin rendition of the
text that Rufinus works on. The Vulgate translates the Greek phrase κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς

42
arguing with philological meticulousness. Origen considers the phrase “according to the

measure of faith” so important that he extends the meaning of the phrase to encompass all

the other spiritual gifts that Paul lists in Romans 12:3-8, even though Paul’s original text

connects this phrase to prophecy only:

So then, he [Paul] is declaring that the diversities of the spiritual gifts are given
“according to the rule of faith” of each so that, for example, when grace has been
received anyone may become this or that member in the body of Christ.
(Comm.Rom. 9.3.2)46

Origen applies the singular measure of faith to “the diversities of the spiritual gifts”

(diuersitates gratiarum)—such as prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving,

showing mercy, and love (in Comm.Rom. 9.3.6)—not just prophecy. When Origen

discusses prophecy in other places, he oftentimes juxtaposes or combines prophecy with

other spiritual gifts, as he has done in Comm.Rom. 9, as we shall in Chapter 3.

Trying to make sense of the correlation between the “diversities of graces” and

the “measure of faith” in spiritual gifts, which is “the cause of the graces that are to be

received,”47 Origen turns to the seeming divergence between Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Cor

12:7-11. Romans 12:6-8 associates prophetia (“prophecy”) with fides (“faith”), with faith

πίστεως, “according to the measure of faith” into Latin as secundum rationem fidei, “according to
the rule of faith.” As scholars have noted, it would be anachronistic to consider Latin translation
of “the rule of faith” in Romans 12:6 as “a body of apostolic doctrine sustained by a tradition of
teaching in the church.” Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
2007), 172. About the succinct definition of the rule of faith as “a body of apostolic doctrine
sustained by a tradition of teaching in the church,” see Paul Griffiths, Songs of Songs (Grand
Rapids: Brazos Press, 2011), xii.
46
Secundum mensuram ergo fidei uniuscuiusque diuersitates dari pronuntiat gratiarum, ut
uerbi causa accepta quis gratia illud uel illud membrum in Christi corpore fiat.
47
Comm.Rom. 9.3.3.

43
functioning as a criterion of gifts of God.48 1 Corinthians12, however, has no overt

correlation between human faith and prophecy. For Origen, Roman 12:6 emphasizes

faith: “the measure of faith as the cause of the graces that are to be received” (mensuram

fidei causam capiendarum posuit gratiarum). In contrast, 1 Corinthians stresses the

volition of God over and against human free will, as shown in the expression prout vult

(“as the Spirit wills”) in 1 Cor 12:7 and 12:11.49 1 Corinthians 12 emphasizes grace and

divine agency: “the Spirit allots to each one as the Spirit wills.” Even though at the first

glance, Origen differentiates the emphases in these two texts, he actually tries to

understand the commonality from the two Pauline texts, when he surmises that Paul

teaches “three ways for grace to be received” (tres capiendae gratiae modos) in both

Romans and 1 Corinthians. Instead of elaborating the “three ways” that he notices,

Origen makes broad distinctions among three elements related to grace: 1) some faith is

within human beings who merit the grace; 2) for others, faith is “given for that which

benefits” by the Spirit/God; 3) the Spirit “allots [faith] as the Spirit wills” (Comm.Rom.

9.3.3). Thus Origen thoroughly investigates the themes of faith and divine agency in

these sections. Moreover, while attending to particularities of these texts, Origen

negotiates the seeming difference between them, and argues that the relationship between

the divine and humanity is complementary.

48
As paraphrased from Jewett, Romans, 52. Another possible question ensues: Would
this then mean that those who have more faith would receive a gift of prophecy?
49
1 Cor 12:7; “But one and the same Spirit works every thing, allotting to each one as he
wills.” 1 Cor 12:11; “But to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for that which
benefits.” Regarding the volition of the Spirit, see Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 199.

44
“Be Worthy of the Spiritual Gifts and especially Prophecy”

Throughout Comm.Rom. 9.1-3, Origen seeks to persuade his (Christian) readers to

cultivate a specific disposition. This disposition involves a life that is ready to receive the

Holy Spirit. According to Origen, the worthy life takes cultivating virtues such as self-

control, when Origen thoroughly explores the notion that the Holy Spirit abides in a holy

person. He moves on to discuss the importance of cultivating a disposition that involves a

life that is worthy to receive the spiritual gifts such as prophecy. Origen develops the

theme of the importance of human efforts in the enterprise of spiritual gifts, shown in the

repeated use of ἄξιος or ἀξιόω (“be worthy of, earn”) and cognate verbs (such as

καταξιόω). Most of the texts use mereo and its cognates, which means “deserve,” “earn,”

“merit,” or “acquire.”50 Since the majority of Origen’s corpus exists in the Latin

translation by Rufinus, the textual evidence on mereo and its cognates is greater. Mereo

cognate verbs appear in several other places in Origen’s corpus such as Comm.Rom. and

De Principiis 3.3 (as we shall examine in Chapter 3).51 Since the terminology of earning

or meriting also explicitly appears in Origen’s Contra Celsum, which is mostly preserved

in Greek (Cels. 7.7), it is clear that the terminology of “be worthy of” and “deserve”

50
One might ask question whether mereo and the original Greek which Origen used
(ἄξιος, ἀξιόω, and καταξιόω) are related. These words are similar in meaning (be worthy of,
merit) and is thus used in Hebrews 10:29, Genesis 4:13 (only in Vulgate, not in Greek
manuscripts), Genesis 42:21, Deuteronomy 7:10, Joshua 11:20, Judges 12:3, and 20:10 etc. The
Vulgate has usually used dignum/digna to translate the Greek adjective ἄξιος. Mereo was used in
Deuteronomy 7:10 in Vulgate with the English rendering of “deserve” (NRSV) (e.g., Hebrews
10:29). Commereo connotes a negative sense (e.g. Numbers 22:29). For this discussion, see
“ἄξιος,” TDNT. P.G.W. Glare, ed., The Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012), s.v. “mereo.”
51
Since the majority of Origen’s corpus exists in the Latin translation by Rufinus, the
textual evidence of mereo and its cognates is greater.

45
(ἀξιόω-cognates) belongs to Origen’s thoughts, rather than the innovation of Rufinus, the

translator.

While it is important for one to earn or be worthy of spiritual gifts, God’s grace is

more important because it confers spiritual gifts. Origen explains this idea in Book 9 of

Comm.Rom. “The gift” means that God/the divine confers something to humans, and

humans receive something from God/the divine. In this mutual enterprise between the

divine and the human beings, Origen includes the important point of “being worthy of”

the spiritual gifts. Throughout the Commentary on the Romans, Origen revisits this theme.

We see examples in the following.

Comm.Rom. 9.3.4 Someone is great enough to merit receiving a higher grace.

(tanta quae excelsiorem gratiam mereatur accipere.)

Comm.Rom. 9.3.5 For if in the present age God gives grace to each one
“according to the measure of faith,” doubtless God will also
give grace to each one in the future on behalf of the measure
of merits.

(si enim in praesenti saeculo dat Deus unicuique gratiam

secundum mensuram fidei, sine dubio et in futuro dabit
unicuique gratiam pro mensura meritorum.)

Comm.Rom. 9.3.7 Each is given by God through grace and there is something
in us that merits grace according to the measure or rule of
each person.

(ita etiam in unoquoque horum quae enumerauimus a Deo

per gratiam dari est et in nobis aliquid ad cuius unusquisque
mensuram uel rationem gratiam promeretur.)

In this way, Origen aims at striking a balance between human choice and divine volition

as regards gifts from God. In emphasizing both grace and freedom, Origen does not

46
“stress freedom somewhat at the expense of grace” as many scholars have mistakenly

maintained.52

While Origen highlights human choice, he also argues that the grace given by

God initiates and conditions the dynamics of charismata: “these things will be nothing if

they do not have the grace given by God; for if the grace of the Spirit is absent from

them, they cannot be members of the body of Christ” (Comm.Rom. 9.3.7).53 He goes on

to say, “There is something in us that merits grace according to the measure or rule of

each person” (9.3.7). In the previous passage, Origen interprets Romans 9:3-5: “To each

according to the measure of faith that God has allotted (unicuiue sicut diuisit Deus

mensuram fidei)” (9.2.12). Origen explains the meaning of the saying that “each should

know and understand what the measure of the grace of God is in himself/herself, the

measure that s/he has merited to attain through faith.” According to Origen, God allocates

various kinds of grace to each person in conformity with the person’s faith, and thus

Origen views faith and grace as complementary or mutually compatible.

The Cultivation of a Self through Moral Formation and Scriptural

Study

How, then, does Origen seek to convince the audience to cultivate a particular self

worthy of receiving the spiritual gifts and, by extension, God’s mercy? Origen returns to

52
For the scholars who have discussed Origen in this way, see John Anthony McGuckin,
ed., The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 115.
53
Hans Urs Von Balthasar, ed., Origen, Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His
Writings, trans. Robert J. Daly (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1984),
193.

47
the refrain of moral formation through virtues and the study of Scriptures to constitute a

proper Christian self. In commenting on Romans 12:1-2, Origen notes,

But now Paul exhorts believers in Christ to present their ‘bodies as a sacrifice
living, holy, and pleasing to God [….] He calls a [sacrifice] in which the Holy
Spirit dwells ‘holy,’ in accordance with what he has said in another passage, ‘or
do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in
you?’ (Comm.Rom. 9.1.5, emphasis added).54

This discussion of how the Holy Spirit dwells in a holy place in Comm.Rom. 9.1.3-5 sets

the groundwork for his later discussion of the spiritual gifts in Comm.Rom. 9.2-3. There,

Origen analyzes explicitly the way in which God endows people with spiritual gifts and

the importance of becoming a good person to receive such a gift. This point broadly

correlates with his later discussion, even though Origen does not mention explicitly

spiritual gifts (especially prophecy) in these earlier passages (Comm.Rom. 9.1).

In exhorting the audience to cultivate itself, Origen draws on a broader cultural

discussion of the formation of the moral and virtuous self. Comm.Rom. 9.1.10 reads,

See to it then lest, when anger enters your heart, it make you conformed to this
world. In a similar way evil desire and greed and the other things in which the
present world takes delight may imprint the form of the present world upon you.
But if, instead, gentleness, patience, mildness, self-control, faith, truth, and the
other virtues should dwell within your mind, they make you conformed to the
future world and they would render such a beautiful form to your soul [….] The
apostolic words exhort us [….] to be transformed into the resemblance of each of
the virtues and thus only then, when the face of the heart has been unveiled, can
we behold the Lord’s glory, having been transformed by such an image. As to
how we may be transformed into these things, he [Paul] teaches us when he [Paul]
says, ‘by the renewing of your minds.’55

54
Nunc autem Paulus obsecrat credentes in Christo ut corpora sua exhibeant hostiam
uiuentem sanctam placentem Deo[…] Sanctam dicit in qua Sanctus Spiritus habitat secundum
quod et in alio loco dixit: ‘aut nescitis quia templum Dei estis et Spiritus Dei habitat in uobis?’
55
Emphasis added. It is important to note Origen’s emphasis on mind and intellect. Uide
ero ne forte cum uenit ira in cor tuum conformem te faciat huic saeculo; similiter autem et
concupiscentia mala et auaritia ceteraque quibus praesens seaculum delectatur formam tibi
saeculi praesentis imponant. Si uero e contrario mansuetudo patientia lenitas continentia fides
uertitas ceteraeque uirtutes habitent in sensu tuo conformem te futuri saeculi faciunt et ita

48
 As is shown in this passage above, Origen exhorts the readers or hearers of his

work to train themselves through the cultivation of good habits and the practice of

appropriate discipline or spiritual exercises such as virtue and not to allow desire to take

over their lives. Virtues such as “wisdom, justice, courage and moderation” are broadly

admired in Greco-Roman philosophical conversations and exhortations, as Plato noted in

Politeia 427e-434d. 56 To these four cardinal virtues, Origen adds “gentleness, patience,

mildness, faith, and truth.”57

In emphasizing the cultivation of virtues and the control of desires for a mind free

from sins and greed, Origen points out the specific practices that lead the Christian

audience/readers towards an ideal life. He explicitly suggests “training in wisdom and

meditation upon the Word of God, and the spiritual interpretation of his law.”58 The full

passage reads,

pulchram animae tuae speciem reddent ut uerbum […] Sed adhortatur ex hoc sermo apostolicus
ut illa abiecta ad singularum uirtutum speciem reformemur, et ita demum possimus reuelato uultu
cordis gloriam Domini speculari ab huiusmodi imagine transformati. Quomodo autem in haec
transformemur ipse edocet dicens: ‘renouatione sensus uestri.’
56
“Origen mentions the cardinal virtues also in Ps 10.6; ComMt 12.12; HomLk 8.4; 35.9;
HomLv 7.1” (Scheck, trans., Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books 6-10, 202, n. 65).
57
Virtues also include justice (Comm.Rom. 9.2.7), prudence, “moderation” (swfrosu/nh,
soberietas: Comm.Rom. 9.2.8.), temperance (“temperantia”) (Comm.Rom. 9.2.10). Origen even
notes that “this temperantia is regarded as one of the four general virtues” (Comm.Rom. 9.2.10).
58
Many scholars have stressed the role of Christian prophets as interpreters of Scripture.
Gerhard Daytzeberg emphasized prophecy in early Judaism and early Christian was to a great
extent, an interpretive phenomenon. Gerhard Dautzenberg, Urchristliche Prophetie: ihre
Erforschung, ihre Voraussetzungen im Judentum und ihre Struktur im ersten Korintherbrief
(Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1975), 43-121, 122-48; Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in 1
Corinthians, 263-88. But in most of the cases, prophecy as interpretation of Scripture refers to
interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.

49
 Our mind is renewed through training in wisdom and meditation upon the Word
of God (per exercitia sapientiae et meditationem), and the spiritual interpretation
of his law (legis eius intellegentiam spiritalem). And to the extent that it makes
daily progress by reading the Scriptures, to the extent that its understanding goes
deeper, to that extent it becomes continuously new and daily new. I [Origen] do
not know if anyone can be renewed who is lazy in respect to the Holy Scriptures
and training in spiritual understanding, by which it becomes possible not only to
understand what has been written, but also to explain more clearly and to reveal
more carefully. (Comm.Rom. 9.1.12)59

Origen tries to shape his audience and attempts to convince the readers to form a

specific disposition by encouraging them not to be positioned on the side of those who

are “lazy in respect to the Holy Scriptures and training in spiritual understanding.”

Furthermore, Origen encourages the audience to not just understand the Scripture but also

to explain the Scripture when they have proper zeal in respect to the Holy Scriptures and

training in spiritual understanding. Soon after this passage, Origen quickly explains, “Yet

it is possible that not every mind is capable of being renewed so as to be broadened by

the understanding of knowledge” (Comm.Rom. 9.1.13). In this way, Origen draws on a

powerful discourse in late antiquity on how the soul is the locus for contact between the

divine and the human being, and thus the soul should be prepared to receive inspiration

from the divine.

The theme of the Word of God continues at the forefront of Origen’s discussions

in Comm.Rom. 9.2:

I [Origen] myself think, however, that grace is present in the Word of God, not
only for those who teach the Church, if their words are as we have described
above, not so much to delight as to prick the hearer and lead him/her to some

59
Renouatur autem sensus noster per exercitia sapientiae et meditationem uerbi Dei et
legis eius intellegentiam spiritalem, et quanto suis cotidie ex scripturarum proficit lectione quanto
altius intellectus eius accredit tanto semper nouus et cotidie nouus efficitur. Nescio autem si
potest renouari sensu qui piger est gera scripturas diuinas et intellegentiae spiritalis exercitia,
quibus possit non solum intellegere quae scripta sunt uerum et explicare apertius et manifestare
diligentius .

50
 degree of advancement in virtue but you will also discover that it is this way in
nearly everything that is done in life. For one person has grace both in what s/he
does and in what s/he says; and someone else, though s/he speaks more wisely
and behaves with greater diligence and effort from time to time, neither in her/his
words nor in her/his deeds finds grace […] (Comm.Rom. 9.2.4)60

Continuing his rhetoric from previous sections, such as Comm.Rom. 9.1.12-13, Origen

emphasizes two points: First, grace present in the Word of God influences everyone in

the church, not just the teachers in the Church. Second, the Word of God pertains to

every aspect of (Christian) life including behavior and speech and sets them “to some

degree of advancement in virtue.” Hadot has noted that ancient philosophical schools

“linked their therapeutics to a profound transformation of the individual’s mode of seeing

and being. The object of spiritual exercises is precisely to bring about this

transformation.”61 In a similar way, Origen continues to exhort the audience to take up a

way of life that profoundly transforms them.

Commentary on Romans 9.3.8: “Strive for Prophecy”

After he attends to the tightly knit web of grace and human efforts involved in

spiritual gifts, and after he maintains the importance of virtues and scriptural study in

forming a Christian self, Origen focuses upon each of the seven gifts—prophecy,

60
Ego autem puto non solum in uerbo Dei ecclesiam docentibus adesse gratiam si talis sit
sermo qualem supra diximus qui auditorem non tam delectet quam stimulet et ad profectum
aliquem uirtutis adducat; sed et in omnibus fere quae aguntur in uita ita esse deprehendes. Est
enim aliquis qui et quod agit et guod loquitur habet gratiam; et alius qui interdum et prudentius
loquitur et diligentius ac laboriosius agit neque in uerbis neque in gestis suis inuenit gratiam.
61
Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy?, 83.

51
ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, presiding, and showing mercy—that Paul

mentions in Romans 12:6-8.62

In Comm.Rom. 9.3.8, he starts to carefully explore prophecy in the context of

grace and human efforts, giving prophecy an ethical register.63 Since this passage is so

crucial, I cite it in full:

However, in these things the question is asked whether in us or from us a certain

kind of prophecy can exist that is not entirely from God but derives even in a
small measure from human efforts. This will be viewed as totally impossible to
other people, but with Paul it is clearly approved when he says, “strive for the
spiritual gifts, but most of all that you should prophesy.” There the Apostle is
showing that, just as one is zealous for ministry and teaching and exhortation, etc.,
through his exhibiting zeal and effort toward these things, in a similar way this
should happen for prophecy. (Comm.Rom. 9.3.8, emphasis added)64

This passage weaves Origen’s interpretation of Romans 12:6-8 together with 1

Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1. By juxtaposing these texts, Origen tries to bolster his claim

that prophecy should be understood in the context of the close relationship between

divine mercy and human participation. Trying to answer a question (“whether in us or

from us a certain kind of prophecy can exist that is not entirely from God but derives

62
Romans 12:6-8: “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us:
prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in
exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”
63
Moser, Teacher of Holiness, 143.
64
Sed in his quaeritur si potest esse aliqua in nobis uel ex nobis profetiae species quae
non totum habeat ex Deo sed aliquantulum eitam ex humanis studiis capiat. Hoc quidem apud
ceteros ualde impossibile uidebitur, apud Paulum tamen euidenter probatur dicentem:
‘aemulamini autem dona maiora magis autem ut profeteis.’ In quo sicut aemulatur quis
ministerium et doctrinam et exhortationem et cetera per hoc quod adhibet erga haec studium ac
laborem ita et erga profetiam fieri debere ostendit apostolus. Unde profetia intellegenda est haec
quam docet Paulus non illa esse per quam dicitur: ‘haec dicit Dominus;’ illa enim usque ad
Iohannem stetit secundum quod in euangelio scriptum est: ‘lex et profetae usque ad Iohannem;’
sed illa de qua idem apostolus ait: ‘qui profetat hominibus loquitur aedificationem et exhortionem
et consolationem.’

52
even in a small measure from human efforts,”) Origen brings another Pauline text on

prophecy into this conversation: “strive for the spiritual gifts, but most of all that you

should prophesy.”65 His use of 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1 at this juncture is far from a

departure from Origen’s original topic;66 on the contrary, Origen’s extensive use of 1

Corinthians 12-14 models the exegetical procedure that he employs to explain Romans

9:3-8.

1 Corinthians 12:39 and 14:1 provoke an important discussion about the

relationship between the divine and the human in the moment of prophecy, both in an

ancient and a modern context.67 Origen was not the only one to address thoughtfully

these verses. Many interpreters of 1 Corinthians 14:1 would raise a similar question to

that of Origen’s interlocutor: Would it be ever possible for the people to “strive for

prophecy” (zhlouvte)?68 Origen’s answer is a resounding yes, for as he discussed in the

previous sections, he considers human efforts and divine grace as mutually constitutive in

receiving spiritual gifts and prophecy. His position diverges from that of many

contemporary scholars who cast doubt on the idea that prophecy in antiquity could be

actively sought. Just as we saw in the Introduction, the translation of zhlo/w in 1

65
Also, see 1 Cor 12:31 “But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more
excellent way.” The complete verse for 1 Cor 14:1 is “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual
gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.” On discussions on the ideologies behind the
translation of ζηλόω, see the section on “History of Scholarship on Prophecy,” in the Introduction
chapter of this dissertation.
66
Caroline P. Bammel, “Augustine, Origen and the Exegesis of St. Paul,” Augustinianum
32 (1992): 341-68. “Origen’s typical way of writing commentaries is to thoroughly exegete line
by line, to the point of giving impression that he sometimes seems to lose the track of the biblical
passage or book that he is commenting on.”
67
Bammel, 50.
68
Origen’s particular attempt to answer this question has contemporary resonance as
well. Regarding this discussion that frames my dissertation, see my Introduction chapter.

53
Corinthians 14:1, 39 as well as 12:31 is a case in point. Most contemporary scholars have

translated ζηλόω “to strive to obtain.” However, many scholars have resisted this

translation because, to borrow Reiling’s terms, it would “undoubtedly denote a human

activity” in the pursuit of spiritual gifts.69

As Origen brings 1 Corinthians 12:39 and 14:1 to bear in his interpretation of

Romans 9:6, he argues that prophecy is a phenomenon still current in Christian

communities, saying: “it is possible for us to exhibit zealous effort to attain this kind of

prophecy, and it also lies within our power that the prophecy that is from God should be

added unto us” (Comm.Rom. 9.3.8). Origen considers that prophecy remained possible

even in his day.70 He does not relegate prophecy or spiritual gifts into the past. Origen

does not subscribe to what some would call “the cessation of prophecy.”71

Just as Origen widens the scope of the injunction “according to rule of faith” in

Romans 6:8 (which Paul connects only to prophecy) to include all the spiritual gifts in

69
For a good discussion on this issue, see J. P. Louw, “The Function of Discourse in a
Sociosemiotic Theology of Translation Illustrated by the Translation of zeloute in 1 Corinthians,”
Bible Translator 39.3 (1988): 329-35.
70
In the context of polemic over and against the rhetorical other of the so-called pagan in
Contra Celsum 7.7, for instance, Origen maintains that prophecy is still existent in Christianity,
while Celsus casts a doubt on such a claim in the part of Christianity. See Chapter 2 of this
dissertation.
71
The issue of cessation of prophecy takes a different turn in early Christian prophecy.
Many early Christian authors read the prophetic texts in the Hebrew Bible from the perspective of
the “Christ-event.” For instance, instead of reading Isaiah in its own historical context, early
Christian authors interpreted the messages of Isaiah as pointing towards Jesus’ coming. Origen
(Contra Celsum 2:8) and Cyprian (Treatise 12:1.3), for instance, read many passages in Isaiah as
prophecies of Jewish unbelief in Jesus. Charles Kannengiesser, Handbook of Patristic Exegesis,
vol.1 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004), 311; R. L. Wilken, “In novissimis diebus: Biblical promises,
Jewish Hopes and Early Christian Exegesis,” JECS 1 (1993): 1-19. Thus, after the “Christ-event”
was realized, that is, Jesus came, died, and was resurrected, there was no need of such prophecy
at all. For a good discussion on the theme of the cessation of prophecy, see Niels C. Hvidt,
“Prophecy’s Alleged Cessation in Early Christianity,” in Christian Prophecy: The Post-Biblical
Tradition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 73-81.

54
Comm.Rom. 9.3.5-7, he places prophecy on the same plane as other gifts insofar as it is

possible to cultivate the gift of prophecy. According to Origen, Paul shows, by saying

“strive to prophesy,” that “just as one is zealous (aemulatur) for ministry and teaching

and exhortation (ministerium et doctrinam et exhortationem), etc., through her exhibiting

zeal and effort (studium ac laborem) toward these things, in a similar way this should

happen for prophecy.”72 In this way, Origen couches spiritual gifts in moralistic terms.73

Spiritual gifts, like moral qualities, can be and should be cultivated.74 Origen pushes

Paul’s ideals in a certain direction. On the one hand, he emphasizes a human

responsibility to receive spiritual gifts. On the other, he enjoins his readers or hearers to

participate in cultivating themselves to be worthy to receive spiritual gifts.

72
With Paul it is clearly approved when he says, “Be zealous for the greater gifts, but
most of all that you should prophesy.” There the Apostle is showing that, just as one is zealous
for ministry and teaching and exhortation, etc., through his exhibiting zeal and effort toward these
things, in a similar way this should happen for prophecy.
73
For useful discussions about Origen’s thoughts on moral inquiry, see Martens,
“Conduct: Moral Inquiry,” in Origen and Scripture, 161-91. For further works on Origen’s views
on the moral life, see W. Capitaine, De Origenis Ethica (Münster: Aschendorff, 1898); W.
Völker, Das Vollkommenheitsideal des Origenes: Eine Untersuchung zur Geschichte der
Frömmigkeit und zu den Anfängen christlicher Mystik (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1931); G. Bardy,
“Les idées morales d'Origène,” Mélanges des Science Religieuse 13 (1956): 23–38; P.
Nemeshegyi, “La morale d'Origène,” Revue d'ascétique et de mystique 37 (1961): 409–28; G.
Gruber, ΖΩΗ—Wesen, Stufen und Mitteilung des wahren Lebens bei Origenes (Munich: Max
Hueber, 1962); B. J. M. Bradley, “Arete as a Christian Concept: The Structural Elements of
Origen's Doctrine” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1976); J. Dillon, “Plotinus, Philo and
Origen on the grades of virtue,” in Platonismus und Christentum: Festschrift für Heinrich Dörrie,
ed. H.D. Blume and F. Mann (Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1983), 92–105;
R. Wilken, “Alexandria: A School for Training in Virtue,” in Schools of Thought in the Christian
Tradition, ed. P. Henry (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), 15–30; E. Schockenhoff, Zum Fest
der Freiheit: Theologie des christlichen Handelns bei Origenes (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald,
1990); J. J. Alviar, Klesis: The Theology of the Christian Vocation According to Origen (Dublin:
Four Courts, 1993); F. Cocchini, “Il progresso spirituale in Origene,” in Spiritual Progress:
Studies in the Spirituality of Late Antiquity and Early Monasticism, ed. M. Sheridan and J.
Driscoll (Rome: Centro studi S. Anselmo, 1994), 29–45; L. F. Pizzolato and M. Rizzi, eds.,
Origene maestro di vita spirituale/Origen: Master of Spiritual Life (Milano, 13–15 Settembre
1999) (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 2001).
74
Moser, Teacher of Holiness, 145.

55
 In establishing prophecy as a current phenomenon in Christian communities, and

in understanding prophecy and spiritual gifts in human-divine relationship, Origen takes

ζηλοῦτε (strive for, or be zealous for) as Paul’s command to a diachronic and universal

Christian audience.75 While the discussions in Comm.Rom. 9.1.1-9.3.7 pertain to the

cultivation of a proper self that is worthy to receive spiritual gifts, the paragraphs in

Comm.Rom. 9.3.8-14 show that Origen is not only interested in the individual, but also

argues for the cultivation of the self in relation to diachronic Christian community (that

is, Paul speaking to us all over time) and in relation to the community of Christians

reading Origen’s commentaries (a kind of ecclesiastical-scholastic group).

One of the ways Origen accentuates his emphasis on community is by attempting

to link prophecy with teaching and moral discussions. It is noteworthy that in the last

paragraph in which he discusses prophecy (Comm.Rom. 9.3.10), Origen applies the term

sermo to prophecy.76 Sermo in Latin has two meanings: sermon and moral discussion. I

agree with Scheck who chooses to translate sermo as “moral discussion,” for this

rendering connects well to Origen’s overall arguments.77 Elsewhere, Origen invites the

audience to participate in the scriptural practice along with Origen as the teacher (e.g.,

Comm.Rom. 9.1.12). And, as we have seen in the Introduction, Peter Martens explores

75
About Origen’s understanding of the diachronic and universal audience, see Caroline
Bammel, “Augustine, Origen and the Exegesis of St. Paul”; Judith Kovacs, “Servant of Christ and
Steward of the Mysteries of God.”
76
Comm.Rom. 9.3.10. Etenim cum moralis in ecclesia sermo tractatur tunc uniuscuiusque
intra semet ipsum conscientia stimulatur recognoscentis ex his quae dicuntur propria peccata et
recordantis si qua forte in occulto commiseri. Interdum autem et aestimatio ipsa prudentium uel
ex uultu uel ex moribus uel ex motu uniuscuiusque colligentium profetiae speciemtenet. Haec
nobis de profetiae gratia dicta sint.
77
Scheck, Origen: Commentary on Romans, 209.

56
the way in which Origen considers his audience as participants in his scriptural

interpretation.78

Origen considers it to be utterly significant that (Christian) audience/readers

should be encouraged to cultivate a moral profile. Just as Origen notes that it is

imperative for Christians, in general, to engage in scriptural interpretation, so he invites

the Christians to participate in the program of cultivating moral profiles for themselves in

order to receive spiritual gifts and prophecy. This theme of the cultivation of spiritual

gifts clearly is evident when he involves in the audience in their own moral formation:

And therefore, it is possible for us to exhibit zealous effort to attain this kind of
prophecy, and it also lies within our power that the prophecy that is from God
should be added unto us, as we pay attention to the rule or measure of faith by
which we do these things. (Comm.Rom. 9.3.8, emphasis added)79

Origen augments Paul’s idea and applies it to the wider audience, for Origen believes that

Pauline epistles are not limited to the immediate and historical audience of a particular

community. According to Origen, Paul’s epistles are meant to be read by a universal and

diachronic Christian community, and Origen interprets them as relevant to this broad

context. Zooming in on his own audience, Origen constantly invites his own audience

(including himself) into Paul’s epistles, as signaled by his use of “we” language.

78
Martens notes that “Origen’s larger exegetical enterprise where he enrolled his
congregants not as an audience, but as participants in his project of scriptural exegesis.” Martens,
Origen and Scripture, 188.
79
Et ideo adhibere studium ad huiuscemodi profetiam possibile nobis est et est in nostra
potestate ut nobis in haec operam dantibus secundum rationem uel mensuram fidei qua haec
facimus addatur et illa quae ex Deo est profetia.

57
Commentary as Polemics: Origen Joins a Larger Debate about

Prophecy

So far, we have looked at the logics of Origen’s Comm.Rom. to see that he enjoins

his readers or hearers to cultivate themselves to pursue prophecy and spiritual gifts, in the

context of Christian practices of scriptural interpretation. But what might Origen be

arguing against? That is, what other Christian ideas regarding spiritual gifts is Origen

seeking to temper or to exclude? To answer this, we return to the crucial passage of

Comm.Rom. 9.3.8. In it, Origen seeks to control the definition of prophecy by citing Luke

16:16.

This is why this prophecy should be understood as that which Paul teaches, not
that through which one says, “Thus says the Lord.” For that latter was in effect
until John, according to what is written in the Gospel, “The law and the prophets
were until John.” Rather it is that concerning which the same apostle says, “He
who prophecies speaks to people for their edification and exhortation and
consolations.” So then, for Paul, “prophecy” is mentioned when anyone speaks to
people for their edification and when anyone speaks for their exhortation and
consolation. (Comm.Rom. 9.3.8)80

Origen specifies that the prophecy to which Paul refers in 1 Corinthians 12:39 and 14:1

(“Strive to prophesy”) is to be understood “as that which Paul teaches, not that through

which one says, ‘Thus says the Lord.’”81 That is, Origen is splitting hairs in his definition

80
Unde profetia intellegenda est haec quam docet Paulus non illa esse per quam dicitur:
‘haec dicit Dominus;’ illa enim usque ad Iohannem stetit secundum quod in euangelio scriptum
est: ‘lex et profetae usque ad Iohannem;’ sed illa de qua idem apostolus ait: ‘qui profetat
hominibus loquitur aedificationem et exhortationem et consolationem.’ Profetia ergo dicitur apud
Paulum cum quis loquitur hominibus ad aedificationem et cum loquitur ad exhortationem et
consolationem;
81
For the relationship between prophet and priest, see, D. Kyrtats, “Prophets and Priests
in Early Christianity: Production and Transmission of Religious Knowledge from Jesus to John
Chrysostom,” International Sociology 3 (1988): 365-83. This article argues that Origen draws on
the religious knowledge and authority which begins from the Hebrew Scripture and probably
ends with John the Baptist.

58
of prophecy. He argues that Paul’s discussion of prophecy refers to “edification,”

“exhortation,” and “consolation,” and that this sort of prophecy should be pursued with

“zealous effort” even in the present. Yet there is another kind of prophecy that only

existed up to the time of John the Baptist, a kind of prophecy in which one spoke in

God’s own voice, often marked in scriptures by the phrase “Thus says the Lord.” Origen

differentiates the kind of prophecy by which God speaks directly through a

medium/prophet, where the usual format starts with “thus says the Lord,” from the kind

of prophecy to which Paul refers in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

Why is Origen so particular about the definitions of prophecy? Origen tries to

fend off his rhetorical opponents. He attempts to control the definition of prophecy that is

relevant among Christian communities by trying to inscribe what he takes to be a correct

understanding of prophecy among the Christian audiences/readers. Some have argued

that Origen opposes the so-called Montanists (or New Prophecy as its adherents called it).

Yet he does not explicitly denounce this group, and certainly so-called Montanists were

not the only Christians of his time who participated in prophetic practices that privileges

loss of the control, as we shall see in the following chapters. Thus I argue that there is no

single rhetorical opponent against whom Origen aims his discussions on prophecy in

Comm.Rom. 9.3.

Yet we do get a glimpse in this passage of Origen’s careful circumscription of

prophecy away from speaking as or in the voice of the divine and toward prophecy as

practices of exhortation and consolation. As we shall see in the next chapter, Origen

thinks that in the moment of prophecy, prophets do not lose their consciousness and thus

retain their control, whereas Philo deems that a prophet relinquishes his or her self-

59
control to the control of the divine/the Spirit.82 Origen also criticizes the Pythia,

positioning her as the stock figure of pagan prophecy, whose loss of control is

problematic. Origen contrasts Pythia, a passive and sexually lax prophetess, to a prophet

such as Moses, who demonstrates masculine control in his interactions with the Spirit. As

we shall see in Chapter 3, Origen criticizes the others, namely, “they,” who subsume all

who participate in problematic prophetic phenomena, be they non-Christians or

Christians.83

We find confirmation of this redefinition of prophecy, likely in relation to other

Christians, in a passage in 1 Corinthians 14: 6-12,

Those who speak in a tongue and do not interpret ought not to speak since their
words are undifferentiated and unintelligible. Paul refers to teachings of a more
theoretical or contemplative nature as a flute and harp since they do not treat the
moral life, while he calls the exhortation to virtue a bugle. For this reason one
could maintain that the obscure parts of Scripture, for example, the discussions of
sacrifices in Leviticus and of the tabernacle in Exodus, should not be read unless
someone interprets and makes their meaning clear. (Homilies on 1 Corinthians,
emphasis added)84

Here Origen discusses the trope of musical instrument as prophet, albeit briefly. The

sounds of musical instruments were often used as metaphors of unintelligible or prophetic

82
With the test-case of Balaam. John R. Levison, Filled with the Spirit (Grand Rapids,
MI; Cambridge, U.K.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 328.
83
Origen discusses this last point concerning Christians who are not yet “mature” in
greater detail in his fragmentary Homilies on 1 Corinthians.
84
Claude Jenkins, ed., “Origen’s Homilies on 1 Corinthians (fragments),” Journal of
Theological Studies 10 (1909), 36. English translation is taken from Judith Kovacs, trans. and ed.,
1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005), 231. καὶ οἱ λαλοῦντες γλώσσῃ καὶ µὴ διερµηνεύοντες οὐκ
ὀφείλουσι λαλεῖν, ὡς µὴ διδόντες διαστολὴν τοῖς λόγοις εἰς τὸ νοηθῆναι· τὰ µὲν οὖν τῆς θεωρίας
δόγµατα αὐλὸν καὶ κιθάραν εἶπεν ὡς µηδὲν ἐµφαίνοντα ἠθικόν, τοὺς δὲ ἐπ’ ἀρετὴν
προτρεποµένους σάλπιγγ<α>· διὰ τοῦδε ἔστιν> εἰπεῖν ὅτι τὰ ἀσαφῆ τῆς γραφῆς, οἷον τὰ περὶ
θυσιῶν ἐν Λευϊτικῷ καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς ἐν Ἐξόδῳ, οὐ δεῖ ἀναγιγνώσκειν, εἰ µή τις αὐτῶν σαφηνίζει
τὸν νοῦν τῇ διηγήσει.

60
language. 1 Corinthians draws on the analogy of musical instruments in 1 Corinthians

14:7-8. The analogy of “flutes and harps and bugles” which give distinct notes (14:7-8) is

similar to the analogy adapted by Plutarch’s Cleombrotus, in On the Obsolescence of

Oracles (431 B), to explain the demise of Delphi (“when the demigods withdraw and

forsake the oracles, these lie idle and inarticulate like the instruments of musicians.”) 85

Similarly, Philo describes the prophetic phenomenon: “he is filled with inspiration, as the

reason withdraws and surrenders the citadel of the soul to a new visitor and tenant, the

divine spirit which plays upon the vocal organism and dictates words which clearly

express its prophetic message” (On the Special Laws 4:49).

While there is meager evidence for prophetic practice that Origen opposes in

Comm.Rom. 9.3, he inscribes a correct kind of prophecy, the prophecy which “should be

understood as that which Paul teaches.” Two later writers who refer to 1 Corinthians 14:1

or 14:39 shed light on how Origen tries to connect prophecy with teaching and scriptural

discussion. Cyril of Alexandria takes a similar position to Origen in understanding

prophecy. He writes in allusion to 1 Corinthians 14:1-5,

I mean the gift of prophecy, that is, the ability to interpret the words of the
prophets. For once the Only Son had become man and suffered and been raised
and the plan for our salvation had been accomplished, what sort of prophecy was
required or what things still needed to be foretold? In these verses, therefore,
prophesying must mean simply this: the ability to interpret the prophecies.
(emphasis added)86

85
For example, Plutarch, “On the Obsolescence of Oracles,” especially 418d, 431a, 436f,
437d, 404f. Philo, Who is the Heir 266. Christopher Forbes, “Early Christian Inspired Speech and
Hellenistic Popular Religion,” Novum Testamentum 28 (1986): 266.
86
English translation is taken from Kovacs, Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christians
Commentator, 230; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on 1 Corinthians: Sancti patris nostri
Cyrilli Archiepisopi Alexandrini in D. Joannis Evangelium: accedunt fragmenta varia necnon
tractatus ad Tiberium diaconum duo,vol. 3, ed. Philip Edward Pusey (Brussels: Culture et
Civilisation, 1965), 291-92.

61
In a similar vein, Ambrosiaster, writing in the fourth century, contends, “Paul urges them

to desire prophecy earnestly, so that they might become stronger through constant

discussion and explanation of the law of God and learn that the preaching of the false

prophets is wrong.”87 Origen does not explicitly dichotomize “constant discussion and

explanation of the law of God” and “the preaching of the false prophet” as Ambrosiaster

does. What is clear, however, is that Origen is on a similar trajectory in tightly connecting

prophecy to discussion of scripture. One possible explanation to understand the implicit

polemics in Origen’s discussion in Comm.Rom. 9.8ff is the canonization process, as one

of the main thrusts of canonization is, arguably, to protect early Christianity from its

contemporary practitioners of prophecy.88 The prescriptive nature of canonization reveals

the existence of those who participate in various kinds of prophetic activities. While the

paragraph in Comm.Rom. 9.3.8-9.3.14 reflects Origen’s polemical concern, I argue that

Origen’s pedagogical program (which we have seen in Origen’s Comm.Rom. 9.1-9.3.7) is

also clearly shown here. Origen continues to return to the refrain of a moral formation,

virtue, and scriptural discussion.89

87
English translation is taken from Kovacs, 1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian
Commentators, 241; Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians: Commentarius in Epistulas
Paulinas, CSEL 81, ed. Heinrich Josef Vogels (Vienna: Hoelder-Richler-Tempsky, 1966-1969),
160-63.
88
For example, Lee M. McDonald and James A. Sanders, The Canon Debate (Peabody,
MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002); Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its
Origin, Development, and Significance (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987).
89
A fourth-century work titled Debate of a Montanist and an Orthodox Christian
is a good example of the relationship between prophecy and biblical teaching and shows a
fascinating conversation regarding various aspects of prophecy. See Ronald E. Heine, The
Montanist Oracles and Testimonia (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1989), 112-27.
Tertullian is also an interesting case in our discussion. He is particularly keen on claiming
that the Montanist prophets are true prophets, because they are following the biblical teaching,
debunking the claim of “false prophets” given by many other writers. He argues that prophecy is

62
 In this text, when Origen connects prophecy to teaching, scriptural discussion,

consolation, and exhortation90 he seems to participate in taxonomizing prophetic

phenomena, which is a well-attested Greco-Roman practices. For example, Plato

famously makes a distinction between prophecy as inspired prophecy and prophecy as

interpretation, work that was allotted to the augur.91 Nasrallah argues these ancient

thinkers such as Plato, Philo, and Tertullian offer “threefold and fourfold lists,” and that

“they offer several definitions, but they settle on one as best.”92 However, as we shall see

in the following chapters, it is not clear whether Origen settles on one definition of

prophecy as the best one. In Comm.Rom., it seems to be clear that Origen connects

prophecy to teaching and moral discussion, as he was bound by the Pauline text. In De

Principiis 3, which we shall investigate in Chapter 3, Origen seems to connect prophecy

to contemplation. Instead of trying to figure out Origen’s definition of prophecy, my

work rather focuses on the way in which Origen strategically deploys his discussions on

not entirely new, but it is in line with what the biblical teaching, and the rule of faith (regula
fidei) he is trying to foster. He is particularly important in understanding the issue of the source of
authority: whether a revelation gains authority only when it is congruent with the biblical
teaching or not. Other authors such as those found in Epiphanius criticized that the Montanist
oracles are not following the biblical teaching, so their prophecy is false. But Tertullian negates
their claims. See Tertullian, On Fasting, 1.
90
Romans 12, in its brief discussion on spiritual gifts, is commonly considered as a kind
of epitome of 1 Corinthians 12-14. As most New Testament scholars have agreed, for Paul, one
of the most significant concerns in 1 Corinthians 14 is to set up what he considers to be a proper
relationship between speaking in tongues (glossolalia) and prophecy. Origen, on the other hand,
does not show much interest in figuring out a relationship between glossolalia and prophecy. He
is concerned with a different matter, that is, the relationship between the divine and the human,
and prophecy is a prime example for how this relationship is sorted out.
91
Plato, Timaeus 71e-72b; Phaedrus 244 a-d. James Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit, 228;
Levison, Filled with the Spirit, 192; idem., First Century Judaism, 151-58, 208-9.
92
Nasrallah, Ecstasy of Folly, 58.

63
prophecy and uses the discussions on prophecy rhetorically in order to persuade his

readers and hearers in a certain way.

Conclusion

This chapter explores the ways in which Origen emphasizes participation in

prophecy and spiritual gifts, and seeks to persuade his (Christian) readers to cultivate a

specific disposition. This disposition involves a life worthy to receive the spiritual gifts,

especially prophecy. According to Origen, the worthy life requires cultivating virtues

such as self-control. However, Origen gives no specific instruction for how to cultivate

the self, as he does in De Principiis 3.3.3 (see discussion in Chapter 3). Rather, Origen

suggests an implicit way to cultivate virtue: it is by reading and exegeting the scripture.

Origen is engaged in commentarial/exegetical practices, driven by his explication of

Romans in relation to a) Paul’s corpus as a whole and b) the ethics/practices Origen is

trying to inculcate in his community. Origen’s reading of Paul places Origen within

existing traditions of παιδεία insofar as Origen focuses on reading and interpretation of

the texts as fundamental for the purification of the soul (“training in wisdom”).

As we saw above in the last sections of this chapter, we only hear Origen’s voice

as he rhetorically constructs his opponents who uphold different ideas on prophecy. In the

following chapters, I will explore other texts which demonstrate the diversity of

competing voices on prophecy, both within Christianity and with other philosophical

trends of the day.

64
 Chapter 2
A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of the Spirit?
Cultivating Virtue and Control

In the previous chapter, I demonstrated that Origen interprets Romans 12:3-8

together with 1 Corinthians 12-14 in his Commentary on Romans 9.1-9.3, arguing that

spiritual gifts, in general, and prophecy, in particular, are cultivated by human work as

well as by God’s grace. We saw that Origen understands prophecy to be deeply

intertwined with a moral formation, and how his Commentary on Romans implicitly

denigrates his rhetorical opponents who uphold different ideas on prophecy. The current

chapter continues to demonstrate how Origen engages the contested terms of prophetic

activity in order to persuade his audience(s) toward the cultivation of a certain kind of

self, turning to different materials in Origen.

In order to better understand the way in which Origen’s texts exhort the readers to

cultivate themselves to be a proper self vis-à-vis the Holy Spirit, this chapter engages the

Shepherd of Hermas (especially Mandate 11) to draw out similarities and differences

with Origen’s substantial discussions on prophecy in Contra Celsum Book 7 and

Homilies on Numbers 14-17 (“The Book of Balaam”). I do so not to argue some

genealogical relationship between Origen and the Shepherd, although we do know that

Origen knew the text. Rather, the chapter demonstrates that both Origen and the author of

the Shepherd of Hermas show how prophecy is a contested category, and each writer

attempts to persuade the audience(s) to cultivate particular selves vis-à-vis the Holy

Spirit. When we put Origen’s works alongside the Shepherd of Hermas, the three foci

that operate in this dissertation—contestation, persuasion, and cultivation—clearly

65
emerge. These discussions on prophecy are ultimately connected to the theme of

personhood and self, while the discussions on prophecy oftentimes interweave with the

question of who is a good person.

This chapter is comprised of two parts. The first part examines the discussions

about prophecy in the Shepherd of Hermas. I read the Shepherd of Hermas as a potent

voice that understands a (true) prophet in a way that differs from Origen. As we have

seen in the previous chapter, Origen denigrates the kind of prophecy by which God

speaks directly through a medium/a prophet, where the usual format starts with “thus says

the Lord.” Commentary on Romans of course highlights Origen’s voice and his

constructions of rhetorical opponents who he thinks hold problematic understandings of

prophecy. If we read it alone, we might stand in danger of joining his vilification of those

with whom he disagrees. The Shepherd of Hermas provides an example of the diverse

competing voices and a different Christian viewpoint which Origen implicitly engages.

When read together with Origen’s works on prophecy, the Shepherd of Hermas

functions as a potent comparandum to shed a light on what is at stake in the discussions

on prophecy. While the notion that prophecy and the prophet are distinctively moral

pervades the writings of Origen and the Shepherd of Hermas, they offer different

arguments. The Shepherd of Hermas considers one of the hallmarks of true prophecy to

be its involuntary and passive nature, a viewpoint with which Origen vehemently

disagrees.

Contrary to the Shepherd of Hermas, Origen emphasizes self-control throughout

the process of prophecy. The second part of this chapter engage with Origen’s Contra

Celsum Book 7 and Balaam’s story in his Homilies on Numbers 14-17 in order to see

66
how Origen deploys rhetorical constructions of prophecy. Origen’s Contra Celsum

polemicizes against loss of control in so-called “pagan” prophecy, trying to constitute a

Christian prophecy over against the so-called pagan prophecy and mantic practices.

Contra Celsum demonstrates a complex rhetorical strategy that inscribes the rhetorical

opponents as passive in prophecy. These discussions on prophecy intertwine with the

theme of control and the loss of control, and the gender of prophet is at stake as well. In

engaging these issues, Origen attempts to persuade the readers and hearers to develop a

self that is differentiated from pagan prophets and other Christian prophets. Origen’s

Homilies on Numbers 14-17 deals with the fact that Balaam, who is not a worthy prophet,

is nonetheless chosen to prophesy. Origen rejects the model of loss of control by the spirit

in the moment of prophecy, a model adopted by the Shepherd of Hermas. Instead, Origen

interprets the prophet Balaam allegorically insofar as Balaam is portrayed as a person

who is being gradually changed.

The Shepherd of Hermas: Why the Shepherd of Hermas?

The Shepherd of Hermas1 provides an important example of the diverse

competing voices and a Christian comparandum which Origen implicitly engages. The

Shepherd of Hermas was one of the most popular works in early Christianity, and its

popularity spread through the entire Mediterranean region.2 It has been widely agreed

1
Bart D. Ehrman, ed. and trans., The Shepherd of Hermas, The Apostolic Fathers,
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003). English translation follows but sometimes
modifies Ehrman.
2
Carolyn Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999).
“From the papyri [Epistula Iacobi Apocrypha], it appears that Hermas, with his full description of
prophetic activity within the church communities (Mand XI) belonged to the most popular

67
that the provenance of the Shepherd of Hermas is Rome, and its date of production is the

early or mid second century.3 Given the huge popularity of the Shepherd of Hermas to the

Christian audience and Origen’s familiarity with the text, I consider the Shepherd of

Hermas as a potent example of a Christian text that both participates in a popular and

longstanding ancient discourse on prophecy as characterized by loss of human control.4

Origen’s works reveal his familiarity with the Shepherd of Hermas, which Origen

cites in many places, even if he never engages the text implicitly in his discussions of

prophecy past and present gifts.5 He refers to the Shepherd of Hermas, for example, in

order to support his own argument about two spirits or two angels that work in a human

being, which we shall explore in Chapter 3.6

reading of early Christian Egypt,” 39. J. Van Der Vilet, “Spirit and Prophecy in the Epistula
Iacobi Apocrypha (NHC i.2),” Vigiliae Christiane 44 (1990): 25-53.
3
Osiek, Hermas, 18. Geoffrey Hahneman is one of the unusual voices in placing The
Shepherd of Hermas in the East. Geoffrey Mark Hahneman, The Muratorian Fragment and the
Development of the Canon (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1992),
34; Ehrman, The Shepherd of Hermas, 162. The usual dating of the text is reached largely on the
basis of the Muratorian fragment that locates the composition of the Shepherd of Hermas right
after the middle of the second century. However, in recent years that traditional dating has
become more and more questionable since, on the one hand, there are papyri of the Shepherd that
seems to date from the early second century (see A. Carlini, “Testimone e testo: il problema della
datazione di PIand I 4 del Pastore di Erma,” in SCO 42 (1992): 17-30), but the entire can be
rediscussed and anticipated also on other terms (see A. Gregory, Disturbing Trajectories: 1
Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Development of Early Roman Christianity, in Rome in
the Bible and the Early Church, ed. P. Oakes (Carlisle, Paternoster, 2002), 142-66.)
4
The Shepherd of Hermas’ three sections consist of five visions, twelve mandates (or
commandments) and ten parables (or similitudes). The scholarly consensus is that the text was
written by a single author over a long period of time. Osiek, Hermas, 9-10.
5
For example, De Principiis 3.2 and Homilies on Numbers 8. In his Commentary on
Romans 10:31, Origen claims that Hermas in Rom 16:14 is the same Hermas, the protagonist in
Herm. Scheck argues that although Origen does not view the Shepherd of Hermas as canonical,
he considers the work to be immensely useful and even “divinely inspired.” Scheck,
Homilies on Numbers, 33.

De Principiis 3.2. English translation is from Butterworth, De Principiis, 216.

6

“Moreover the book of the Shepherd asserts the same thing, teaching that two angels attend each

68
A True Prophet as a Mouthpiece of the Spirit:

Mandate 11contains an extended discussion of prophecy and related phenomena.7

It presents a singular instance regarding prophecy: in discussing several criteria of a true

prophet,8 this work asserts that passivity, loss of control, or involuntariness is one of the

major markers of true prophecy.9

human being, and saying that whenever good thoughts arise in our heart they are suggested by the
good angel, and whenever thoughts of the opposite kind they are the inspiration of the bad angel”
(emphasis added).
7
As I have shown in the Introduction, it is widely recognized that in antiquity prophecy,
oracles, dreams, and visions are all closely related. Patricia Cox Miller notes, “According to
Hermas, the revelatory visions were dreams [….] The term used by Hermas to characterize his
fine visions, horaeseis, was a metaphor of seeing, like the Latin visio, that constituted part of the
technical vocabulary of oneiric description in antiquity.” Patricia Cox Miller, “‘A Dubious
Twilight’: Reflections on Dreams in Patristic Literature,” Church History 55 (June, 1986): 133.
See also Eric Robertson Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (Boston, Beacon Press: 1957),
105; Peter Brown, The Making of Late Antiquity, 65.

8 The categorization of “false prophet” has a long history spanning from the earliest
Christian literature to the present day. There are several criteria for deciding whether a person is a
false prophet or not. The teaching of the false prophet is one of the criteria. For example, Simon
has been understood by many as a pro-Gnostic, and has been a target of many early Christian
writers such as Irenaeus who criticized Simon’s “erroneous teaching.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies
1. 23. An equally important strategy in calling the other false prophet is to criticize the other’s
practice. The Didache is a case in point. It offers a simple principle: the true prophet’s conduct
matches his/her teaching. If s/he a true prophet, s/he would not ask for money after s/he speaks a
prophecy to a believer; s/he would not stay more than three days in a believer’s home, etc.
(Didache, XI. 1-12). What is to be noted is that the fusion between the two categories—wrong
teaching and wrong conduct—happens often.
Cyprian, in the third century, also deploys the rhetoric of false prophets to silence his
opponents: Cyprian does not play down the reality and importance of the prophetic spirit. In his
Letters and Treatises, he stresses the prophetic activities in his own community, calling those who
prophesy beyond the boundary of his communities false prophets. He cannot condone those who
“elect their own bishops and elders” and claim that they are prophets in their own right.
According to him, true prophets exist only inside his believing community. It is no wonder that he
was harshly critical of the Montanist movement. By calling other prophets false, Cyprian aimed at
creating and maintaining the order and purity of the group where he belonged and pastored. Cecil
M. Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage: Perpetua, Tertullian and Cyprian (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press,
1992), 72-3.

9 Giovanni Bazzana," 'Il corpo della carne di Gesù Cristo ' (P. Ox. I.5): conflitti
ecclesiologici nel cristianesimo del II secolo," Adamantius 10 (2004): 100-22.

69
 [A true prophet] never gives an answer to anyone when asked, nor does s/he
speak in private. The Holy Spirit does not speak when the person wants to speak,
but when God wants him/her to speak. (Mandate 11.8) 10

The argument that a prophet speaks when God wants him/her to speak instead of

speaking on his or her own exhibits a certain passivity11 or involuntariness for the

prophet. One marker of a true prophet is a lack of control over her/himself and over the

content of the prophecy.12 A false prophet, however, controls the content of the prophecy

that he/she utters. A false prophet chooses what to speak according to the desires of the

people who ask him/her questions.

And so, these double-minded people (οἱ δίψυχοι) come to him/her [a false
prophet] as if s/he were a diviner (soothsayer) (ὡς ἐπὶ µάντιν), and ask him/her
what will happen. And that false prophet, having no power of the divine spirit in
himself/herself, speaks with them in light of the requests and evil desires they
have, and s/he fills their souls as they themselves wish. (Mandate 11.2)13

The author of the Shepherd of Hermas likens the false prophet to a µάντις, a diviner or

soothsayer. Mandate 11 also criticizes the spirit that works in the false prophet.

But the spirit (τό πνεῦµα) that, when consulted, speaks in light of human
desires is earthly and insubstantial, having no power. And it does not speak
at all unless it is consulted. (Mandate 11.6)14

10
English translation follows Ehrman’s with my modification. καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν
ἀποκρίνεται ἐπερωτώµενος, οὐδὲ καταµόνας λαλεῖ, οὐδὲ ὅταν θέλῃ ἄνθρωπος λαλεῖν, λαλεῖ τὸ
πνεῦµα <τὸ> ἅγιον, ἀλλὰ τότε λαλεῖ, ὅταν θελήσῃ αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς λαλῆσαι.

11Passivity is, to use Marilyn Skinner’s terms, “a bankruptcy of will and nerve.” Marilyn
Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005), 212.
12
Cf. Bazzana, “‘Il corpo della carne di Gesù Cristo’,” 111. “A decisive factor is likely
able to be identified in the role that Paul claims for control of the oracles and the intelligibility
(nous) of those who exercises the prophetic charism.”
13
οὗτοι οὖν οἱ δίψυχοι ὡς ἐπὶ µάντιν ἔρχονται καὶ ἐπερωτῶσιν αὐτόν, τί ἄρα ἔσται
αὐτοῖς· κἀκεῖνος ὁ ψευδοπροφήτης, µηδεµίαν ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ δύναµιν πνεύµατος θείου, λαλεῖ
µετ’ αὐτῶν κατὰ τὰ ἐπερωτήµατα αὐτῶν καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυµίας τῆς πονηρίας αὐτῶν, καὶ πληροῖ
τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν καθὼς αὐτοὶ βούλονται.

14 τὸ δὲ πνεῦµα τὸ ἐπερωτώµενον καὶ λαλοῦν κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυµίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπίγειόν

70
With the same intensity with which the Shepherd of Hermas criticizes the false prophet, it

also pillories those who associate with the false prophet by asking him questions.

All those who are double-minded and who are constantly changing their minds,
consult the oracle (µαντεύονται) as do even the gentiles. And they bring a greater
sin upon themselves by committing idolatry this way. For the one who asks (ἐπε-
ρωτῶν) a false prophet about any matter is an idolater, devoid of the truth, and
foolish. (Mandate 11.4)15

The Shepherd of Hermas thus employs a common slander against Greco-Roman oracular

prophecy, or divination, according to which the false prophet is one who just speaks what

others desire to hear.16

Why does the Shepherd of Hermas takes pains to contest the practice of

consulting an oracle, and asking questions (ἐπερωτάω)17 which, as Robin Lane Fox puts

it, is a “‘neutral technology’ of prophecy” in antiquity?18 The rhetorical strategy of the

Shepherd of Hermas is to argue that a true prophet is passive or involuntarily prophesies,

for he or she is “never consulted (οὐκ ἐπερωτᾶται)” (Mandate 11.5), nor does the prophet

ἐστι καὶ ἐλαφρόν, δύναµιν µὴ ἔχον· καὶ ὅλως οὐ λαλεῖ ἐὰν µὴ ἐπερωτηθῇ.

15 ὅσοι δὲ δίψυχοί εἰσι καὶ πυκνῶς µετανοοῦσι, µαντεύονται ὡς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ ἑαυτοῖς
µείζονα ἁµαρτίαν ἐπιφέρουσιν εἰδωλολατροῦντες· ὁ γὰρ ἐπερωτῶν ψευδοπροφήτην περὶ
πράξεώς τινος εἰδωλολάτρης ἐστὶ καὶ κενὸς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἄφρων.
16
Osiek, Hermas, 142. Contra Reiling, Hermas and Christian Prophecy, 37. See David
Aune, “Her. Man. 11.2: Christian False Prophets Who Say What People Wish to Hear,” JBL 97
(1978): 103-4.
17
An important example from non-Christian culture would be the Delphic oracle. At
Delphi, after people bring their questions, the Pythia delivers answers from Apollo. For this
practice, see Sarah Iles Johnston, “The Divine Experience: Delphi and Dodona,” in Ancient Greek
Divination (Malden, MA; Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Pub., 2008), 33-75.
18
Fox, Pagans and Christians, 389.

71
speak on her/his own.19 Thus the Shepherd of Hermas incorporates a trope that a prophet

functions as a sort of mouthpiece for God.20

Cultivate Passivity to Become an Appropriate Vessel

True prophecy in the Shepherd of Hermas is understood to be passive and

involuntary. Moreover, the Shepherd of Hermas emphasizes that a spirit invades (and

occupies) and fills human beings in the moment of prophecy. This work emphasizes, too,

that the Holy Spirit and the evil spirit invade and penetrate certain kinds of people. That

is, the Holy Spirit occupies virtuous people, while the evil spirit invades empty people, as

similar sorts attract each other. Mandate 11 states: “The devil (ὁ dia/boloß) fills

(plhroiv) a false prophet with his own spirit so that he may be able to break down some

of the righteous people” (Mandate 11.3).21 In contrast, “the angel of the prophetic spirit

lying on (kei/menoß) that person fills him/her, and once the person is filled, she/he speaks

19
In order to contextualize this discussion, it is helpful to examine the work of Epictetus.
For example, in the Handbook: Guides to Stoic Living, Epictetus discusses the meaning of diviner
(mantis) and divination (mantike), noting, “therefore, do not bring desire and aversion to the
diviner (for, if you do, you will be fearful of what you may hear), but go with the understanding
that everything that happens will be indifferent and of no concern to you, for whatever it may be
it is in your power to make good use of it, and that no one can hinder you in this.” Keith Seddon,
Epictetus’s Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic Living (London; New York:
Routledge, 2005), 124.
20
For example, an oracle attributed to Montanus by Epiphanius: “For Montanus says, for
instance: ‘Behold, man is like a lyre, and I flit about like a plectron; man sleeps, and I awaken
him; behod, it is the Lord who changes the hearts of men and gives men a heart.” Ronald E.
Heine, The Montanist Oracles and Testimonia, 3.
21
αὐτὸς γὰρ κενὸς ὢν κενὰ καὶ ἀποκρίνεται κενοῖς· ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν ἐπερωτηθῇ, πρὸς τὸ
κένωµα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀποκρίνεται. τινὰ δὲ καὶ ῥήµατα ἀληθῆ λαλεῖ· ὁ γὰρ διάβολος πληροῖ
αὐτὸν τῷ αὐτοῦ πνεύµατι, εἴ τινα δυνήσεται ῥῆξαι τῶν δικαίων.

72
in the holy spirit to the congregation, just as the Lord desires” (Mandate 11.9).22 The

phenomenon of Geisterfüllung23 is also discussed in Mandate 5.1:

“Be patient (Μακρόθυµος),” he said, “and have understanding and you will have
power over all evil deeds and do everything that is righteous. If you are patient,
the holy spirit that dwells (κατοικοῦν) in you will be pure, not overshadowed by
another, evil spirit, but living openly, it will rejoice and be happy along with the
vessel (σκεύους) in which it dwells (κατοικοῦν), and it will serve God in great
joy, having within it a sense of well-being. But if any bad temper enters it,
immediately the holy spirit, which is sensitive,24 feels suffocated; and not having
a pure place it seeks to leave (ἀποστῆναι). For it is suffocated (πνίγεται) by the
evil spirit, not having a place to serve the Lord as it wishes, being polluted by the
bad temper. For the Lord dwells in patience, but the devil in bad temper. And so,
when both spirits dwell in the same place, it is unprofitable and evil for that
person in whom they dwell. (Mandate 5.1.1-4)25

Both Mandate 5 and Mandate 11 indicate some presupposition that the human can be

possessed by a spirit, even if the technical terms ἔκστασις or the noun form of κατέχω

that are usually used to denote possession or trance do not appear in the text. Osiek

22
Mandate 11.9. ὅταν οὖν ἔλθῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἔχων τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ θεῖον εἰς συναγωγὴν
ἀνδρῶν δικαίων τῶν ἐχόντων πίστιν θείου πνεύµατος, καὶ ἔντευξις γένηται πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τῆς
συναγωγῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων, τότε ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ πνεύµατος τοῦ προφητικοῦ ὁ κείµενος ἐπ’
αὐτῷ πληροῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πλησθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος τῷ πνεύµατι τῷ ἁγίῳ λαλεῖ εἰς τὸ
πλῆθος καθὼς ὁ κύριος βούλεται.

23One example of “spirit-filling” in a Greek source is Pollux, Onomasticon 1.15, which

describes how a prophetic spirit flows into a human being. Reiling, Hermas and Christian
Prophecy, 114.
24
Regarding the sensitive and delicate spirit, J. E. Morgan-Wynne, “The ‘Delicacy’ of
the Spirit in the Shepherd of Hermas and in Tertullian,” Studia Patristica 21 (1989): 154-57.

25 My translation. Μακρόθυµος, φησί, γίνου καὶ συνετός, καὶ πάντων τῶν πονηρῶν

ἔργων κατακυριεύσεις καὶ ἐργάσῃ πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. ἐὰν γὰρ µακρόθυµος ἔσῃ, τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ
ἅγιον τὸ κατοικοῦν ἐν σοὶ καθαρὸν ἔσται, µὴ ἐπισκοτούµενον ὑπὸ ἑτέρου πονηροῦ πνεύµατος,
ἀλλ’ ἐν εὐρυχώρῳ κατοικοῦν ἀγαλλιάσεται καὶ εὐφρανθήσεται µετὰ τοῦ σκεύους ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖ,
καὶ λειτουργήσει τῷ θεῷ ἐν ἱλαρότητι πολλῇ, ἔχον τὴν εὐθηνίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ. ἐὰν δὲ ὀξυχολία τις
προσέλθῃ, εὐθὺς τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ ἅγιον, τρυφερὸν ὄν, στενοχωρεῖται, µὴ ἔχον τὸν τόπον καθαρόν,
καὶ ζητεῖ ἀποστῆναι ἐκ τοῦ τόπου· πνίγεται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύµατος, µὴ ἔχον τόπον
λειτουργῆσαι τῷ κυρίῳ καθὼς βούλεται, µιαινόµενον ὑπὸ τῆς ὀξυχολίας. ἐν γὰρ τῇ µακροθυµίᾳ ὁ
κύριος κατοικεῖ, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὀξυχολίᾳ ὁ διάβολος. ἀµφότερα οὖν τὰ πνεύµατα ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ
κατοικοῦντα, ἀσύµφορόν ἐστιν καὶ πονηρὸν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ ἐν ᾧ κατοικοῦσιν.

73
argues that the terms ἀποστῆναι (“leave”) and πνίγεται (“feel suffocated”) in Mandate

5.1.3 suggest a possession. Mandate 5 2.2 has another example of possession, according

to Osiek, when a bad temper, which is frequently described as an attribute of the evil

spirit, sees “those who are empty and of two minds” at rest, “it barges in violently

(παρεµβάλλει) itself into their hearts.”26 In contrast, the Shepherd of Hermas does not use

such a violent and forceful image for the holy spirit, which is portrayed as gentle.

The Shepherd of Hermas’s concept of prophecy as a passive phenomenon is also

demonstrated by its use of images of vessels or containers (σκευή) in Mandate 11.13 and

Mandate 5.2.6.27 In contemporaneous literature, σκευή is sometimes used to denote a

human being. 28 With respect to prophecy, this image reflects the understanding that a

human being harbors a spirit (either good or evil) as the source of prophecy. The image

of a jar (κέραµος) in Mandate 11.15 is also used in a similar vein. These images

undergird the idea of an occupation by a spirit and are used to emphasize the passivity of

a prophet in the sense of the loss of control over oneself.

Since the holy spirit occupies virtuous people and an evil spirit invades empty

people, it is crucial for the Shepherd of Hermas that one cultivate oneself to be virtuous

in order to attract the Holy Spirit. Put differently, it is important to create an adequate

26 Osiek, Hermas, 119-20. Mandate 5.2.2. o˚/tan ga\r ἴδῃ τοὺς τοιούτους ἀνθρώπους
εὐσταθοῦντας, παρεμβάλλει ἑαυτὴν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκείνου. To see a
larger context of the Shepherd of Hermas: while he was “praising God’s creations, how great and
powerful they are,” Hermas “went into a sleep,” which is a common expression for trance, and it
seemed that he was “seized by the spirit/Spirit, which “lifted him beyond rough country to a level
plain” (Vis. 1.1.3-1.2.2). Fox, Pagans and Christians, 382.

27 In the entire Mandate, σκευή appears only in these two sections.

28 C. Maurer, “σκευή,” TDNT, 1039.

74
condition for becoming a vessel in which the divine can dwell.29 For example, Mandate

11.7b-8 discusses the way in which one can discern a true prophet. An important criterion

is his or her (way of) life.

You must discern the person with the divine spirit30 by his/her way of life. First,
the one who has the spirit that comes from above is meek (πραΰς), mild or gentle
(h˚su/cioß), and humble; s/he abstains from all evil and the vain desire of this age;
s/he makes herself/himself more lowly than all others.31

The same terms that are used in Mandate 11.8—meek, mild or gentle are deployed in the

next passage:

For when these spirits dwell in one and the same vessel with the Holy Spirit, the
vessel no longer has sufficient space but is stuffed to the brim. And so the
sensitive spirit, which is not accustomed to dwelling with an evil spirit nor with
bad temper, leaves the person and seeks to live with meekness and mildness.
(Mandate 5.2.5-6, emphasis added)

The holy spirit searches for those who are meek and mild in order to dwell with them.

Read together, both Mandate 11.8 and Mandate 5.2.5-6 of the Shepherd of Hermas not

only describe, but also implicitly prescribe, the characteristics of a (true) prophet. The

prophet is meek and mild. This ethical condition is crucial so that s/he may invite the

Holy Spirit to dwell in her/him and so that s/he, vessel-like, may contain the Holy Spirit.

29
The text itself does not describe the exact method of cultivating the properly prophetic
self. The technical term ἄσκησις (philosophical exercise) and its cognate appear once in Mandate
8. 10, when The Shepherd of Hermas exhorts the readers to cultivate an ethical stance and to
“train in righteousness (dikaiosu/nhn ajskeivn).” However, despite the apparent lack of the
technical term ἄσκησις, which is greatly developed in ascetic practices in various forms, we can
detect similar practices.
30
In the passage above, “the person with the divine spirit” is discussed in the context of
discerning a prophet, and thus the text seems to equate the prophet and “the person with the
divine spirit.”
31
Mandate 11.7b-8: ἀπὸτῆς ζωῆς δοκίµαζε τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἔχοντα τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ θεῖον.
8. πρῶτον µὲν ὁ ἔχων τὸ πνεῦµα τὸ ἄνωθεν πραΰς ἐστι καὶ ἡσύχιος καὶ ταπεινόφρων καὶ
ἀπεχόµενος ἀπὸπάσης πονηρίας καὶ ἐπιθυµίας µαταίας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου
καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐνδεέστερον ποιεῖ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

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If s/he is neither meek nor mild, the Spirit will not dwell in the person. If she or he is no

longer virtuous, the Spirit will leave the person.32

How then does this text conceive of making oneself virtuous so that the Holy

Spirit can dwell within a person? One of the ways is that she or he must control desire

(ejpiqumi/a).33 As B. Diane Lipsett cogently argues in her Desiring Conversion: Hermas,

Thecla, Aseneth, the terms ejgkra/teia and ejpiqumi/a34 are “workhorse words within this

text’s register of virtue language. Though in later Christian texts ejgkra/teia becomes a

technical term for celibacy, the use here is broader.”35 The Shepherd of Hermas thus

evinces its own philosophical concerns over desire, a concept highlighted in the Greco-

Roman schools of moral philosophy in controlling passions.36 For example, Epictetus

32
This view that connects prophecy to morality is prevalent in many writings.
For example, see James L. Kugel, ed., Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginnings of a Literary
Tradition (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990). “The typical Jewish view, inherited from the
rabbis, is that prophets were supposed to be ‘wise, strong and wealth,’” 35.

33 An analysis by a concordance reveals an important aspect of prophecy in the Shepherd

of Hermas in connection with ejpiqumi/a. The significance of this term, ejpiqumi/a, and its
cognates, is shown by its many uses (28!) in the entire Mandate. Of these 28 times, 25 occur in
Mandate 11 and 12; four occur in Mandate 11; 21 in Mandate 12; two in Mandate 6.2.5; one in
Mandate 8.1.5.

34 Osiek discusses both Stoic and Jewish-Christian influence in the discussion of desire
(epithumia), when she says, “desire is usually understood negatively, especially under Stoic
influence […] But in the Jewish-Christian context, Hermas realizes that not all desire is bad. This
dualism of desires could well correspond to the good and bad desire of Jewish two-ways moral
teaching.” Hermas, 148 n. 1. However, her facile division between Stoic and Jewish-Christian
influences is not so helpful.

35 Diane Lipsett also draws on Foucault’s description of the term’s general usage in the
moral philosophical tradition, citing Foucault, “Enkrateia, with its opposite, akrasia, is located on
the axis of struggle, resistance, and combat; it is self-control, tension, ‘continence’; enkrateia
rules over pleasures and desires, but has to struggle to maintain control.” Michel Foucault, The
Use of Pleasure, trans. Robert Hurley, The History of Sexuality, vol. 2 (New York: Vintage
Books, 1990), 65; B. Diane Lipsett, Desiring Conversion: Hermas, Thecla, Aseneth (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011), 21-2.

76
highlights “desires and aversions,” – passions, that is, “inappropriate emotions caused by

errors of judgment, in particular desire (epithumia), fear (phobos), intense pleasure

(hedone), and grief (lupe).”37 Mandate 10.2, for example, shows a discussion of how grief

(lu/ph) impacts the holy spirit: “So listen, you foolish one, he said, to how grief (lu/ph)

wears out the holy spirit and then again saves it. […] Both double-mindedness and

irascibility, therefore, grieve the holy spirit.” Thus, it is important to have a control over

one’s emotions, such as grief, in order for the good spirit to keep dwelling within the

person.38

Mandates 9-11 in the Shepherd of Hermas also emphasize the importance of the

discerning of spirits—an important early Christian issue as we shall see in detail in

Chapter 3— and actively intertwine such discernment with judging false and true

prophecy.39 The point of the struggle or discernment is this: the person is responsible for

which kind of spirit predominates in him/her.

In sum, in the Shepherd of Hermas, two interlocking themes emerge: first, (true)

prophecy is presented as a passive experience (in the sense that the prophet is the

mouthpiece of God), and, second, there is a strong suggestion that a certain cultivation is

36Or “extirpation of passions.” See Martha Nussbaum, "The Stoics on the Extirpation of
the Passions," Apeiron 20 (1987): 122-77.

37Lipsett, Desiring Converstion, 11; A. A. Long, “Epictetus on Emotions,” in From

Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
2006), 381.

38 Bad desires need to be resisted and controlled, whereas people need to succumb to and

submit (upota/ssein) to good desires. This is succinctly stated in Mandate 12:1-2. “He said to
me: ‘Get rid of all evil desire from yourself, and put on the desire that is good and reverent, for if
you are clothed with that desire, you will despise the evil desire and bridle it as you wish.’” Here
lies the tension between controlling/bridling evil desire and putting on the good desire.
39
David Hunter, “The Language of Desire: Clement of Alexandria’s Transformation of
Ascetic Discourse,” Semeia 57 (1991): 95-111.

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required, in order to be a right vessel for the Spirit to indwell. It is necessary to cultivate

self-control (ejgkra/teia) to be a proper self to receive the Holy Spirit. However, at the

moment of prophecy, the tenor has shifted: Now a lack of self-control is the hallmark of

true prophecy.

Is Everyone a Potential Prophet?

As we have seen above, the Shepherd of Hermas exhorts the audiences to

cultivate a particular way of life so that they may both invite the holy spirit to dwell in

them and contain the holy spirit. I suggest that Shepherd of Hermas conveys the idea that

anyone can potentially become a prophet, as long as the divine spirit dwells in her/him.40

Reiling maintains, “charismata for Hermas are not extraordinary endowments, but moral

qualities [and] virtues.”41 Hermas serves as a good example of one who participates in the

cultivation of these moral qualities and virtues. He develops into a prophet while he

participates in preparations for prophecy such as fasting and cultivating virtues.42 For

example, Hermas fasts before he receives visions: “After fifteen days of fasting and many

40 Scholars have discussed whether the prophet is a “specialist in mediating divine

revelation” or an “ordinary member of the church.” See David Aune, “Who prophesied in Early
Christianity?” in Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean, 198; Reiling,
Hermas and Christian Prophecy, 97; idem, “Prophecy, the Spirit and the Church,” 73-4.
Aune discusses the theme that in early Christianity all believers were “potential, if not
actual prophets” in a theological, not a historical sense. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity,
195. Aune also discusses how this theme that all people are potential prophets is reflected in
Plutarch (De sera numinis 566c; De def. orac. 413e-432b; De gen. Socr. 588d-e, 589b-c), and
also in Philostratus (Vita Apoll. iii. 42). Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 349 n.13; Reiling,
Hermas and Christian Prophecy, 124-25, 135-36, 146.
41
Reiling, Hermas and Christian Prophecy, 146.

42As we saw in the Introduction, fasting is a well-attested practice that leads to prophetic
experiences.

78
prayers to the Lord, the knowledge of the writing was revealed to me” (Visions 2.2.1 and

3.1.2). For the Shepherd of Hermas, fasting engenders “the humility of spirit”: “Every

request needs humility of spirit. Fast, then, and you will receive from the Lord what you

ask” (Vision 3.10.6). I argue that the text implicitly tries to shape readers so that they will

adopt a prophet’s way of life, and thus influences early Christian readers regardless of

whether they would ever attain the status of prophet. The Shepherd of Hermas engages

with the themes of virtue and control as criteria of a true prophet, and encourages the

audience to cultivate a self that can harbor the holy spirit.

Origen’s Contra Celsum Book 7

The Wrong Form of Prophecy

In Contra Celsum book 743 and in his treatment of Balaam’s story in the Homilies

on Numbers 14-17, Origen deploys the same themes of virtue and control as the criteria

of the true and worthy prophet. On the surface, Origen’s discussions might differ from

the Shepherd of Hermas. While the Shepherd of Hermas emphasizes the lack of control

as a marker of true prophecy, Origen refutes this idea. Yet Origen is in agreement with

the Shepherd of Hermas, since both exhort the audience to inculcate certain virtues, just

as the prophets did.

43
Celsus claims that Christianity is a religion of false prophecy. Jesus is the Magus, who
fails to understand divine wisdom. According to Celsus, Jesus is merely possessed by the
daemons who reside in the lower realm. Against the criticism from Celsus, Origen claims that
Christianity is a religion with true prophets. Furthermore, Origen deflects Celsus’s criticism
against Christianity by arguing that the criticism from Celsus does not apply to Christianity; it is
applied to the “heretical” groups that Origen opposes. So, according to him, Christianity as he
understood it is comprised of the true prophets, whereas the so-called heretical groups, as he tries
to construct them, are full of false prophets. Dale Martin, Inventing Superstition: From the
Hippocratics to the Christians (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 140-43.

79
 Origen emphasizes the importance of worthiness, morality, and virtue as

necessary qualities of the prophet. Origen also has another key emphasis in his

understanding of prophecy: a distrust of losing control of one’s consciousness during

prophecy. Origen emphasizes that the will of God initiates prophecy, but he equally

emphasizes the will and control of the prophet during prophecy. He defies the notion that

the moment of prophecy is involuntary and involves losing control of one’s

consciousness.

In the Contra Celsum, this theme of the moral character of a prophet is

emphasized in several places (Cels. 2.51; 4.95; 5.42; 7.3). 44 In addition, over against

Pythia, Origen emphasizes “those of the prophets in Judea,”—who are “our” prophets—

as the champions of virtues, such as strength, courage, and a holy life, which makes them

“worthy of” (ἄξιος) God’s spirit”:45

That is the reason why we reckon of no account the predictions uttered by the
Pythian priestess, or by the priestesses of Dodona, or by the oracle of Apollo at
Claros, or at Branchiade, or at the shrine of Zeus Ammon, or by countless other
alleged prophets; whereas we admire those of the prophets in Judaea, seeing that
their strong, courageous, and holy life was worthy of God’s Spirit, whose
prophecy was imparted in a new way which had nothing in common with the
divination inspired by daemons. (Cels. 7.7, emphasis added)46

44Origen, Contra Celsum, trans. Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1953); Origen, Against Celsus: Contre Celse, ed. Marcel Borret, 5 vols, Sources
chrétiennes N°132, 136, 147, 150, 227 (Paris: Cerf, 1967-76). English translation follows
Chadwick, unless otherwise noted.

45 It is all the more significant to consider that Origen, along with other early Christian
writers, takes great pains to distinguish between the Jews and the Christians. See Susanna Drake,
Slandering the Jew: Sexuality and Difference in Early Christian Texts (Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2013).

46 Διόπερ ἐν οὐδενὶ µὲν τιθέµεθα λόγῳ τὰ ὑπὸ τῆς Πυθίας ἢ Δωδωνίδων ἢ Κλαρίου ἢ ἐν

Βραγχίδαις ἢ ἐν Ἄµµωνος ἢ ὑπὸ µυρίων ἄλλων λεγοµένων θεοπρόπων προειρηµένα· τὰ δ’ ὑπὸ

τῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ προφητευσάντων τεθήπαµεν, ὁρῶντες ὅτι ἄξιος ἦν αὐτῶν ὁ ἐρρωµένος καὶ
εὔτονος καὶ σεµνὸς βίος πνεύµατος θεοῦ, τρόπῳ προφητεύοντος καινῷ καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχοντι
παραπλήσιον ταῖς ἀπὸ δαιµόνων µαντείαις.

80
As we have seen in Chapter 1 and will see in Chapter 3, Origen’s emphasis on “being

worthy of” the Holy Spirit47 (or seeking “to deserve/earn” the Spirit48) recurs throughout

his works such as Commentary on Romans and De Principiis. Origen highlights that the

Holy Spirit chooses the prophet “on account of the quality of their lives” (Cels. 7.7). In a

later passage, Origen reiterates that the prophets “received the divine Spirit because of

purity of life” (Cels. 7. 18).49

This Jewish and Christian prophetic purity stands in contrast to the Pythia. In

Contra Celsum 7, Origen constructs Christian prophecy over against the so-called pagan

prophecy and mantic practices, with the Pythia as the target of his polemic. He employs

the Pythia as a useful epitome of pagan mantic practices more generally, and thus through

the invective against Pythia, Origen essentially polemicizes the “pagan” prophecy as

something fundamentally different from the Christian prophecy.

Origen’s polemic against Pythia is two-fold: First, according to Origen, the Pythia

lacks virtue and morality that is necessary for the prophets, as we have just seen above.

Secondly, the Pythia loses control. Origen develops a sexualized polemic against Pythia,

in saying,

47 For Origen, the Holy Spirit, God’s spirit, and the divine spirit are equivalent. See Pablo
Argarate, “The Holy Spirit in Prin I. 3,” Origeniana Nona: Origen and the Religious Practice of
his Time, ed. G. Heidl and R. Somos (Leuven; Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2009), 25-48.

48 Greek (ἄξιος) is mostly translated as “worthy of.” Latin (mereo), which is probably
used to translate Greek (ἄξιος) in Origen’s works, has wider linguistic parameters such as
“deserve,” “earn,” “merit,” and “be worthy of.” For a more discussion, see Chapter 1 of this
dissertation.

49 According to Origen, “the prophets, according to the will of God, said without any
obscurity whatever could be at once understood as beneficial to their hearers and helpful towards
attaining moral reformation” (Cels. 7. 10).

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 Indeed, of the Pythian priestess—the oracle that seems to be more distinguished
than the others—it is related that while the prophetess of Apollo is sitting at the
mouth of the Castalian cave she receives a spirit through her womb. (Cels.,
7.3.25)50

Origen’s sexualized invective against the Pythia is grounded in a physiological

understanding of prophecy commonly found in Greco-Roman discourses on prophecy.

Plutarch, in his On the Obsolescence of Oracles, for example, famously narrates “the

dangers of prophecy,” discussing how prophecy is popularly understood as the loss of

control, and even penetration and divine rape enacted by a male god on a female seer, as

we have seen in the introduction chapter:51

For many annoyances and disturbances of which she is conscious, and many more
unperceived, lay hold upon her body and filter into her soul; and whenever she is
replete with these, it is better than she should not go there and surrender herself to
the control of the god, when she is not complete clean (as if she were a musical
instrument, well strung and well tuned), but in a state of emotion and instability.
(On the Obsolescence of Oracles, 437 D, emphasis added)52

Plutarch participates in a broader understanding of pneuma as “a physical entity that

enters the body and produces a condition free of mental restraint—enthusiasm.”53 In On

50
Ἱστόρηται τοίνυν περὶ τῆς Πυθίας, ὅπερ δοκεῖ τῶν ἄλλων µαντείων λαµπρότερον
τυγχάνειν, ὅτι περικαθεζοµένη τὸ τῆς Κασταλίας στόµιον ἡ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος προφῆτις δέχεται
πνεῦµα διὰ τῶν γυναικείων κόλπων·

51 Dale Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 239-42.
Plutarch, in Moralia 437 D, explicitly discusses that the issue of the control by God and the loss
of the control is ingrained in the discourses on prophecy.
52
πολλαὶ µὲν γὰρ αἰσθοµένης πλείονες δ᾿ ἄδηλοι τό τε σῶµα καταλαµβάνουσι καὶ τὴν
ψυχὴν ὑπορρέουσι δυσχέρειαι καὶ κινήσεις· ὧν ἀναπιµπλαµένην οὐκ ἄµεινον ἐκεῖ βαδίζειν οὐδὲ
παρέχειν ἑαυτὴν τῷ θεῷ µὴ παντάπασι καθαρὰν οὖσαν ὥσπερ ὄργανον ἐξηρτυµένον καὶ εὐηχές,
ἀλλ᾿ ἐµπαθῆ καὶ ἀκατάστατον.
53
Levison, Inspired: The Holy Spirit and the Mind of Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2013), 92. For a helpful discussion on this topic, see idem., Filled
with the Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009),
178-201.

82
the Obsolescence of Oracles (405 C), he posits a more explicitly sexualized

understanding of prophecy when he says, “a pure, virgin soul, becomes the associate of

(su/neimi) the god.” As Dale Martin points out, the better translation of su/neimi might be

“to have sexual intercourse.”54

In maligning Pythia, Origen thus draws on the sexual invective which is a mode

of constructing and denigrating the “Other.” Furthermore, Origen has a particular spin in

the sexual polemic that she “loses control” in arguing that Pythia loses control of

consciousness. As Jennifer Knust succinctly sums up, “sexualized invective serves

several purposes at once: outsiders are pushed further away, insiders are policed, and

morality is both constituted and defined as ‘Christian’.”55 Through sexualized polemic

against Pythia, Origen depicts the Pythia and her prophecy as an outsider to the pure

practices of “the prophets in Judaea,” who are treated as proto-Christian. Contrary to

Pythia, “the one who is inspired by the divine spirit,” argues Origen, “ought to possess

the clearest vision at the very time when the deity is in communion with him.”

Origen levels criticism against Pythia and her ecstasy. Origen claims that the

Pythia is an “alleged prophetess (τὴν δῆθεν προφητεύουσαν),” in order to devalue her

as a prophetess. The fact that Origen uses “prophet” to refer to Pythia, instead of another

term such as “diviner,” I would suggest, means that Origen tries to directly juxtapose the

“pagan” prophecy with the “Christian” prophecy.

It is not the work of divine spirit to lead the alleged prophetess into a state of
ecstasy and frenzy so that she loses possession of her consciousness. The person

54
Martin, The Corinthian Body, 240.
55
Jennifer Wright Knust, Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2006). Susanna Drake, Slandering the Jew, 10.

83
 inspired by the divine spirit ought to have derived from it far more benefit than
anyone who may be instructed by the oracles to do that which helps towards
living a life which is moderate and according to nature, or towards that which is
of advantage or which is expedient. And for that reason he ought to possess the
clearest vision at the very time when the deity is in communion with him. (Cels.
7.3, emphasis added)56

Origen drives a wedge between prophets who lose consciousness and prophets who keep

clear vision in the moment of communication with the divine. Origen opines, “Because of

the touch, as it were, of what is called the Holy Spirit upon their soul they possessed clear

mental vision and became more radiant in their soul, and even in body, which no longer

offered any opposition to the life lived according to virtue (κατ’ ἀρετὴν)” (Cels. 7.4). 57

Again, Origen tightly connects virtue to possessing clear mental vision in the moment of

prophecy, crafting a particular way of prophecy as a right form of prophecy.

Origen questions, “If the Pythian priestess is out of her senses and has not control

of her faculties when she prophesies, what sort of spirit must we think it which poured

darkness upon her mind and rational thinking?” (Cels. 7.4).58 Chadwick translates “οὐκ

ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἐστιν” as “she loses control,” but a more literal translation would be “she is not

in herself.” Origen tightly connects the loss of control of consciousness with the loss of

bodily control. Put differently, for Origen, Pythia is sexually vulnerable both in physical
56
Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἰς ἔκστασιν καὶ µανικὴν ἄγειν κατάστασιν τὴν δῆθεν προφητεύουσαν, ὡς
µηδαµῶς αὐτὴν ἑαυτῇ παρακολουθεῖν, οὐ θείου πνεύµατος ἔργον ἐστίν· ἐχρῆν γὰρ τὸν κάτοχον
τῷ θείῳ πνεύµατι πολλῷ πρότερον παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν τοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν χρησµῶν διδασκοµένου τὸ
συµβαλλόµενον εἰς τὸν µέσον καὶ κατὰ φύσιν βίον ἢ πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελὲς ἢ πρὸς τὸ συµφέρον
ὠφεληθῆναι καὶ διορατικώτερον παρ’ ἐκεῖνο µάλιστα καιροῦ τυγχάνειν, ὅτε σύνεστιν αὐτῷ τὸ
θεῖον.
57
καὶ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν, ἵν’ οὕτως ὀνοµάσω, ἁφῆς τοῦ καλουµένου ἁγίου
πνεύµατος διορατικώτεροί τε τὸν νοῦν ἐγίνοντο καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν λαµπρότεροι ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σῶµα,
οὐδαµῶς ἔτι ἀντιπρᾶττον τῷ κατ’ ἀρετὴν βίῳ.
58
Εἰ δ’ ἐξίσταται καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἐστιν ἡ Πυθία, ὅτε µαντεύεται, ποδαπὸν νοµιστέον
πνεῦµα, τὸ σκότον καταχέαν µαντεύεται, ποδαπὸν νοµιστέον πνεῦµα, τὸ σκότον καταχέαν τοῦ
νοῦ καὶ τῶν λογισµῶν.

84
body and mind.59 In his Prescription against the Heretics, he discredits the prophetess

Philumene, using the trope of lack of control. He portrays Philumene as one “who

permits thoughts and beliefs to penetrate her mind without being scrupulously just as she

allows her body to be penetrated by men.”60

In a similar way, Origen explicates his understanding of prophecy in gendered

terms. Origen seems to believe that women cannot be true prophets. Although Origen

puts Mary in the ranks of the prophets because of the Holy Spirit in her (Homilies on

Luke 8:1)61 and the Philipp’s four daughters in the Acts of the Apostles, he tries to

minimize the existence of women prophets in the Scripture. For example, in his Homilies

on 1 Corinthians, Origen comments on women’s prophesying in the Corinthian church (1

Corinthians 14:33b-36).

Realizing that all were speaking and had permission to speak if a revelation came
to them (1 Cor 14:30), Paul says, “the women should keep silence in the
churches.” Now the disciples of the women, who had become pupils of Priscilla
and Maximilla, not of Christian the bridegroom, did not heed this commandment.
[…] even if the daughters of Philip prophesied, they did not speak in the churches.
We do not find this reported in the Acts of the Apostles. Nor is this found in the
Old Testament. Yes, it is attested that Deborah was a prophetess, and Miriam the
sister of Aaron, taking a drum, led off the women. But you will not find it written
that Deborah publickly addressed the people, as Jeremiah and Isaiah did.
(Homilies on First Corinthians)62

59 In analyzing the gendered imageries in Greek tragedies in the classical Greek period,

Padel claims, “The mind—like a woman in society, like female sexuality in relation to male—is
acted upon, invaded, a victim of the outside world (especially of divinity).” Ruth Padel, In and
Out of the Mind, 111.
60
As we saw in the Introduction of this dissertation, Tertullian criticized Philumene.
61
William Rusch, “Mary,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 150.

62
English translation is from Kovacs, 1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian
Commentators, 239-40; Origen, “Homilies on 1 Corinthians,” JTS 10 (1909): 41-2. Ὡς γὰρ
πάντων λεγόντων καὶ δυναµένων λέγειν, ἐὰν ἀποκάλυψις αὐτοῖς γένηται, φησὶν Αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν
ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν. ταύτης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς οὐκ ἦσαν οἱ τῶν γυναικῶν µαθηταί, οἱ
µαθητευθέντες Πρισκίλλῃ καὶ Μαξιµίλλῃ, οὐ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τῆς νύµφης. ἀλλ’ ὅµως
εὐγνωµονῶµεν καὶ πρὸς τὰ πιθανὰ ἐκείνων ἀπαντῶντες. τέσσαρές φασι θυγατέρες ἦσαν

85
Kovacs notes that he “quotes and abridges the Septuagint, which differs from the Hebrew

text. He does not mention that the verse [Exodus 15:20] calls Miriam a "prophetess."63

Balaam an Unworthy Prophet: the Homilies on Numbers 14-1764

Origen mobilizes the Pythia to represent prophetic practices of “the Other,” and

begins to construct a portrait of prophetic practices for Christians and the Jews on whose

scriptures Christians rely. Contrary to the Pythia, the Hebrew prophets are virtuous and

do not lose control of consciousness in the moment of prophecy, a communication with

the divine. But what if one of “our Hebrew prophets” does not have necessary ethical

qualities? What is worse, what if he seems to lose control in the moment of prophecy?

We find just such a story in Balaam. Yet Origen defends Balaam as a prophet—

because the story is in the scripture. Origen tries to solve this problem by allegorically

reading Balaam as someone undergoing training and making progress. Origen then

begins to utilize Balaam as a pedagogical example for the Christian audiences, while

interpreting Balaam allegorically.

Φιλίππου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ καὶ προεφήτευον. εἰ δὲ προεφήτευον, τί ἄτοπόν ἐστι καὶ τὰς
ἡµετέρας, ὡς φασὶν ἐκεῖνοι, προφήτιδας προφητεύειν; ταῦτα δὲ λύσοµεν. πρῶτον µὲν λέγοντες
ὅτι Αἱ ἡµέτεραι προεφήτευον, δείξατε τὰ σηµεῖα τῆς προφητείας ἐν αὐταῖς· δεύτερον δὲ
εἰ καὶ προεφήτευον αἱ θυγατέρες Φιλίππου, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἔλεγον· οὐ γὰρ ἔχοµεν
τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν Ἀποστόλων. ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ· Δεββῶρα µεµαρτύρηται
προφῆτις εἶναι, λαβοῦϲα δὲ Μαριὰµ ἡ ἀδελφὴ Ἀαρὼν τὸ τύµπανον ἐξῆρχε τῶν γυναικῶν. ἀλλ’
οὐκ ἂν εὕροις ὅτι Δεββῶρα ἐδηµηγόρησεν εἰς τὸν λαὸν ὥσπερ Ἱερεµίας καὶ Ἡσαΐας·
63
Kovacs, 1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, 240.

64 The “Book of Balaam” (which is the traditional rabbinic name for the material) is an

extended narrative couched in the book of Numbers. R.W. L. Moberly, “Elisha and Balaam,” in
Prophecy and Discernment (Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006),
138.

86
 Numbers 22-24 characterizes Balaam, a foreign seer. With his ability to curse and

bless as well as tell the future, he eventually saves Israel and follows YHWH’s command

to bless Israel. For Origen, the prophet Balaam in Numbers is quite a problematic figure,

for various reasons. Given that Origen considers virtue and morality to be essential to a

prophet, it is understandable that Origen is puzzled with Balaam who is viewed either as

a villain, a diviner and magician who is a herald of the Magi, or as a hero who prophesies

about Christ.65 What is more problematic for Origen is that Balaam’s portrayal in

Numbers does not fit into Origen’s understanding of prophecy as an active and controlled

phenomenon. Given Origen’s emphasis on human free will, which is shown throughout

my dissertation, his focus on the mind as the locus of prophecy and on the active mind in

the moment of prophecy is crucial. Origen struggles to fit the troubling figure of Balaam

into his theological landscape, and his grappling with the story in Numbers allows us to

shed a different light on Origen’s understanding of prophecy.

“God put God’s Words in his Mouth.”

In Contra Celsum 7, as we saw, Origen emphasizes “those of the prophets in

Judea”—who are “our” prophets—as the champion of virtues, such as strength, courage,

and a holy life which makes them “worthy of” (ἄξιος ) God’s spirit. In describing

Balaam, one of the prophets in the Hebrew Scripture, Origen concedes that Balaam is not

65 J. R. Baskin, “Origen on Balaam: The Dilemma of the Unworthy Prophet,” Vigiliae

Christianae 37 (1983): 22-35; Robert M. Berchman, “Arcana mundi between Balaam and Hecate:
prophecy, divination, and magic in later Platonism,” Society of Biblical Literature Seminar
Papers 28 (1989): 107-83; Catherine Chin, “Who is the Ascetic Exegete? Angels, Enchantments,
and Transformative Food in Origen’s Homilies on Joshua,” in Asceticism and Exegesis in Early
Christianity: The Reception of New Testament Texts in Ancient Ascetic Discourses (Göttingen,
Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 203-18.

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worthy (dignus) to receive prophecy.66 Yet Origen does not pillory Balaam for his

unworthiness, as he criticized the Pythia. Instead, Origen emphasizes that “God put

God’s words into his mouth,” although his heart was “not ‘yet able to have room for the

word of God” (Hom. Num. 15.2.2). 67 Paying attention to the phrase that God “put a word

into his mouth” (Numbers 23:16), Origen notes:

If Balaam had been worthy (dignus), God would not have put his word in his
mouth, but into his heart. But now, since the desire for reward was in his heart
(cor) and he was greedy for money, the word of God was put not in his heart, but
in his mouth. (Hom.Num. 14.3.2, emphasis added)68

While explicating five prophecies that Balaam uttered in Numbers 22, Origen keeps

juxtaposing “God’s words in Balaam’s mouth” and “Balaam’s heart.” This repetition is

significant, for Origen understands that heart (or mind) is the locus where prophecy

occurs.69 Just as Latin term cor has different meanings such as heart, soul, and spirit, so

does the original καρδία, which can be rendered as heart, soul, and mind.70 One of the

primary meaning of καρδία is mind, as shown in Origen’s Contra Celsum 6:

66
Karl A. E. Enenkel and Walter Melion, eds., Meditation-Refashioning the Self: Theory
and Practice in Late Medieval (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010), 391.
67
Origen, Homilies on Numbers, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, Ancient Christian Texts
(Downers’ Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2009); Origène, Homélies sur les Nombres, SC 415,
442, and 461 (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1996-2001). English translation follows Scheck, unless
otherwise noted.

68Si dignus fuisset Balaam, uerbum suum Deus non in ‘ore eius’, sed in corde posuisset.
Nunc autem quoniam in corde eius desiderium mercedis erat et cupidus pecuniae, uerbum Dei
non in corde, sed in ore eius ponitur.

69 The original Greek of Origen’s Homilies on Numbers is lost, but it survives in Latin.
70
G.W.H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), s.v.
“καρδία.”

88
 Furthermore, in our view because God is not corporeal, God is invisible. But God
may be seen by those who can see with the heart (καρδία), that is to say, the mind
(ὁ νους), though not with an ordinary heart, but with a pure heart. (Cels. 6. 69)71

I suspect that Origen’s contrast between mouth and heart/mind in the Homilies on

Numbers draws on the topos of the prophet as the mouthpiece of God.

Some other ancient readers of the Balaam story pick up this imagery in their

interpretation of Balaam’s story. Philo, for example, in his Life of Moses (I. 273-74),72

tries to solve the conundrum of how Balaam, a villain, was able to prophesy by

suggesting that Balaam essentially becomes a mouthpiece of God.73 Philo states that

71Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ θεὸς καθ’ ἡµᾶς τῷ µὲν µὴ εἶναι σῶµα ἀόρατός ἐστιν· τοῖς δὲ θεωρητικοῖς
καρδίᾳ θεωρητός, τουτέστι νῷ, καρδίᾳ δὲ οὐ τῇ τυχούσῃ ἀλλὰ τῇ καθαρᾷ.
72
Philo, De vita Mosis, I. (273-74); J. R. Levison, “The Prophetic Spirit as an Angel
According to Philo,” Harvard Theological Review 88 (1995): 189-207, 191; idem, Filled with the
Spirit, esp. 154-77; idem, “The Debut of the Divine Spirit in Josephus’ Antiquities,” Harvard
Theological Review 87 (1994): 123-38.

73 Philo portrays Moses as an ultimate masculine prophet, who participates in the ascetic
practices associated with prophecy. William Loader analyzes how Moses was engaged with
“constant self-discipline and temporary abstinence.” “Philo is not in favor of people simply
rushing off into the wilderness to engage in contemplation before they have developed the
necessary self-discipline within the context of a socially and politically active life.” William
Loader, Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans
Pub. Co., 2011), 100. As Philo writes:
Moses also represents Balaam, who is the symbol of a vain people, stripped of his arms,
as a runaway and deserter, well knowing the war which it becomes the soul to carry on
for the sake of knowledge; for he says to his ass, who is here a symbol of the irrational
designs of life which every foolish man entertains, that "If I had had a sword, I should ere
now have slain Thee.” And great thanks are due to the Maker of all things, because he,
knowing the struggles and resistance of folly, did not give to it the power of language,
which would have been like giving a sword to a madman, in order that it might have no
power to work great and iniquitous destruction among all whom it should meet with. But
the reproaches which Balaam utters are in some degree expressed by all those who are
not purified, but are always talking foolishly, devoting themselves to the life of a
merchant, or of a farmer, or to some other business, the object of which is to provide the
things necessary for life. As long, indeed, as everything goes on prosperously with
respect to each individual, he mounts his animal joyfully and rides on cheerfully, and
holding the reins firmly he will by no means consent to [….] (De Cherubim 32-3,
emphasis added) English translation follows Yonge, A Treatise on the Cherubim.

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Balaam loses his consciousness when the spirit of God possesses him, albeit briefly, and

speaks through him. As Levison explains Philo’s reading, the angel spirit “made

Balaam’s mind inoperative”74 and this angel “directs his vocal organs, guides the reins of

speech, and employs his tongue actually accomplished this when it reappeared, identified

as the prophetic spirit.”75 Josephus, too, a half century later, highlights over and over

again the fact that Balaam was “not in himself” (Ant. 4. 118), “unconscious” (Ant. 4.

119), and that he lost the possession of his “mental faculties” (Ant. 4. 121).76 This

description of Balaam by Josephus is similar to Origen’s polemical portrayal of Pythia,

who loses control—literally, who was not in herself—and loses consciousness in the

moment of prophecy.

In the Homilies on Numbers, thus, in an interpretation of the story of Balaam,

Origen expounds his view of prophecy. J. R. Baskin argues, “Origen’s view of prophecy

is clear. The true prophet collaborates in the delivery of the divine message; he speaks

with his heart, and is perforce a righteous man. Yet, to bring all people to righteousness,

unworthy men may occasionally serve as vessels for the divine message, though they will

In De Cherubim 32, Philo juxtaposes Moses and Balaam and portrays Balaam as the antithesis of
Moses. While Moses is the culmination of control and poise, which are the important traits of
masculinity, Balaam is the opposite with his lack of control. See Colleen Conway, “Gender and
Divine Relativity in Philo of Alexandria,” Journal for the Study of Judaism (2003): 471-491. I am
thankful to Olivia Stewart, who provided me with this idea in our private conversation.
Origen, however, interestingly does not portray Balaam as effeminate. I suggest that
Origen views the Hebrew Bible as a Christian prerogative, and thus Origen rather tries to utilize
Balaam as a model for the Christian audience instead.
74
Levison, “The Prophetic Spirit,” 192.
75
Ibid., 191.
76
J. R. Levison, Of Two Minds: Ecstasy and Inspired Interpretation in the New
Testament World (Texas: Bible Press, 1999), 19.

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always speak with their mouths, not with their hearts.”77 As Baskin interprets it, Origen

divorces the content of Balaam’s prophecy from the person of the prophet. Thus, Origen

tries to solve the problem that Balaam was chosen to prophesy.

Yet Origen’s Homilies on Numbers 14-17 add another component to the complex

matter of Balaam and prophecy, which Baskin did not notice: Balaam is now interpreted

allegorically,78 Origen portrays him as participating in “the journey to the wisdom of

God” (Hom. Num. 17. 4.4). Origen allegorizes the problematic prophet Balaam, whose

name means “vain people” (populous uanus):79 he can be understood as a person who

gradually learns to be engaged with God. In the Homiles on Numbers 27, a section which

is very close to his description of Balaam, Origen writes that how these stories are

understood to be an allegory of the soul’s advancement:

He [God] posits two journeys of the soul. ‘One is the means of training the soul in
virtues through the Law of God when it is placed in flesh; and by ascending
through certain steps it makes progress as we have said, from virtue to virtue, and
uses these progressions as stages.” The other is a journey by which the soul
gradually ascends to the heavens after the resurrection. It does not reach the
highest point “unreasonably, but … is led throughout many stations. In them it is
enlightened…illumined at each stage by the light of Wisdom, until it arrives at the
Father of Lights Himself. (Hom. Num. 27, emphasis added)

77
Baskin, “Origen on Balaam: The Dilemma of the Unworthy Prophet,” 30.
78
The literature for allegory in Origen’s works is vast. See K. J. Torjesen, Hermeneutical
Procedure and theological Method in Origen’s Exegesis (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1986); J.
Whitman, Allegory: The Dynamics of an Ancient and Medieval Technique (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1987); Peter Martens, “Revisiting the allegory/typology distinction:
The case of Origen,” JECS 16 (2008): 283-96; idem, Origen and Scripture.
79
Hom. Num. 14.4.1.

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Commenting on the passage of Numbers 24:1-3,80 Origen allegorically interprets the

verse that Balaam “sees that it is good in the sight of the Lord to bless Israel.” He notes

that “those people who are now a vain people, and those teachers who detain that people

in vanity by not believe in Christ, will one day see, namely, ‘in the last days.’” Origen

continues to posit that Balaam’s eyes “have been opened”, and that “it is as if those eyes,

[which] were closed up to this point, will now be opened through the spirit of God ‘who

came on him’ when the veil was removed” (Hom. Num. 17. 3.1).81 Thus Balaam, who

first has only prophecy “on his mouth,” not “in his heart,” now has progressed to “see”

God. I suggest that Origen portrays Balaam as the one on the ladder to be more mature

and holy. The gradual development of Balaam’s character can be observed in the text,

which serves rhetorically as a good exemplar of moral progress to the audience.

While discussing Balaam’s story in the Homilies on Numbers 14-19, Origen

emphasizes Balaam’s gradual “pursuit of wisdom and knowledge” (Hom. Num. 17.3.5).

Balaam now becomes a model for a person who always “strives for what is ahead” (Hom.

Num. 17.4.4).82 Just as Origen augments and pushes Paul’s ideas in his Commentary on

Romans, as we saw in the previous chapter, Origen in his Homilies on Numbers augments

the scripture of Numbers, emphasizing the development of the unworthy prophet,

80
Numbers 24:1-3: And Balaam, seeing that it is good in the sight of the Lord to bless
Israel, did not go out according to custom to meet the auspices, but turned his face toward the
desert. And Balaam, lifting up his eyes, observes that Israel had set up their camps by tribes; and
the Spirit of God came to him. And he took up his parable and spoke.

81 Sed videamus jam quae sint quae in tertia prophetia proloquatur Balaam. “Dixit, inquit,
Balaam filius Beor, homo vere videns, dixit, audiens verba fortis, qui visum Dei vidit in somnis,
revelati oculi ejus.” Mirum profecto est quomodo tantae laudis dignus habeatur Balaam, qui
accepta parabola sua, haec de semetipso pronuntiat.

82 Moberly, Prophecy and Discernment, 131-49.

92
Balaam. As Moberly succinctly maintains, for Origen, “moral failure induces spiritual

blindness.”83 For Origen’s Balaam, then, regaining morality is the key to regaining

spiritual vision. In his attempt to make sense of the biblical story of the enigmatically

unworthy prophet Balaam, Origen shifts the focus of the story to one of his central

theological themes: even an unworthy person could have a hope of salvation and, more

importantly, everyone is expected to participate in the journey to God.

As the Shepherd of Hermas does, Origen draws on the theme of virtue as the pre-

requisite of a prophet. Balaam, who was known for his lack of virtue, is transformed by

Origen. Balaam now represents a journey of the soul in virtue by participating in moral

progress. In this way, Balaam’s story has an edifying value for the Christian readers and

audience, encouraging the audience to participate in moral formation as well. In another

Homily, Origen enjoins the audience, “thus let all of us, as far as our ability allows, strive

for the prophetic life” (Homily on Jeremiah 14:5). In Contra Celsum 7, which we just

saw, “the prophets, according to the will of God, said without any obscurity whatever

could be at once understood as beneficial to their hearers and helpful towards attaining

moral reformation” (Cels. 7.10). Even Balaam’s story in Numbers can educate, showing a

soul that has the power to strive for perfection and sanctity, and thus benefitting all by

this story.

Conclusion

This chapter examined the way in which the Shepherd of Hermas and Origen’s

Contra Celsum 7 and Homilies on Numbers 14-17 discuss prophecy and prophets as

83
Ibid., 147.

93
cultivating virtues or as developing in their morality. In doing so, these texts seek to

persuade their readers and hearers to cultivate a particular kind of self. The first part of

this chapter focused on the way in which the Shepherd of Hermas emphasizes virtue and

other ethical qualities of a prophet as well as a necessary cultivation to be a prophet

through a moral formation. These are similar strategies to Origen’s. However, in the

moment of prophecy, the Shepherd of Hermas subscribes to the discourse of prophecy

that favors the loss of control, which Origen disagrees with. In Contra Celsum 7, drawing

upon this discourse on prophecy, the loss of control, Origen uses a sexualized invective

against Pythia whose female physiology (“receiving a spirit through her womb”) is

negatively portrayed. From this concrete context emerges the importance of virtue and

morality as the qualification for a true prophet, which in turn serves to circumscribe the

Christian prophecy against “the Other.” Likewise, Origen’s Hom. Num. 14-17

consistently sustains the same notion of prophecy that one should not lose control while

prophesying. In order not to dismiss, but to defend, the existence of the troubling prophet

Balaam in the divinely-inspired Scripture, Origen offers an allegorical interpretation of

this story, utilizing him as a pedagogical example for the Christian audience.

In the next chapter, with the comparison between Origen’s De Principiis 3 and

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies 3 (a non-Christian conversation partner with Origen), we will

examine how Origen and Iamblichus deploy similar discussions and use similar rhetorical

strategies but with a different targeted audience. Sharing elements of Middle Platonic

philosophy, both texts engage the contested notions of prophetic activity and extensively

discuss the practices that lead to prophecy and “prophetic experience(s).” With their

94
discussions, these two texts aim at persuading their respective audience(s) toward the

cultivation of a certain kind of self.

95
 Chapter 3
“Earn the Grace of Prophecy”:
Prophecy, Training, and Preparation

The previous chapter compared Origen’s works with the Shepherd of Hermas,

which is a potent instantiation of a Christian counterpart that holds a different idea about

true prophecy as a lack of control, and yet which has similar rhetorical strategies. In this

chapter, I read Origen’s De Principiis 3.3,1 the locus of the most sustained and substantial

discussion of prophecy in De Principiis, along with Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis 3.2 Both

authors are influenced by Middle-Platonic traditions about opening oneself to the divine;

both Christian (Origen) and non-Christian (Iamblichus) emphasize the relationship

between human activities and divine agency. By discussing preparations that lead to

prophecy, both Origen and Iamblichus ultimately debate the issue of the prophetic self,

that is, what it means to be a prophetic person, one who communicates with the divine.

Both of them would argue that a prophet and a diviner is not like being a radio transmitter

that just passively receives the revelation of the divine. They argue that philosophical

exercises (ἀσκήσεις), such as self-control, lead to prophecy. To use the common topoi

1 Origen, Origenes Werke/De principiis: Vol 5, ed. Paul Koetschau (Leipzig: J. C.

Hinrichs, 1899-1919). English translation carefully follows but sometimes emends that of G. W.
Butterworth. Origen, Origen on First Principles, trans. G. W. Butterworth (London: Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1936; Repr., Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1973).
2
Primary text: Édouard des Places, Jamblique. Les mystères d'Égypte (Paris: Les Belles
Lettres, 1966), 38-215. The welcome new translation is Iamblichus: On the Mysteries (De
mysteriis), ed. Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon, and Jackson P. Hershbell (Atlanta: Society of
Biblical Literature, 2003). English translation carefully follows but sometimes emends that of
Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell.

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employed by Origen and Iamblichus, it is important to become an appropriate vessel and

instrument to harbor the divine, or a clean house where the divine may dwell.

While some recent scholars have analyzed Origen and Iamblichus together,3 this

scholarship does not discuss their shared interest in practices that lead to prophecy and

divination. The present chapter demonstrates how both Origen’s De Principiis and

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis deploy prophecy in order to encourage the audiences to

cultivate a particular self. Moreover, in this chapter as in the others, I fill a scholarly

lacuna by examining prophecy in terms of (human) practices of preparation for prophecy,

demonstrating how discussions of prophecy in these works tap into discourses in late

antiquity concerning how to cultivate a properly religious self.

De Principiis 3: Human Freedom and God’s Providence

Throughout this dissertation, I have asked these questions: To what extent do the

authors of these texts argue that prophets depend on the divine in prophecy?4 What kinds

of human efforts in prophecy are portrayed as assumed, cultivated, or contested? While

Homilies on Numbers and Commentary on Romans engaged in close interpretations of

scripture, and while Contra Celsum was involved in constructing “pagan” prophecy as

sexualized and other, Origen’s De Principiis 3.3—which has traditionally been seen as

3
For example, Jason B. Parnell, “The Theurgic Turn in Christian Thought: Iamblichus,
Origen, Augustine, and the Eucharist” (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 2009); Heidi Marx-
Wolf, “High Priests of the Highest God: Third-Century Platonists as Ritual Experts,” JECS 18:4
(2010): 481-513.
4
My first question draws on the question asked by Troels Engberg-Pedersen, in his "Self-
Sufficiency and Power: Divine and Human Agency in Epictetus and Paul," in Divine and Human
Agency in Paul and His Cultural Environment, ed. John M. G. Barclay and Simon J. Gathercole
(London; New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 116-39. He asks a fundamentally theological question:
“to what extent is a human-being dependent on God?,” 116.

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the first work of Christian systematic theology— takes up these themes and explores

prophecy with greater philosphical clarity.5

The main theme of book 3 of De Principiis is the intricate correlation between

God’s providence (pronoia/providentia) and human will (propositum or pro arbitrii sui

libertate).6 Providence is fundamental for Origen’s understanding of human engagement

with God.7 Origen makes claims about the goodness of God and emphasizes human free

will and human responsibility. Origen delves into a fairly sustained discussion of

prophecy in 3.3, for prophecy is the focal site for thinking about human beings and the

human-divine relationship. The human soul, the locus of prophecy, is open to both

daemonic and divine powers. The human being, with her own free will, chooses which

influence will be a governing power for her soul. As Henry Chadwick sums up, Origen is

concerned that “human beings are not automata, deterred from acts only by some external

cause or consideration.”8

As we have seen throughout this dissertation, Origen—as a biblical scholar par

excellence—develops his themes on prophecy and inspiration in an engagement with

5 For this discussion, see the Introduction Chapter of this dissertation, the section on the

history of scholarship on Origen.

6
Regarding the place of Book 3 in the overall schema of De Principiis, see Origen,
Traité des principes, trans., Henri Crouzel and Manlio Simonetti (Paris: Éditions du Cerf): vol. 1
(SC 252, 1978), 15-22; vol. 4 (SC 269, 1980), 55. Hal Koch in his classical study of Pronoia und
Paideusis argues that providence is the central issue that Origen discusses and responds in his
treatise.
7
Andrew Louth, “Pagans and Christians on providence,” in Texts and Culture in Late
Antiquity: Inheritance, Authority, and Change (Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2007),
279-97.

8 Henry Chadwick, “Philosophical Tradition and the Self,” in Late Antiquity: A Guide to
the Postclassical World, ed. G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar (Cambridge, MA:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), 76.

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biblical texts. At the outset of De Principiis 3.3, Origen develops this idea in relation to 1

Corinthians 2:6-8,9 while offering his own interpretation of “the threefold wisdom,” that

is, a “wisdom of God (dei sapientian),” a “wisdom of this world (sapientiam huius

mundi),” and a “wisdom of the rulers of this world (sapientiam principum huius mundi).”

According to Origen, the wisdom of this world exists in such things as “all the arts of

poetry, grammar, rhetoric, geometry and music (omnis ars poëtica vel grammatical vel

rhetorica vel geometrica vel musica),” and “medicine (medicina)” (Princ. 3.3.2). On the

contrary, the wisdom of the rulers of this world is, argues Origen, “the secret and hidden

philosophy of the Egyptians and the astrology of the Chaldeans and Indians, who profess

a knowledge of high things, and further the manifold and diverse opinions of the Greeks

concerning the divine nature.”10 As we shall see a bit later, the ability to distinguish

between these two forms of wisdom is one of the important steps for the preparation for

prophecy.

After distinguishing these two wisdoms, Origen eventually names the “opposing

powers (contrariae virtutes/potestates)” as the source, or, in Origen’s terms, “fathers” of

these wisdoms (Princ. 3.3.2). In De Principiis 3.3.3, Origen tightly aligns “the rulers of

this world” with “the opposing powers,”11 revealing his spiritual understanding of “the

9
1 Cor 2:6. “Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of
this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom,
secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age
understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the lord of glory.”
10
De Principiis 3.3.2. ‘Sapientiam vero principum huius mundi’ Aegyptiorum secreta et
occulta philosophia et Chaldeorum astorologia et Indorum de scientia excelsi pollicentium, sed et
Graecorum multiplex variaque de divinatate sententia.
11
De Principiis 3.3.3. “So we must suppose the ‘rulers of this world’ also to have acted,
those beings, namely, that are called by this title because they are spiritual powers who have been
appointed to exercise rule over certain definite nations in this world.” The rulers of this world are
“spiritual powers.”’ Regarding the ‘wisdom of this world’, Origen also indicates “those spirits

99
rulers of this world” as demonic powers.12 Origen thus constructs a dichotomy between

good spirits and bad spirits, or in other words, “divine providence” and “the opposing

powers” (Princ. 3.2.4).

De Principiis 3.3.3: “Earn the Grace of Prophecy”

Using prophets as exemplars, Origen shows readers how to strive for prophecy by

adopting the way the prophet trains himself/herself in a particular way of living. Since De

Principiis 3.3.3 is significant to my analysis, I cite the entire passage here:

As the holy and immaculate souls, after devoting themselves to God with all
affection and purity, and after preserving themselves free from all contagion of
evil spirits (daemonum), and after being purified by lengthened abstinence, and
imbued with holy and religious training (disciplinis), they assume by this means a
portion of divinity, and earn (promerentur)13 the grace of prophecy, and other
divine gifts.
So also are we to suppose that those who place themselves in the way of the
opposing powers, i.e., who purposely admire and adopt their manner of life and
habits, receive their inspiration, and become partakers of their wisdom and
doctrine. And the result of this is, that they are filled with the working of those

who control the ‘wisdom of this world.” So, Origen connects both the wisdom of this world and
the wisdom of the rulers of this world to the spiritual powers that control them. In discussing the
wisdom of this world, Origen talks about the control of the daemons, “whom they call divine,”
and the “spirit of a kind of madness.
In De Principiis 1.5 and 3.2, we see a fairly organized treatment of daemons. Origen
offers his own interpretation of traditional ideas about daemons. Traditionally, daemons are
considered to be quasi-divine, neither good nor bad. But Origen reinterprets daemons as more
akin to demonic and evil beings. Origen is certainly not the one who introduces the interpretation
of daemons as demons, which are evil. Dale Martin discusses the notion of daemon as it appears
in Contra Celsum. Martin, Inventing Superstition, 177-80.
12
Anthony Thiselton argues that Origen is one of the earliest writers to interpret “the
rulers gof this world” in 1 Corinthians 2 in spiritual terms. Of course, Thiselton does not take so-
called gnostic writings into consideration. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 234.
Regarding the different interpretations on “the rulers” such as spiritual and political, see pp. 234-
39.
13
Promerentur means “deserve,” “earn,” or “acquire.” Butterworth chooses “win.” The
translation in Ante Nicene Fathers opts for “earn,” which I choose. Roberts-Donaldson, trans.,
Origen, Ante Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 .

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 spirits to whom they have subjected themselves as slaves (famulatui
subiugarint).14

In De Principiis 3.3.3, Origen delves into a polemic. Prophecy plays a vital role in

Origen’s juxtaposition of two groups: those who devote themselves to God and those

who are open to the opposing powers. I provide here a binary diagram that explicates

Origen’s ideas.

Orientation

Devote oneself to God. Place oneself in the way of

“opposing powers.”
Method/Means

1. Preserve oneself free from all Admire and adopt their (“opposing
contagion of evil spirits. powers”) manner of life and habits.
2. Purified by lengthened abstinence.
3. Imbued with holy and religious training.
End Result

1. They assume a portion of divinity. 1. Receive their inspiration, and

2. Earn the grace of prophecy and other divine became partakers of their wisdom
gifts. and doctrine.
2. They are filled with the working of
those spirits (“opposing powers”) to
whom they have subjected
themselves as slaves.

14
De Principiis, 3.3.3. Quae hoc modo geri arbitranda sunt, quod sicut sanctae et
inmaculatae animae, cum se omni affectu omnique puritate voverint deo et alienas se ab omni
daemonum contagione servaverint et per multam abstinentiam purificaverint se et piis ac
religiosis inbutae fuerint disciplinis, participum per hoc divinitatis adsumunt et prophetiae
ceterorumque divinorum donorum gratiam promerentur: ita putandum est etiam eos, qui se
opportunos contrariis virtutibus exhibent, id est industria vita vel studio amico illis et accepto,
recipere eorum inspirationem et sapientiae eorum ac doctrinae participes effici. Ex quo fit ut
eorum inoperationibus repleantur, quorum se prius famulatui subiugarint. My translation closely
follows Butterworth’s.

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I shall explore each of these sections—orientation, method and means, and the end result,

in turn.

Orientation: To Choose the Right Divinity

Origen posits that it is crucial to have the right orientation. Put differently, it is

important to choose the right divine power for inspiration. After mapping out the spiritual

terrain for the world, Origen is concerned with how human beings are required to choose,

with their own free will, either good spirits or bad spirits to guide and influence them.

This idea is also shown in a subsequent passage of De Principiis 3.3.5, in which Origen

posits, “for a soul is always in possession of free will, as well when it is in the body as

when it is without it; and freedom of will is always directed either to good or evil.”

Origen’s preoccupation with demarcating legitimate versus illegitimate or good

versus bad sources of power follows in the steps of other early Christian apologists, such

as Justin Martyr and Tatian, who argued that most of Greek culture lay under the control

of deceptive demons. Justin Martyr’s First Apology 14:1 is especially similar to Origen’s

discussions in that they both portray both demonic and good powers as vying for control

of human beings.15 We have also briefly seen in Chapter 2 how the Shepherd of Hermas

draws on the theme of discernment of spirits. Drawing on this common strategy used by

15
“Indeed we warn you to be careful lest the daimons [... ] should mislead you and turn
you from reading and understanding what we have said. They struggle to make you their slaves
and servants. They ensnare, now by apparitions in dreams, now by tricks of magic, all those who
do not fight with their all for their own salvation—even as we also, after our conversion by the
Word, have separated ourselves from those daimons and have attached ourselves to the only
unbegotten God through his son” (First Apology 14:1). Cited from Denise Kimber Buell, 249. For
more discussions on this matter, see Denise Kimber Buell, “Imagining Human Transformation in
the Context of Invisible Powers: Instrumental Agency in Second-Century Treatments of
Conversion,” in Metamorphoses: Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early
Christianity (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009), 249-70.

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early Christian writers, Origen emphasizes the need for spiritual discernment.16

In the beginning of De Principiis 3.3, while discussing “threefold wisdom,”

Origen alludes to 1 Corinthians 2:6-8. An extant fragment from his Homilies on 1

Corinthians discusses the same passage:

We disclose the wisdom of God not to novices or beginners or those who have not
yet demonstrated soundness of their conduct. But when a person has trained his
faculties by practice in the appropriate way to distinguish good from evil and
becomes capable of hearing wisdom, then we speak wisdom among the mature.
(emphasis added)17

Here Origen alludes to Heb. 5:14 (“But solid food is for the mature, for those whose

faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil”). This verse

emphasizes the importance of training one’s faculties by practice to separate good from

evil. This idea undergirds Origen’s understanding of prophecy: to discern and choose the

right divinity as a source of inspiration is the first step in prophecy. To exercise spiritual

discernment would then be a necessary practice.18

16
Robert Hauck, The More Divine Proof: Prophecy and Inspiration in Celsus and Origen
(Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989), 106.
17
Jenkins, ed., “Origen’s Homilies on 1 Corinthians (fragments),” Journal of Theological
Studies 9 (1908): 238-39. English translation is taken from Kovacs, trans. and ed., 1 Corinthians:
Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, 38. ἀναπτύσσοµεν οὖν τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ
τοῖς εἰσαγοµένοις οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀρχοµένοις οὐδὲ τοῖς µηδέπω ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ὑγιοῦς βίου δεδωκόσιν·
ἀλλ’ ὅτ’ ἂν γυµνασάµενος ὃν δεῖ τρόπον τὰ αἰσθητήρια πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ
ἐπιτήδειος γένηται καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι σοφίαν, τότε λαλοῦµεν σοφίαν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις· σοφίαν
δὲ λέγω οὐ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου οὐδὲ παραπλησίαν τῆς σοφίας τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου.
18
There is ample discussion on spiritual discernment as an important practice to be
inculcated in religious persons in late antiquity. For example, Karen King, The Secret Revelation
of John (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), esp. 177-238. For a helpful
discussion on the issue of spiritual discernment as a practice, see Mikael Haxby’s dissertation,
“The First Apocalypse of James: Martyrdom and Sexual Difference,” 57.

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Methods to Prophecy

As shown by the diagram above, Origen maintains that Christians—as Origen

constructs them— and another group (either non-Christians or intra-Christian dissenters)

share remarkably similar technologies of prophecy and inspiration. Put differently, both

groups are engaged in similar practices that lead to prophecy. This is no surprise: as we

shall see later in the case of Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies, both Origen and Iamblichus

draw on ancient discourses about the communication with the divine in terms of practices

that lead to prophecy, divination, and ecstasy.

Origen underscores that to be “purified by lengthened abstinence (per multam

abstinentiam purificaverint)”19 is one of the practices that lead to prophecy. Origen does

not specifically explain what he means by “abstinence” here, although he explicitly

correlates prophecy and sexual abstinence in his other writings.20 As Henri Crouzel

argues, for Origen, “the chaste body is the temple of the Trinity in which the soul made in

the image of God officiates as the priest of the Holy Spirit.”21 As we have seen in the

second chapter, the prevalence of the idea that sexual abstinence and prophecy are related

is shown in Origen’s Contra Celsum 7.5, in which Origen discusses the Pythia and her

19
On Origen and ascetic practices, see Vincent Wimbush, “Asceticism,” in The
Westminster Handbook to Origen, 64-6; Henri Crouzel, Origen: The Life and Thought of the
First Great Theologian, 135-49.

20 Hällström, Charismatic Succession, 12. Origen’s Homilies on Luke XVII (108. 24-
109.7); Homilies on Jeremiah XX 7 (189. 3-8). Origen usually does not concern about fasting as
a practice to ascend to God. See Veronika E. Grimm, “Food and Fasting in Origen and Eusebius,”
in From Feasting to Fasting (London; New York: Routledge, 1996): “A virtuous life and sexual
purity were, in his eyes, the essential demands facing those who wished to approach the divine,”
(143).
21
Crouzel, Origen, 137.

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sexual status. Origen disparages the divination practice at the Delphic oracle, but

nonetheless, he acknowledges the discourse that correlates prophecy and abstinence.22

Along with abstinence and purification, Origen emphasizes “the holy and religious

training (disciplinis)” as practices that lead to prophecy. For Origen, it is important to

train one’s body and soul to defend oneself from the bad external influences.

De Principiis reflects a fairly consistent view of how people obtain spiritual gifts

through preparatory practice. In several places in De Principiis, Origen also uses the

theme of “being worthy of” or “earn/merit” the spiritual gifts. In De Principiis 3.3.3,

which is cited in full above, Origen talks about those who “earn the grace of prophecy.”

At the outset of De Principiis Book 1, preface 3, Origen opts for the similar term mereo

which means “merit, deserve or earn,”23 when he maintains,

But the following fact should be understood. The holy apostles, when preaching
the faith of Christ, took certain doctrines, those namely which they believed to be
necessary ones, and delivered them in the plainest terms to all believers, even to
such as appeared to be somewhat dull in the investigation of divine knolwedge.
The grounds of their statements they left to be investigated by such as should
merit the higher gifts of the Spirit and in particular by such as should afterwards
receive through the Holy Spirit the graces of language, wisdom and knowledge
There were other doctrines, however, about which the apostles simply said that
things were so, keeping silence as to the how or why; their intention undoubtedly
being as should prove to be lovers of wisdom, with an exercise on which to
display the fruit of their ability. The people I refer are those who prepare

22 As we saw in Introduction, the scholarship on prophecy and continence/abstinence is

vast. For a classic example, Peter Brown, “Prophecy and Continence,” in The Body and Society:
Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1988), 67: “Both Jew and Pagan believed that sexual asceticism is linked to prophecy.”
Brown argues that “writing in the latter part of the second century, men like Irenaeus, at Lyon and
Tertullian, at Carthage, tended, rather to think of the body as undergoing a slow but sure
preparation to take upon itself the awesome weight of the Spirit of God,” 68. Brown’s
observation also applies to Origen.
23
For this discussion, see Chapter 1 of this dissertation.

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 themselves (praeparaent) to become worthy and capable of receiving wisdom.
(emphasis added)24

In this passage, Origen argues that people participate in “preparing themselves to become

worthy and capable of receiving wisdom,” which is, in other words, to “merit the higher

gifts of the Spirit.”25 Later in Book 4 of De Principiis, he also discusses “the prophets and

the apostles (prophetas et apostolos)” who are the “servants of the truth (ministros

veritates)” and who participate in this practice:26

These mysteries which were made known and revealed to them by the Spirit, the
prophets portrayed figuratively through the narration of what seemed to be
human deeds and the handing down of certain legal ordinances and precepts. The
aim was that not everyone who wished should have these mysteries laid before
his/her feet to trample upon, but that they should be for the one who had devoted
oneself to studies of this kind with the utmost purity and sobriety and through
nights of watching, by which means perchance he/she might be able to trace out
the deeply hidden meaning of the Spirit of God, concealed under the language of
an ordinary narrative which points in a different direction, and that so s/he might
become a sharer of the Spirit’s knowledge and a partaker of her/his divine counsel.
(Princ. 4.2.7, emphasis added)27

24
Illud autem scire oportet, quoniam sancti apostoli fidem Christi praedicantes de
quibusdam quidem, quaecumque necessaria crediderunt, omnibus credentibus, etiam his, qui
pigriores erga inquisitionem divinae scientiae videbantur, manifestissime tradiderunt, rationem
scilicet assertionis eorum relinquentes ab his inquirendam, qui spiritus dona excellentia
mererentur et praecipue sermonis, sapientiae et scientiae gratiam per ipsum sanctum spiritum
percepissent; de aliis vero dixerunt quidem, quia sint, quomodo autem aut unde sint, siluerunt,
profecto ut studiosiores quique ex posteris suis, qui amtores essent sapientiae, exercitium habere
possent, in quo ingenii sui fructum ostendrent, hi videlicet, qui dignos se et capaces ad
recipiendam sapientiam praepararent.

25 As we saw in Chapter 1, Origen juxtaposes prophecy with other spiritual gifts.

26
Origen uses Ephesians 4 in this discussion.
27
Quae illi mysteria, cognita sibi et revelata per spiritum, velut humana quaedam gesta
narrantes vel legales quasdam observantias praceptaque tradentes figuraliter describebant; ut non
qui velit haec velut conculcanda ante pedes haberet exposita, sed qui se huiuscemodi studiis cum
omni castimonia et sobrietate ac vigiliis dedidisset, ut per haec forte in profundo latentem sensum
spiritus dei et sermonis usitata narratione aliorsum prospiciente contectum investigare potuisset,
atque ita socius scientiae spiritus et divini consilii particeps fieret.

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Origen understands that God’s mysteries are not readily revealed to everyone who

wished,” but to “the one who had devoted oneself to studies of this kind with the utmost

purity and sobriety and through nights of watching.” In this way, Origen weaves together

knowledge and wisdom as the spiritual gifts that are given to those who are ready to

receive them. In the two passages above, indeed, Origen does not explicitly discuss

prophecy, as he does in De Principiis 3.3.3, when he argues that spiritual gifts are earned

by those who are worthy to receive them. Furthermore, Origen understands prophecy as

something akin to knowledge and wisdom, drawing from Paul’s language in 1

Corinthians, as we saw in Chapter 1 as well.

Attain the Portion of Divinity and Earn the Grace of Prophecy

Origen posits that Christian prophetic practices are ultimately about “attaining

the portion of divinity (participum per hoc divinitatis adsumunt).” Origen’s

understanding of divine inspiration refers to the idea that prophets participate in, and thus

receive a portion of divinity (Princ. 3.3.3). This idea, that through the act of purification

(puritas) prophecy is earned, can be better understood in the context of Origen’s overall

theology of apokatastasis. Put differently, the return to the Creator through receiving

Christ is a central tenet of Origen’s thought. Sanctity, which is gained through various

practices— both bodily and noetic— plays an important role in “producing within the

saints the capacity to receive Christ and through him to return to the Father.”28

28
Pablo Argarate, “The Holy Spirit in Prin I. 3,” 45. The idea of apokatastasis, that is,
universal restoration, takes an important space in Origen’s thought world. For example, we get a
glimpse of this idea, based on the Pauline epistles (especially 1 Cor 15), in De Principiis 3.5.6:
“The only-begotten son of God, Logos and Wisdom of the Father, must reign until he has put his
enemies under his feet and destroyed the last enemy, Death, embracing in himself, at the end of
the world, all those whom he subjects to the Father and who come to salvation thanks to

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 Prophecy requires a pure soul. De Principiis 3.3.3 argues that, to attain divinity,

the human being needs to “preserve oneself free from all contagion of evil spirits,” to be

“purified by lengthened abstinence,” and to be “imbued with holy and religious training.”

This theme of purification is also found, as we have seen in Chapter 2, in Contra Celsum

Prophets who are truly “inspired” (qeofore/w, Cels. 4.95) are “illuminated in mind and

soul” (7.7; 7.21), and “participate in” and are “filled with divinity and a divine spirit”

(3.5; 3.81; 4.8; 7.4).29 In Contra Celsum 3.5, Origen also portrays Moses as one who

participates in the spirit of God (mete/cwn qeiote/rou pneu/matoß), not being a sorcerer

(go/hß) as Celsus claims.30 For Origen, Moses and other prophets in the Hebrew Bible are

called “friends with God,” for they earned communion with God.31

Origen argues that one must purify oneself before becoming a prophet. This idea

is also clearly shown in his other work, especially On Prayer, in which he says, “the soul

him…This is the meaning of what the Apostle says about him: “When all is submitted (subiectus)
to him, then the Son himself will submit (fuerint subiecta) to him who has subjected (subiectus)
everything to him, so that god may be all in all.”
The Latin term used here (subicio), the Greek equivalent of uJpota/ssw, highlights
Origen’s theory of universal restoration to God. According to Origen, all creatures eventually
need to be subject to the only-begotten Son of God, and to the God Godself. Ilaria L. E. Ramelli,
“Christian Soteriology and Christian Platonism: Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Biblical and
Philosophical Basis of the Doctrine of Apokatastasis,” Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007): 313-56,
317; Ramelli, “Origen’s Doctrine of Apokatastasis,” Origeniana Decima (2009): 659-60; Mark S.
M. Scott, “The Physician of Souls,” in Journey Back to God: Origen on the Problem of Evil (New
York: Oxford University, 2012), 74-100; Paul M. Blowers, “Doctrine of Creation,” in Oxford
Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. Susan Harvey and David Hunter (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2008), 910.
29
Hauck, The More Divine Proof, 130.
30
Ibid., 133.
31
“We are free to believe that in the pure and pious soul of Moses, who rose above all
that is created, and united himself to the Creator of the universe, there dwelt a divine spirit which
showed the truth about God far clearer than Plato” (Cels. 1.19). This imagery is very similar to
that of Philo in Vit. Mos. 1.27. Hauck, The More Divine Proof, 130.

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of the disciple or the simple Christian must be purified before there can be any

expectation of standing in the divine presence.”32 So it seems that Origen not only

describes but also prescribes the condition of being a prophet: a holy and undefiled one

becomes a prophet, and only a holy and undefiled one can become one.33

32
Julia Konstantinovsky, “Prayer,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 175-6.

33 As we shall soon see, Iamblichus engages these themes. But so too we can find a prior
example in Philo of Alexandria. De Cherubim does not specifically discuss divination and
prophecy. Given that prophecy is understood to be "a faculty within the soul," in the second and
third century, however, it offers an illuminating point wherein we could explore the theme of
preparation for the divine to enter into one’s soul. “Since, therefore, God thus invisibly enters into
this region of the soul, let us prepare (παρασκευάζωµεν) that place in the best way possible, to be
an dwelling place worthy of God.” (De Cherubim, 98-105, emphasis added) English translation
follows Yonge, A Treatise on the Cherubim. The use of hortatory subjunctive in the text above
(“let us prepare [παρασκευάζωµεν]”) is noteworthy. My reading is that this rhetorical convention
reflects strong discourses embedded in late antiquity, that is, the strong pedagogical and parenetic
philosophical and theological tradition that persuades the readers or audience or hearers into
inculcate a certain kind of self. Later in this text, Philo likens a soul to a house, and human
beings need to make their souls as spiritual houses of God, fitting dwelling places for God. This
thought portrays the relationship between the human and the divine as the divine inhabits the
human being. This idea is similar to Origen’s own ideas in De Principiis 3.3.6,
On this account a strict guard must be kept over our heart day and night and no place
must be given to the devil, but all our actions must be such that God’s ministers, that is,
‘the spirits who have been sent forth to minister to them’ who have been called to ‘inherit
salvation’, may find a place within us and may delight to enter the guest-chamber of our
soul; and dwelling in us, that is in our heart, may rule us with the better counsels, if so be
they shall find the habitation of our heart adorned by the practice of virtue and holiness.
Propter quod die noctuque cor nostrum omni custodia conservandum est, et ‘locus non est
dandus diabolo,’ sed omnia agenda sunt, quibus ministri dei (hi videlicet ‘spiritus, qui ad
ministerium missi sunt eorum, qui ad hereditatem salutis vocati sunt’) inveniant in nobis
locum et delectentur in gredi hospitium animae nostrae et habitantes apud nos, id est in
corde nostro, melioribus nos consiliis regant, si tamen habitaculum cordis nostri virtutis
et sanctitatis cultu ‘invenerint exornatum.’
Philo and Origen turn to a discourse of late antiquity, namely, that of cultivating oneself to
become a suitable dwelling place for the divine to dwell through proper preparations. However,
their ideas are divergent in an important way. The most important difference of these two thinkers
is that while Origen emphasizes the human’s ability to be united with the divine, Philo’s thought
is predicated on the unbridgeable abyss between the divine and human beings. Philo understands
ecstasy as the suitable way to prophetic experience, whereas Origen does not. For example, in
Who is the Heir of the Divine Things? (259), Philo claims that the prophet is simply the
instrument (Ὄργανον) used by God to reveal God’s will. And when possessed, the prophet does
not have any awareness of what he/she proclaims, and nor understanding of what he/she utters.

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 De Principiis 4.2.7 also expresses an idea of prophecy that fits within Origen’s

larger framework of communicating with God, being like God, and partaking of God:34

The mysteries which were made known and revealed to them by the spirit, the prophets

portrayed that they should be for the one who had devoted oneself to studies of this kind

with the utmost purity and sobriety and through nights of watching, by which means

perchance he/she might be able to trace out the deeply hidden meaning of the Spirit of

God, concealed under the language of an ordinary narrative which points in a different

direction, and that so s/he might become a sharer of the Spirit’s knowledge and a partaker

of her/his divine counsel.

This process of attaining the divine is completed through two steps: “the active

life of moral, spiritual and intellectual preparation (praxis) and true contemplation

(theoria),” in Alan Paddle’s words.35 Scholars have noted the close relationship between

contemplation and prophecy in Origen’s thoughts. In their arguments, for Origen,

prophecy equates with being able to “see” God. For example, Giovanni Filoramo notes

34
“According to Origen, the goal of the spiritual life of human being is to attain a
similarity with God, following Plato’s ideals as well as the insights from Genesis 1, 26.”
Argarate, “The Holy Spirit in Prin I, 3,” 45. For Origen’s understanding of contemplation, see
Alan G. Paddle, “Contemplation,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 81-3. As we shall
see, Iamblichus also says that the soul must attain union with the gods (τοῖς θεοῖς ἑνωθῇ) (De
Mysteriis 3.11).
35
Alan Paddle, “Contemplation,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 81. Before
Origen, Clement of Alexandria employs the notions of praxis and theoria in Christian mystical
and ascetic context, borrowing from classical philosophy. Called as the vita activa and the vita
contemplative in the Western Christian tradition, praxis (doing, acting) and theoria (gazing,
contemplating) originally refer to two connected activity, “the political and the philosophical.”
And then they turned to signify “two aspects of the life of any thinking person.” Plato, Statesman
(258E). Paddle, “Contemplation,” 81.
Regarding discussions on contemplation, see Bernard McGinn, “Asceticism and
Mysticism in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages,” in Asceticism, ed. Vincent L. Wimbush
and Richard Valantasis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 58-74, 61; R. Somos,
“Christianity as Practical Philosophy in Origen,” in Origeniana Nona, 328-36.

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that, for Origen, the “prophet is, first of all, one who is able to ‘see God’.” He goes on to

say, “prophets are predisposed to a particular form of contemplation (theoria), which

culminates in prophetic activity.”36 While I initially agreed with Filoramo’s arguments, I

came to realize that it would be hard to systematize Origen’s definitions of prophecy. As

we saw in Chapter 1 on the discussions of the Commentary on Romans, Origen connects

prophecy to interpretation and teaching, as he was bound by the Pauline text. In De

Principiis 3, the precise contours of the relationship between prophecy and contemplation

in Origen’s thoughts are not fully worked out, but it seems to be clear that Origen

understands both contemplation and prophecy in a larger theological narriave, namely,

the centrality of pedagogical structure in Origen’s thought. Thus instead of trying to

figure out Origen’s definition of prophecy, my work rather focuses on the way in which

Origen strategically deploys his discussions on prophecy and rhetorically uses them to

persuade his readers and hearers in a certain way.

The Prophets: The Model for a Christian Self

In De Principiis 3.3, Origen regards prophets as the ideal models who work best

in showing how the Christian audiences can understand the right form of communication

with the divine, just as we saw in Chapter 2.37 They also exemplify particular actions one

can take in the present to cultivate the self in relation to the divine. With the past prophets

as models, the audience members are encouraged to participate in the spiritual path. My

36 Giovanni Filoramo, “Profezia,” in Origene. Dizionario, 473-75.

37 Prophets in the Jewish Scripture are explicitly mentioned as exemplars to be imitated in

Contra Celsum 7.30 as well. Hällström, Charismatic Succession, 43; Ilaria L. E. Ramelli,
“Origen’s Exegesis of Jeremiah: Resurrection Announced Throughout the Bible and its Twofold
conception,” Augustinianum 48.1(June, 2008): 59.

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reading is that Origen not so much exhorts everyone to become a prophet, but rather

rhetorically encourages the audiences to adopt the same dispositions and actions of the

prophets.38

The prophets, in Hauck’s terms, “stand at the summit of the spiritual path,”39 and

are the best representatives of the life of virtue. To cite De Principiis 4.2.7 again:

The mysteries which were made known and revealed to them by the spirit, the
prophets portrayed that they should be for the one who had devoted oneself to
studies of this kind with the utmost purity and sobriety and through nights of
watching, by which means perchance he/she might be able to trace out the deeply
hidden meaning of the Spirit of God, concealed under the language of an ordinary
narrative which points in a different direction, and that so s/he might become a
sharer of the Spirit’s knowledge and a partaker of her/his divine counsel.

While Origen does not directly argue that the audience is to become prophets or to strive

to prophesy (just as he argued in Commentary on Romans, as we have seen in Chapter 1),

he commends prophets as examples and models.

Prophets are models for the way the divine works and communicates in human

lives. As we saw in Chapter 2, Origen, in the Contra Celsum, maintains that God’s

prophets are “studied by those who desire to be more perfect Christians” (Cels. 7.49). In

De Principiis 2.7.3, Origen notes,

So, too, I think, is it the case with the Holy Spirit, in whom is every manner of gift.
For to some is granted by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to others the word of
knowledge, to others faith and thus to each individual one who is able to receive
oneself the same Spirit becomes and is apprehended as the very thing of which
s/he, who has been deemed worthy to partake of God, stands in need. (emphasis
added)40

38
In this way, as we have briefly seen in Chapter 2, Origen enjoins the audience, “thus let
all of us, as far as our ability allows, strive for the prophetic life” (Homily on Jeremiah 14:5).

39
Hauck, The More Divine Proof, 121.

40 This passage includes an allusion to 1 Corinthians 12:8-9. Ita arbitror etiam de spiritu
sancto, in quo omnis est natura donorum. >Aliis< namque praebetur >per spiritum sermo

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In this passage, Origen discusses the work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with a gift

that is not limited to prophecy. He claims that each individual has the potential to receive

the Spirit,41 and those who are able to receive the Spirit are equated to those who “have

been deemed worthy to partake of God.” Given that prophecy is understood as a gift

(ca/risma) of the Holy Spirit, it is noteworthy how Origen describes God as bestowing

God’s own spirit to the qualified people, those who are “able to partake of God” (Cels.

6.70).42

Several scholars have asserted that, for Origen, only the select few (saints) can

attain true contemplation, theoria, after “a long prior period of prayer, study, and the

struggle to master human passions through ascetic practice.”43 I would argue instead that

Origen also stresses is that everyone—not just a few—must have a certain orientation

toward divinization (theosis). As Ilaria Ramelli put it, “all must acquire the likeness of

God through our deeds and deliberate choices.”44 Martens also points out the tension in

Origen’s thoughts between the position that all human beings participate with the

sapientiae, aliis sermo scientiae, aliis fides<; et ita per singulos, qui eum capere possunt, hoc
efficitur vel hoc intellegitur ipse spiritus, quo indiget ille, qui eum participare meruerit.

41 Scholars often discuss the theme of all Christians as potential prophets in relation to
New Testament texts, distinguishing for example between the view of prophets in Paul’s letters
and in Luke-Acts. Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech, 190-92. Forbes also discusses “the
theological conception of the New Testament writers that in some sense ‘all the Lord’s people are
prophets,’ and the discussion of prophecy in 1 Corinthians, and in the Shepherd of Hermas.”
Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech, 242. Also see the discussion in Chapter 2 of this
dissertation.
42
Cels. 6.70, emphasis added. “God is always giving a share of God’s own Spirit to those
who are able to partake of God, though God dwells in those who are worthy not by being cut into
sections and divided up.”

43 Alan G. Paddle, “Contemplation,” 82.

44
Ramelli, “Origen’s Doctrine of Apokatastasis,” 352.

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divine/God versus only a select, deserving few.45 Drawing on these scholarly insights, I

argue that in Origen’s writings, Christians are encouraged to strive to be united with God

whether they attain the ultimate goal of theoria or not.

Polemics Against the Other: They Choose the Wrong Spirit

In De Principiis 3.3, Origen uses the example of prophets to refute unnamed

opponents, disparaging those who choose the wrong spirits and arguing in favor of “the

prophets and apostles, who attended upon the divine responses (divinis responsis) without

any mental disturbance” (Princ. 3.3.4).46 Origen highlights the human being’s own will

and discernment in the enterprise of correct prophecy and inspiration when he says,

On the other hand a person receives the energy and control of a good spirit (boni
vero spiritus recipit quis enerigiam vel inopereationem), when he/she is moved
and incited to what is good and inspired for things heavenly and divine; just as the
holy angels and God worked in the prophets, inciting and exhorting them by holy
suggestions to strive towards better things, though certainly in such a way that it
rested with the person’s own will and judgment whether or not the person was
willing to follow God’s call to the heavenly and divine. (Princ. 3.3.4.)47

According to Origen, the prophets are inspired, but retain their own will, while

participating with the divine.

Peter Martens, “Holy Spirit,” in The Westminster Handbook to Origen, 126. Also,
45

Hauck, The More Divine Proof, 123 n. 40.

46
Sunt omnes vel prophetae vel apostolic, qui divinis responsis sine ulla mentis
obturbatione ministrabant. Butterworth translates divinis responsis as “divine oracles.” But I think
the better translation is “divine responses.”
47
Boni vero spiritus recipit quis energiam vel inoperationem, cum movetur et provocatur
ad bona et inspiratur ad inoperationem, cum movetur et provcatur ad bona et inspiratur ad
caelestia vel divina; sicut sancti angeli et ipse deus inoperatus est in prophetis, suggestionibus
sanctis ad meliora provocans et cohortans, ita sane ut maneret in arbitrio hominis ac iudicio, si
sequi velit aut nolit ad caelestia et divina provocantem.

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 Throughout book 3 of De Principiis (and as we saw in other texts such as

Commentary on Romans,) Origen emphasizes the role of human freedom in

differentiating and choosing sources of inspiration. And “they”—those whom Origen

criticizes—admit the “opposing powers,” are inspired by them, and “subject themselves

as slaves to those spirits” (Princ. 3.3.3). Origen employs the rhetoric of slavery

(famulatus), in other places, such as his Commentary on Romans 6.3.48 Commenting on

Romans 6:16 (“If you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of

the one whom you obey, either of sin or righteousness”), Origen claims, “By our own

will, through own consent and not coercion, we show ourselves slaves of either sin or

justice.”49 In De Principiis 3.3, in contrast, Origen refrains from describing Christians in

terms of the rhetoric of slave, while he portrays the opponents as slaves. Here he tries to

evoke the negative association of a slave, emphasizing the slave’s passivity. I do not

argue that Origen always criticizes passivity. When Christians choose to submit

themselves to God, Origen argues, passivity is positive: it is important to choose to be a

good vessel and instrument for God. Yet Origen uses passivity negatively in order to

discredit the opponents.

Origen’s use of the topos of vessel/receptacle is another rhetorical device to

accentuate the passivity of the opponents.50 In De Principiis 3.1.20, Origen refers to 2

Tim 2:20-21: “If a human being therefore purges himself/herself, the one shall be a vessel

of honor, sanctified, and suitable for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good

48
Origen, Commentary on Romans, 6.3, PG 14:1060.
49
Origen goes on to say, “We should always remember this and not make excuses for our
sin, blaming the devil, the demands of nature, fate, or the position of the stars.”

50 See Chapter 2 of this dissertation.

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work.” 2 Timothy dichotomizes “vessels (skeu/h, vas) of honor” and “vessels of

dishonor,” maintaining that those who admit the right source of divinity become vessels

of honor, and those who admit the “opposing powers,” become vessels of dishonor. In De

Principiis 3.3, however, Origen limits the topos of vessel to those who are on the path of

the evil spirits and receive their inspiration.

Then in regard to those who teach another doctrine of Christ than that which the rule
of scripture allows, it is not superfluous to think whether it is with treacherous
intentions that the opposing powers, in their efforts to check the faith of Christ, have
devised certain fabulous and at the same time impious dogmas, or whether in face
even they, after hearing the word of Christ, have been unable either to banish it from
the secret recesses of their consciousness or to retain it in a pure and holy form, and
so have introduced, through the vessels that suited their purpose (per vasa opportune
sibi)51 and, if I may call them so, through their prophets (per prophetas suos),
different kinds of error contrary to the rule of faith. (Princ. 3.3.4)

Origen uses the topos of vessels and makes these vasa syntactically parallel to their

prophets. He thus argues against his rhetorical opponents, accentuating their passivity.

They become the vessels to be used by the “opposing powers.”

In contrast, when “the soul is inspired (inspiratur) and moved (movetur) by the

presence of a spirit of the better kind,” Origen maintains, the soul does not experience

any “mental disturbance or aberration whatsoever as a result of the immediate inspiration

or exhaling (imminenti adspiratione) and does not lose the free judgment of the will

(iudicium liberum)” (Princ. 3.3.4). Origen dissociates the Christian practice of prophecy

from non-Christian or intra-Christian counterparts. Origen does not simply argue that the

51
Indeed the most illustrious discussion of this theme comes from Plato, who famously,
in Phaedrus 244 a-c, creates his own taxonomy of madness and inspiration. Butterworth
translates “per vasa opportuna sibi” as “through the agency of vessels that suited their purpose.”
Butterworth, Origen: On First Principle, 226. But I think that “through the vessels that suited
their purpose” is correct, for the use of “agency” here is somewhat unwarranted.

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others who are under the influence of the bad spirits are all possessed, but singles out loss

of self-control as a major characteristic of the opponents:

Now the bad spirits work in two ways; that is, they either take whole and entire
possession of the mind (possederint mentem), so that they allow those in their power
neither to understand nor to think, as is the case, for example, with those who are
popularly called ‘possessed,’ whom we see to be demented and insane (amentes et
insanos), such as the people who are related in the gospel to have been healed by the
savior; or they deprave the soul. (Princ. 3.3.4)

Origen readily connects possession to madness (mani/a), a familiar topos in antiquity.

And in an earlier section, Origen also mentions a “spirit of a kind of madness.”

We have seen that in De Principiis, Origen rejects a positive evaluation of madness in

relation to prophecy, and constructs possession as an aberrant condition that is

characteristic of his opponents. Origen takes pains to distinguish divine inspiration and

possession, and categorically criticizes possession, by claiming that those who admit

good spirits do not experience possession by the spirit and by saying that the evil spirits

are oftentimes to possess and “take complete and entire possession of the mind (penitus

exintegro eorum possederint mentem)” of those who admit them (Princ. 3.3.4).

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies 3

By reading Origen’s De Principiis 3.3 alongside Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis 3,52

we shall see that Origen’s discussions of prophecy, inspiration, and possession are

grounded in a religio-cultural context wherein the discussions on prophecy and divination

52 Space precludes a detailed account of the other works of Iamblichus such as De Anima

or Vit. Pyth., so this research will be confined to De Mysteriies 3. Henri Dominique Saffrey,
Alain-Philippe Segonds, Jamblique: Réponse à Porphyre (De mysteriis), Collection des
universités de France. Série grecque, 496 (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2013).

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are the privileged site of philosophical and theological discussions.53 I focus on

Iamblichus and ask the following questions: What elements do their theologies have in

common? What kinds of common discourses do these works draw on? While

emphasizing the divine origins of theurgy, Iamblichus elaborates the condition one needs

to create in order to receive the divine. Addressing these questions allows me to see how

early Christian discourse on prophecy is situated within a larger philosophical

conversation in the Greco-Roman world.

There are several reasons why Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies 3 proves to be a good

conversation partner for Origen’s De Principiis 3.3. One of the most conspicuous is that

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis is arguably “the most extensive surviving treatise from the

ancient world on divination, sacrifice and other polytheistic religious phenomena,”54 and

it is considered to be the only extant work that discusses oracles.55 De Mysteriis is a later

work than Origen’s De Principiis,56 and I do not argue for any literary dependency

between these two works. By comparing these two distinctive works, I am certainly not

aiming to compare two representative works from Christianity and a Greco-Roman

“pagan” camp. In contrast to some, who have read Origen’s De Principiis 3.3 as a

polemic against the “pagan” world (or a “Gnostic” work), I argue that Origen, alongside

53
Nasrallah, Ecstasy of Folly, 3.
54
Peter T. Struck, “Iamblichus, De Mysteriis, Book 1,” in Religions of Late Antiquity in
Practice, ed. Richard Valantasis (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 489.

55Plutarch’s works on Delphic oracles are the other rare occasion that the author labors to
explain prophecy.

56 De Principiis is considered to have been written some time between 220 and 230 C.E.

De Mysteriis is considered to have been written sometime between 280 and 305 C.E. Emma
Clarke et al., Iamblichus: On the Mysteries (De Mysteriis), Introduction, xxvii, see footnote 46.
xxvii.

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someone like Iamblichus, engages in a broad and complex conversation regarding

prophecy, divination, and possession as a means to communicate with the divine.

Origen and Iamblichus have different understandings of possession during

prophecy: Origen’s Latin text uses the term possidere, while Iamblichus uses the term

katoch/. Origen rejects a positive evaluation of madness in relation to prophecy, and

constructs possession as an aberrant condition that is characteristic of his opponents,

whereas Iamblichus privileges possession as an ideal form of divination. As we have seen

above, Origen maintains that a person adopts a specific program that prepares him/her to

“earn the grace of prophecy,” and that the emphasis is on the control of the human soul so

that one may resist possession by evil spirits. Iamblichus is similar to Origen insofar as

he, like Origen, emphasizes that one must prepare for prophetic experiences.

Iamblichus’s Philosophical Project

Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis 3 is rhetorically constructed to refute claims by

Porphyry, his peer. Porphyry, in his Letter to Anebo, criticized theurgy as dangerously

close to magic,57 which impacts the lower and irrational self, and understood theurgy as

the technique of augurers, haruspices, oneiromancers, and medium.58 Reacting to

Porphyry’s criticism of theurgy, Iamblichus wrote De Mysteriis in order to defend and

57 Porphyry’s understanding of divination and theurgy was far from unique. Augustine

also criticizes theurgic divination as an effort to control the gods. Augustine, The City of God, 10,
trans. Marcus Dodds ( New York: Random House, Inc., 1950). Many modern scholars followed
Porphyry and Augustine until recently. For example, E. R. Dodds disparaged De Mysteriis,
characterizing it as “a manifesto of irrationalism.” E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951), 287.
58
Charles M. Stang, “From the Chaldean Oracles to the Corpus Dionysiacum: Theurgy
Between the Third and Sixth Centuries,” Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture 5 (2011):
1-13.

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reinterpret theurgy. Iamblichus attempts to justify the ancient cults of the Greco-Roman

worlds, by “arguing for the philosophic legitimacy of time-honored sacrifices and rites of

divination.”59 Iamblichus champions theurgic rituals, which are, in Gregory Shaw’s

terms, “a theion ergon, a ‘work of the gods’ capable of transforming man to a divine

status.”60

Crucial to these discussions on theurgy is the relationship between human effort

and divine work. Porphyry criticized theurgy, for he thought that theurgy emphasizes

human efforts and thus diminishes the role of the gods. In contrast, Iamblichus balances

the roles of human and divine agency in theurgy: while he privileges divine agency as the

primary force in theurgy, Iamblichus highlights the importance of human participation.

These different appraisals of theurgy partly results from the inherent tension

present in the term “theurgy” (qeourgi/a), which means “the work of God” (ej/rgon

qeouv). As Charles Stang analyzes, depending upon how you translate the genitive

(qeouv)—whether it is a subjective genitive or objective genitive— the meaning of the

term, qeourgi/a, shifts. If one chooses the “subjective axis,” then, as Stang argues,

qeourgi/a is understood as the gods’ work “presumably in and through the theurgist, in

which case he becomes a sort of vessel for divine action.”61 If one chooses an “objective

axis,” then qeourgi/a rather refers to the theurgists’s works to the gods. Porphyry takes

up this second understanding of qeourgi/a, arguing that the concept is undergirded by the

notion that humans can manipulate gods. In this rhetorical context, Iamblichus attempts

59
Shaw, Theurgy and Soul, 233.
60
Gregory Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus (University
Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 5.
61
Stang, “From the Chaldean Oracles to the Corpus Dionysiacum,” 4.

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to rebuke Porphyry’s position by emphasizing that theurgy is the act of the gods, who

take control in theurgy. For Iamblichus, divine agency is the ultimate cause of divination

and theurgy. At the same time, he emphasizes the necessary steps to prepare for the

adequate instrument for the divine to dwell.

Taxonomy of Divination and Theurgy

It was a common practice in antiquity to circumscribe boundaries among

prophetic experience(s) as we have seen throughout this dissertation. In advancing his

arguments, Iamblichus also constructs his map of the prophetic experiences, denies

legitimacy to some practices and privileges others. Iamblichus’s work indeed shows an

impressive array of terminology of prophetic experiences, and Iamblichus is keen on

arranging related and contested phenomena such as theurgy, divination, and possession in

his religious landscape.62

Iamblichus makes a close connection between qeourgi/a and mantei/a, placing

mantei/a under the rubric of qeourgi/a. For Iamblichus, qeourgi/a and mantei/a are

almost synonymous in that the eventual aim in both practices is to be reunited with the

divine through virtue. At the end of book 3 of De Mysteriis, Iamblichus sums up his ideas

concerning the right understanding of mantei/a in conjunction with qeourgi/a;

This, then, is one kind of power of oracle which is undefiled and sacerdotal, and
truly divine (Ἓν οὖν τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἄχραντον καὶ ἱερατικὸν θεῖόν τε ὡς ἀληθῶς
γένος τῆς µαντείας); and “this does not need,” as you say, “either myself or
anyone else as umpire, in order that I prefer it to any others;” but it is itself
entirely removed from all, supernatural, and eternally pre-existent, neither
admitting any comparison nor pre-eminence among many; it is free from all this,

62
For discussions on prophetic experiences, see the Introduction chapter of this
dissertation.

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 and takes precedence all according to its uniform self. And it is proper for you
and everyone who is a genuine lover of the gods to surrender oneself to it wholly.
For in such a fashion arises, at the same time, both infallible truth in oracles, and
perfect virtue in souls. With both of these, ascent to the intelligible fire is granted
to theurgists, and a process which indeed must be proposed as the goal of all
foreknowledge and every theurgic operation. (Myst. 3.31, emphasis added)63

For Iamblichus, qeourgi/a, mantei/a, and manti/kh are crucial to the process of unity

with the divine, which is the philosophical and religious goal. At the end of De Mysteriies,

Iamblichus highlights this understanding yet again, when he says “Only divine oracle,

therefore, united with the gods, truly imparts to us a share in divine life, partaking as it

does in the foreknowledge and the intellections of the gods is filled with all goods” (Myst.

10.4, emphasis added).64 Thus contrary to Porphyry, Iamblichus argues that qeourgi/a is

not magic, but rather is an integral philosophical and religious exercise of transforming

one’s soul and of participating in a journey back to the divine.

After placing divination under the rubric of theurgy,65 Iamblichus collapses the

categories of possession and divination, just as many writers and thinkers in the Greco-

63
English translation follows Clarke and Dillon with my modifications. Ἓν οὖν τοῦτό
ἐστι τὸ ἄχραντον καὶ ἱερατικὸν θεῖόν τε ὡς ἀληθῶς γένος τῆς µαντείας· καὶ τοῦτο οὐχ, ὡς σὺ
λέγεις, διαιτητοῦ δεῖται ἢ ἐµοῦ ἢ ἄλλου τινός, ἵν’ αὐτὸ ἐκ πολλῶν προκρίνω, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸ ἐξῄρηται
πάντων, ὑπερφυὲς ἀίδιον προϋπάρχον, οὐδὲ παράθεσίν τινα ἐπιδεχόµενον οὔτε ὑπεροχήν τινος ἐν
πολλοῖς προτεταγµένην· ἀλλ’ ἀπολέλυται <καὶ> καθ’ ἑαυτὸ µονοειδὲς πάντων προηγεῖται. Ὧι δεῖ
καὶ σὲ καὶ πᾶς ὅστις ἐστὶ γνήσιος τῶν θεῶν ἐραστὴς ἐπιδοῦναι ἑαυτὸν ὅλον· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ
τοιούτου τρόπου παραγίγνεται ἅµα τε καὶ ἐν ταῖς µαντείαις ἡ ἄπταιστος ἀλήθεια καὶ ἐν ταῖς
ψυχαῖς ἡ τελεία ἀρετή. Μετὰ τούτων δὲ ἀµφοτέρων δίδοται τοῖς θεουργοῖς ἡ πρὸς τὸ νοητὸν πῦρ
ἄνοδος, ὃ δὴ καὶ τέλος δεῖ πάσης µὲν προγνώσεως πάσης δὲ θεουργικῆς
πραγµατείας προτίθεσθαι.
64
Μόνη τοίνυν ἡ θεία µαντικὴ συναπτοµένη τοῖς θεοῖς ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡµῖν τῆς θείας ζωῆς
µεταδίδωσι, τῆς τε προγνώσεως καὶ τῶν θείων νοήσεων µετέχουσα καὶ ἡµᾶς θείους ὡς ἀληθῶς
ἀπεργάζεται· ἡ δὲ αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἡµῖν γνησίως παρέχει, διότι πεπλήρωται τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὅλων
ἡ µακαριωτάτη τῶν θεῶν νόησις·
65
Shaw, “Divination in the Neoplatonism of Iamblichus,” 233.

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Roman world did, including Plato, the author of Shepherd of Hermas, and Philo, as we

have seen in the previous chapters. He considers true divination to involve possession,

reflecting a clear influence from Plato who connects divine madness to divination

(Phaedrus 244a-c). Many scholars have noted how Iamblichus maintains that divine

inspiration (ejpi/pnoia, qeofori/a, or ejnqousiasmo/ß) and divine possession

(katokwch/ or katoch/) are closely tied. In effect, these two terms—divination and

possession—are even used interchangeably in many cases in De Mysteriis.66

Iamblichus is critical about what sort of divination is correct, and thus attempts to

distinguish two kinds of divinations, following a well-attested tradition of creating a

taxonomy of prophetic experiences.67 First, he explores genuine divination, as

represented in the three prominent inspired oracles (ἔνθεον µαντεῖον) in Delphi, Claros,

and Didyma.68 These are the examples of “another kind of divination, well-known and

most splendid” (Myst. 3. 11). Secondly, Iamblichus discusses an inferior kind of

divination, which is “private and not public” and “which stand[s] on magical characters”

(Myst. 3.13). This latter mode of divination is also characterized as “accomplished by

human skill, which partakes largely of guessing and supposition” (Myst. 3. 15).

Iamblichus relies on Neoplatonic ideas that the soul is associated with the divine

and noetic (intelligible), and, in the moment of possession, a deity illuminates the human

66
Shepherd, “Iamblichus on Inspiration,” 138-9; Clarke, Iamblichus’ De Mysteriis: A
Manifesto of the Miraculous, 70-86; Addey, “Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-
Roman World: The Evidence from Iamblichus’s On the Mysteries,” 172.

67 His distinction between “genuine” and “human” divinations follows the taxonomy of

divinations of genuine and artificial kinds of divination, which we discussed in Chapter 1.

68
Emma C. Clarke, Iamblichus’ De Mysteriis: A Manifesto of the Miraculous (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2001), 63-5.

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soul, which keeps a reflection of the divine light.69 According to Iamblichus, true

divination takes place when the soul is “united to the gods through such a liberated

activity,” and when the soul receives “the truest plenitudes of intellections” (Myst. 3.3).

Iamblichus goes on to say, “But if the soul weaves together its intellections and its divine

part with higher powers, then its own visions will be purer.”70

Iamblichus turns to the topos of the inspired person as an instrument. In

discussing the oracle at Colophon, he says,

This holds aloof from no one who, through a kindred nature, is in union with it;
but it [inspiration] is immediately present, and uses the prophet as an instrument
while he is neither himself nor has any consciousness of what he says or where on
the earth he is, so that even after prophesying, he sometimes scarcely gets control
of himself. (Myst. 3.11, emphasis added)71

In an earlier part of De Mysteriis, Iamblichus also maintains,

I would like to make clear the characteristic signs of those who are truly
possessed (κατεχομένων) by the gods. For if they have subjected
(ὑποτεθείκασιν) their entire life as a vehicle or instrument (ὡς ὄχημα ἢ
ὄργανον) to the gods who inspire them, either they exchange their human life for
the divine, or they direct their own life towards the god. (Myst. 3.4, emphasis
added)72

69
Addey, “Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-Roman World,” 175-7.
70
Οὐ µὴν ἀλλ’ ὁπόταν γε καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς ἑνωθῇ κατὰ τὴν τοιαύτην ἀπόλυτον ἐνέργειαν,
αὐτὰ τὰ ἀληθέστατα δέχεται τηνικαῦτα πληρώµατα τῶν νοήσεων, ἀφ’ ὧν ἀληθῆ µαντείαν
προβάλλει· <καὶ> τῶν θείων ὀνείρων ἐντεῦθεν τὰς γνησιωτάτας ἀρχὰς καταβάλλεται. Ἀλλ’ ἐὰν
µὲν τὸ νοερὸν ἑαυτῆς ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τὸ θεῖον συνυφαίνῃ τοῖς κρείττοσι, τότε καὶ τὰ φαντάσµατα
αὐτῆς ἔσται καθαρώτερα, ἤτοι περὶ θεῶν ἢ τῶν καθ’ ἑαυτὰς ἀσωµάτων οὐσιῶν, ἢ ὡς ἁπλῶς
εἰπεῖν περὶ τῶν εἰς ἀλήθειαν συµβαλλοµένων τὴν περὶ τῶν νοητῶν.
71
αὕτη τοίνυν οὐδενὸς ἀφέστηκε τῶν ἐχόντων διὰ τῆς οἰκειότητος συναφὴν πρὸς
ἑαυτήν· πάρεστι δ’ εὐθὺς καὶ χρῆται ὡς ὀργάνῳ τῷ προφήτῃ οὔτε ἑαυτοῦ ὄντι οὔτε
παρακολουθοῦντι οὐδὲν οἷς λέγει ἢ ὅπου γῆς ἐστιν· ὥστε καὶ µετὰ τὴν χρησµῳδίαν µόγις ποτὲ
ἑαυτὸν λαµβάνει·

72 Βούλοµαι δὴ καὶ ἐν τούτοις τὰ τεκµήρια τῶν ὀρθῶς κατεχοµένων ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν

παραδεῖξαι· εἰ γὰρ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ζωὴν ὑποτεθείκασιν ὅλην ὡς ὄχηµα ἢ ὄργανον τοῖς ἐπιπνέουσι
θεοῖς, ἢ µεταλλάττουσιν ἀντὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς τὴν θείαν, ἢ καὶ ἐνεργοῦσι τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν
πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

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Whereas Origen categorically criticizes possession by the divine because of a person’s

loss of control, Iamblichus considers the complete possession by the divine as the right

form of divination. Although these two authors have different understandings of

possession in relation to prophecy (for Origen) and divination (for Iamblichus), they

agree on an important element: Iamblichus, like Origen, highlights a cultivation of a

particular self or disposition toward the gods. Iamblichus thus emphasizes a preparation

for possession by the divine through philosophical and bodily practices.

Preparation for Divination

In discussing the human agency in theurgy and divination, Iamblichus highlights

the necessary preparation for divination. The first step for the preparation for the

divination would be to discern the right divinity before submitting oneself to the divine.

In De Mysteriies 3.3.4, Iamblichus describes (and also prescribes) “those who have

subjected (ὑποτεθείκασιν) their entire life as a vehicle or instrument (ὡς ὄχημα ἢ

ὄργανον) to the gods who inspire them.” Iamblichus employs “instrument” to refer to a

human being whose consciousness is, to borrow Emma Clarke’s words, “eclipsed, not

annihilated, by the divine force.”73 In a similar vein, Addey argues that “According to

Iamblichus, it is not the case that the recipient has no consciousness at all: the central

point is that the inspired individual is not conscious of anything else except the gods.”74

73
Emma C. Clarke, Iamblichus’ De Mysteriis: A Manifesto of the Miraculous (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2001), 83.

74
Addey, “Divine Possession and Divination in the Graeco-Roman World,” 174.

125
 Just as Origen distinguishes two ways in which the bad spirits work in De

Principiis 3.3.4,75 Iamblichus divides the forms of the divine possessions into two

categories: first of all, “the god possesses us, or we become wholly the god’s property, or

we exercise our activity in common with the god” (Myst. 3.5). Since Iamblichus

considers complete possession to be the true form of divination, he calls for “the right

discernment of it (ejpignw/sewß),” that is, “genuine possession” (thvß ajlhqinhvß

ejnqousi/sewß)” (Myst. 3.5).

After discussing the significance of discerning the right divinity who will possess

the diviner, Iamblichus also explores a diviner’s ritual preparations. Iamblichus explicates

rituals as mechanisms that help the souls of the diviners to become more receptive to

divine inspiration. Regarding the oracle at Colophon, Iamblichus writes.

Even before drinking, he fasts the whole day and night, and after becoming
divinely inspired, he withdraws by himself to sacred, inaccessible places, and by
this withdrawal and separation from human affairs, he prepares for the reception
of the god by making himself undefiled; and through these means, he has the
inspiration of god illuminating the pure sanctuary of his own soul, and providing
for it an unhindered divine possession, and a perfect and unimpeded presence.
(Myst. 3. 11)76

Emma Clarke and John Dillon translate the middle part of this passage ἄχραντον

75 Now the bad spirits work in two ways; that is, they either take whole and entire
possession of the mind, so that they allow those in their power neither to understand nor to think,
as is the case, for example, with those who are popularly called ‘possessed,’ whom we see to be
demented and insane, such as the people who are related in the gospel to have been healed by the
savior; or they deprave the soul.
76
καὶ πρὸ τοῦ πίνειν δὲ οὕτως ἀσιτεῖ τὴν ἡµέραν ὅλην καὶ νύκτα, καὶ ἐν ἱεροῖς τισιν
ἀβάτοις τῷ πλήθει καθ’ ἑαυτὸν ἀνακεχώρηκεν ἀρχόµενος ἐνθουσιᾶν, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀποστάσεως καὶ
ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγµάτων ἄχραντον ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ θεοῦ παρασκευάζει·
ἐξ ὧν δὴ εἰς καθαρὰν ἕδραν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἐλλάµπουσαν ἔχει τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπίπνοιαν,
ἀκώλυτόν τε αὐτῇ παρέχει τὴν κατοκωχὴν καὶ τὴν παρουσίαν τελείαν ἀνεµπόδιστον.

126
ἑαυτὸν εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ θεοῦ παρασκευάζει as “he purifies himself for receiving the

god.” But my rendering—“he prepares for the reception of the god by making himself

undefiled”— follows the Greek text more closely. The water that the prophet drinks

provides him with “the receptivity and purification of the luminous spirit in us, through

which we are able to receive the god” (µὲν ἐπιτηδειότητα µόνον καὶ ἀποκάθαρσιν τοῦ ἐν

ἡµῖν αὐγοειδοῦς πνεύµατος ἐµποιεῖ, δι’ ἣν δυνατοὶ γιγνόµεθα χωρεῖν τὸν θεόν) (Myst.

3.11). This vocabulary “to prepare” appears again in the same passage, when Iamblichus

discusses the oracle at Branchidai.

And as for the woman at Branchidai who gives oracles, it is either by holding the
staff first given by a certain god that she is filled by the divine radiance; or else
when sitting on the axle she predicts the future; or whether dipping her feet or
skirt in the water, or inhaling vapor from the water, at any rate, she receives the
god: prepared and made ready by any or all of these preliminaries for his
reception from without, she partakes of the god. This is what is shown by the
abundance of sacrifices, the established custom of the custom of the whole ritual,
and everything that is performed with due piety prior to divination: also the baths
of the prophetess, her fasting for three whole days, abiding in the innermost
sanctuaries, already possessed by light, and rejoicing in it for a long time. (Myst.
3. 11)77

These passages by Iamblichus are similar to Origen’s ideas insofar as they portray the

practices that lead to prophetic experiences (divination for Iamblichus and prophecy for

Origen). The ritual preparation includes practices such as fasting (ἀσιτία,78 associated

77 English translation follows Clarke and Dillon with my modification. Καὶ µὴν ἥ γε ἐν

Βραγχίδαις γυνὴ χρησµῳδός, εἴτε ῥάβδον ἔχουσα τὴν πρώτως ὑπὸ θεοῦ τινος παραδοθεῖσαν
πληροῦται τῆς θείας αὐγῆς, εἴτε ἐπὶ ἄξονος καθηµένη προλέγει τὸ µέλλον, εἴτε τοὺς πόδας ἢ
κράσπεδόν τι τέγγουσα τῷ ὕδατι ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος ἀτµιζοµένη δέχεται τὸν θεόν, ἐξ ἁπάντων
τούτων ἐπιτηδεία παρασκευαζοµένη πρὸς τὴν ὑποδοχὴν ἔξωθεν αὐτοῦ µεταλαµβάνει. Δηλοῖ δὲ
καὶ τὸ τῶν θυσιῶν πλῆθος καὶ ὁ θεσµὸς τῆς ὅλης ἁγιστείας καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα δρᾶται πρὸ τῆς
χρησµῳδίας θεοπρεπῶς, τά τε λουτρὰ τῆς προφήτιδος καὶ ἡ τριῶν ὅλων ἡµερῶν ἀσιτία καὶ ἡ ἐν
ἀδύτοις αὐτῆς διατριβὴ καὶ ἐχοµένης ἤδη τῷ φωτὶ καὶ τερποµένης ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ·

78As we have seen in the Introduction, fasting as one of the bodily practices for prophecy
has been discussed by some scholars.

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with the oracle at Branchidai), withdrawal into a sacred, inaccessible place and abiding

there (at the oracle at Colophon). Origen similarly emphasized the importance of

practices that lead to prophecy, such as “purification by lengthy abstinence,” and “being

imbued with holy and religious training” (Princ. 3.3.3). Just as Origen discusses that the

purpose of this practice is to be united with God (at least for Christians), so too does

Iamblichus suggest that through these preparatory rituals, prophets and diviners “partake

of God.”

Is Everyone a Potential Theurgist/ Diviner?

Sharing the conceptual background of Platonism,79 Iamblichus and Origen both

understand divination and practice in a certain orientation toward divinization. I argued

that Origen argues that everyone has a certain orientation toward divinization (theosis).80

According to Iamblichus as well, the way to “partake of God” through proper ritual is not

just for certain people but for everyone, at least theoretically. This notion is specifically

expressed in De Mysteriies 3.12,

If, then, we have started these things correctly, the divine power of the gods is
bounded by nothing divisible, neither by place, nor by a divisible human body,

79
On Iamblichus’s Neoplatonism, see Chrystal Addey, “Consulting the Oracle: The
Mantic Art and Its Causation in Iamblichus’ De Mysteriis,” in Metaphyical Patterns in
Platonism: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern Times, eds. John. F. Finamore and
Robert M. Berchman (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2007), 73-87; Anne Sheppard,
“Iamblichus on Inspiration: De Mysteriis 3.4-8,” in The Divine Iamblichus: Philosopher and Man
of Gods, ed. H. J. Blumenthal and E. G. Clarke (London: Bristol Classical Press, 1993), 138-43;
Gregory Shaw, “Divination in the Neoplatonism of Iamblichus,” Mediators of the Divine:
Horizons of Prophecy, Divination, Dreams and Theurgy in Mediterranean Antiquity, ed. Robert
M. Berchman (Atlanta, GA: University of South Florida, 1998), 224-67.
80
As Ilaria Ramelli put it, “all must acquire the likeness of God through our deeds and
deliberate choices.” Ramelli, “Origen’s Doctrine of Apokatastasis,” 352.

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 nor by a soul contained in any single form of divisible entities, but being separate
by itself and indivisible, it is wholly present everywhere to those who are able to
share in it. And it both illuminates from without and fills all things, and permeates
all the elements […]And existing itself prior to the totality of things, it is
sufficient, by its own separateness, to fill all things to the extent that each is able
to share in it. (emphasis added)81

The “divine power of the gods” is ever present for “those who are able to share in it,” and

“each one is able to share in” the divine power of the gods. As to Iamblichus’s idea that

everyone has a potential to be united with the divine, Gregory Shaw notes,

Iamblichus had been led to the higher reaches of Platonism by Porphyry, and
although Porphyry also introduced Iamblichus to theurgy it was Iamblichus who
discovered its deeper significance. For Porphyry, theurgy functioned as a mere
preparation for the philosophic life and was to be left on the periphery of its
higher disciplines. Iamblichus, on the other hand, moved theurgy from periphery
to center, not only in the life of the philosopher, but for anyone who worshiped
the gods. (emphasis added) 82

For Iamblichus, is the divination potentially open to everyone? Would everyone become

a diviner? We have seen above that Shaw argues, “true divination, according to

Iamblichus, was equivalent to divinization, making the soul divine.”83 Since everyone has

a trace of divine light in herself, she is capable of being united with the divine, just as the

(true) diviners did. In De Mysteriies 3.11, Iamblichus invites the readers to devote

themselves to “one kind of oracle which is undefiled and sacerdotal, and truly divine,”

when he says, “it is proper for you and everyone who is a genuine lover of the gods to
81
Εἰ δὴ ταῦτα ὀρθῶς εἰρήκαµεν, ὑπ’ οὐδενὸς οὔτε τόπου οὔτε µεριστοῦ σώµατος
ἀνθρωπίνου οὔτε ψυχῆς κατεχοµένης ἐν ἑνὶ εἴδει µεριστῶν περιείληπται µεριστῶς ἡ µαντικὴ τῶν
θεῶν δύναµις, χωριστὴ δ’ οὖσα καὶ ἀδιαίρετος ὅλη πανταχοῦ πάρεστι τοῖς µεταλαµβάνειν αὐτῆς
δυναµένοις, ἔξωθέν τε ἐπιλάµπει καὶ πληροῖ πάντα, δι’ ὅλων τε τῶν στοιχείων διαπεφοίτηκε, γῆν
τε καὶ ἀέρα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ κατείληφεν, οὐδέν τε ἄµοιρον ἑαυτῆς οὔτε τῶν ζῴων οὔτε τῶν ἀπὸ
φύσεως διοικουµένων ἀπολείπει, ἀλλὰ τοῖς µὲν µᾶλλον τοῖς δὲ ἧττον ἀφ’ ἑαυτῆς δίδωσί τινα
µοῖραν προγνώσεως· αὐτὴ µέντοι πρὸ τῶν ὅλων προϋπάρχουσα αὐτῷ τῷ χωριστῷ ἑαυτῆς ἱκανὴ
γέγονεν ἀποπληρῶσαι πάντα, καθ’ ὅσον ἕκαστα δύναται αὐτῆς µετέχειν.
82
Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul, 14.
83
Ibid., 232.

129
surrender (or submit) oneself to it wholly, which produces the true oracles and good

virtues.” Iamblichus models his audience by trying to persuade them to have a particular

disposition and by placing the readers on the side of “genuine lover of the gods.”84

As Johnston indicates, the manti/ß (diviner/prophet) “makes a profession out of

something that, arguably, anyone could do to some extent.”85 Iamblichus, like Origen,

does not claim that every person should become a prophet/diviner, but does implicitly

attempt to persuade his readers to cultivate within themselves an appropriate disposition

to practice the prophetic self, that is, the self that is open oneself to be united with the

divine, and follows the example of oracular diviners. In this way, Iamblichus engages

prophetic experiences in order to persuade his audience toward the cultivation of a certain

kind of self.

Conclusion

Juxtaposed with Iamblichus, we see that Origen fits within a larger cultural and

philosophical context that focuses on proper maintenance of the self as a means to

attaining the divine. We have seen in the previous chapter that Origen defines Christian

and Judean prophets over and against someone like the Pythia, constructing her as outside

the bonds of true prophecy. Yet, in this chapter, instead of seeing differences between

Christian and non-Christian notions of prophecy and divination, we have instead noted

important similarities between Iamblichus and Origen regarding human agency and

divine power, and preparation practices for cultivating the prophetic self. On the surface,

84 Later, he also exhorts the audience to “surrender to it wholly” (Myst. 3.31).

85
Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination, 115.

130
they seem to discuss different subject matters: Origen discusses true/good and false/bad

prophecy in De Principiis 3.3, and Iamblichus discusses sophisticated/genuine and

vulgar/dubious divination in De Mysteriies 3. Yet they deploy similar rhetorical strategies

when they emphasize the cultivation of a religious self by encouraging the audiences to

participate in disciplined trainings so that they may submit themselves to the divine.

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 Conclusion

This dissertation has shown that Origen as well as the author of the Shepherd of

Hermas and Iamblichus engage the contested terms of prophetic activity in order to

persuade their audience(s) toward the cultivation of a properly religious self. While

ancient depictions and discussions of prophecy sometimes represent the prophet as

passive and overcome by the divine in the moment of prophecy or ecstasy, I have shown

that such views on prophecy are set forth in multiple ways. Thus I complicate

contemporary scholarly discussions on early Christian prophecy that imitate ancient

rhetoric by assuming that human activity should be non-existent in prophecy. Since the

early Christian texts about prophecy often have an apologetic and polemical nature,

modern scholars often have failed to recognize how this debate is predicated on the idea

that certain practices are necessary in order to become a prophet or to be considered

worthy of the dwelling of the divine/the Holy Spirit. Through Origen’s works as well as

the selected comparanda, I have demonstrated that ancient discussions on prophecy

deploy similar strategies in order to persuade the audiences to participate in disciplined

training.

Origen places prophecy in the midst of a common larger argument about the

cultivation of the self in relation to the divine. In his discussions of prophecy, he does not

urge the audience to become prophets. His point is not that they should become prophets,

but that they should have the disposition of a prophet. He uses the example of prophets in

order to show readers how to adopt the way the prophet trains himself/herself in a certain

way of living. Origen invites them to participate in disciplined training so that they may

become proper and worthy instruments of the divine, just as the prophets were.

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 In making these arguments, I have largely drawn on Pierre Hadot’s insights in

which he accentuates that cultivation of a particular philosophical self. Using Hadot has

allowed me to intervene in a scholarly conversation that too often is stuck in the question

of how mystical or intellectual Origen is, or whether early Christians thought that human

activity should be required or invited in the act of prophesying. Using Hadot’s insights, I

contend that discussions about prophecy in early Christianity call for training in a

particular way of living, and thus could be influential to early Christians regardless of

whether they would ever attain the status of prophet or not. Thus, this dissertation offers

contributions to early Christian studies and the scholarship on Origen.

First, combining rhetorical criticism with Hadot’s ideas as a lens to think through

the intellectual and bodily orientations prophecy necessitates, this dissertation has

developed an argument for understanding the complexities of discourses on prophecy in

early Christianity.1 I argue that Origen brings together the notion of the prophet with that

of the crafting of self (including a self that interprets scripture.)

This methodology proves to be helpful in exploring ancient debates about whether

prophecy is involuntary—involving human passivity and a lack of human will— or

active—involving the prophet’s volition. Through the analysis of Origen’s works as well

as the Shepherd of Hermas and Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies, I have demonstrated that

whether these texts privilege involuntary or voluntary mode of prophecy, they agree on

the importance of inculcating a particular moral self among the readers, and attempt to

encourage the audience to participate in certain training.

1
This is one of this dissertation’s contributions, for Hadot’s work usually attends to
“philosophical” or “theological” texts, but hasn’t focused on the issue of prophecy.

133
 Second, this dissertation draws on current scholarship on Origen, which highlights

the centrality of pedagogical structure in Origen’s thought, and especially which aligns

moral progress with the interpretation of the Scripture. In expanding on this scholarship

on Origen by connecting his understanding of prophecy to his larger pedagogical

structure, this dissertation also contributes to the study of Origen. I have argued that

Origen thinks that those who are “those who have made some moral progress on the

itinerary of the Christian faith” –as Martens put it—could receive spiritual gifts in general

and prophecy in particular.2

I have made these arguments by means of close readings of various Origen’s

texts, sometimes in conjunction with other ancient writers. Chapter 1 analyzed Origen’s

discussion of spiritual gifts and prophecy in Comm.Rom. 9.1-9.3. First, emphasizing the

human-divine relationship, Origen tries to encourage the audience to inculcate a self that

is worthy to receive the spiritual gifts and prophecy through moral formation and

scriptural study. Second, using the letters of Paul, Origen encourages the audience to

participate in the interpretation of the Scripture, teaching, and moral discussions, each of

which he portrays as a form of prophecy (Comm.Rom. 9.3.8).

Chapter 2 engaged the Shepherd of Hermas (especially Mandate 11) to draw out

similarities and differences between Origen’s substantial discussions on prophecy in

Contra Celsum Book 7 and the Homilies on Numbers 14-17 (“The Book of Balaam”).

The Shepherd of Hermas provides an example of the diverse competing voices and the

different Christian viewpoints which Origen implicitly engages. This chapter

demonstrated three themes. First, I analyzed how the theme of control and lack thereof

also functions as a major criterion of a true prophet. The central question that this chapter
2
Martens, Origen and Scripture, 161.

134
examines is the significance of a text’s depiction of a prophet as a mouthpiece of the

Spirit (or not): Who is a true and worthy (to use Origen’s favored terminology) prophet in

these texts? Second, I investigated how moral formation is considered as another criterion

of whether one is a true prophet or not. The question (what is a good human?) intertwines

with the question (who is a true prophet?). Origen argues that a true prophet must be in

control. In contrast, in the Shepherd of Hermas, (true) prophecy is presented as a passive

experience (in the sense that the prophet is the mouthpiece of God). Third, I demonstrated

that discussions about prophecy use rhetoric to ask the reader or hearer to cultivate a

particular kind of moral and theological self. These writings, such as Origen’s works and

Shepherd of Hermas, are not manuals to become a prophet, but rather serve to encourage

the (Christian) audience in a particular way. By reading how the true prophet acts in the

texts, the readers and hearers of the text are by extension exhorted to undertake the same

practices (such as controlling emotions). They both agree that a certain cultivation is

required, in order to be a right vessel for the Spirit to indwell.

Having compared Origen’s works with the Shepherd of Hermas, which is a potent

instantiation of a Christian counterpart that holds a seemingly different idea on true

prophecy as a lack of control, and yet which has similar rhetorical strategies, I moved on

to Chapter 3 which employed Iamblichus’s De Mysteriies 3 as a point of comparison for

Origen’s De Principiis 3 and saw how these two texts deploy similar discussions and use

similar rhetorical strategies but with a different target audience. Origen discusses

prophecy in terms of specific spiritual exercises—both physical and

intellectual/philosophical practices. These include practices of discernment and training

135
in knowledge (for example, to discern the right divinity/spirit, to preserve oneself from

the evil spirits, to participate in abstinence, etc.).

Focusing on Origen’s De Principiis 3, Chapter 3 examined four facets of Origen’s

use of prophecy. First, in the context of his emphasis on human freedom and providence,

Origen discusses practices that can lead to prophecy. Second, Origen uses the rhetoric of

prophecy, but does not describe a present capacity to prophesy. He rather places

prophecy in the midst of a common larger argument about the cultivation of the self in

relation to the divine. Prophecy also functions as a prime example for Origen to discuss

how a person interacts with the external influences (either the true divine or the

daemonic). Third, Origen uses past prophets as models for the cultivation of a Christian

self that is “prophetic,” but does not necessarily prophesy. Fourth, one of the most

pertinent ways to examine the notion of the self is to view how the other is constructed.

Origen delves into polemics against the other, that is, the opponents, whom he regards as

using their freedom incorrectly and losing their self-control. Iamblichus’s work provides

a broader context for Origen’s ideas about prophecy. Privileging possession as a genuine

form of divination, Iamblichus highlights the importance of ritual preparations to become

a right instrument (ὄργανον) of the divine.

As we have seen throughout this dissertation, Origen—as a biblical scholar par

excellence—develops his themes on prophecy through engagement with biblical texts. In

Chapter 1, we have seen how Origen exercises scriptural practice on his discussions of

prophecy. Yet Origen’s use of scriptural practice is not limited to his commentaries. In

Chapter 2, I have demonstrated how Origen tries to solve the problem of Balaam in the

Homilies on Numbers. Chapter 3 also demonstrated that Origen, in De Principiis,

136
engages with the Scripture (such as 1 Corinthians 2 and 2 Timothy 2) in his discussions

on prophecy. In this way, I deliberately span multiple genres in Origen’s corpus to show

a consistent element in Origen’s thoughts, that is, that his discussions about prophecy

work rhetorically toward the construction of a Christian self among his audiences.

A major but tacit motivation in my research for this dissertation has been

questions about gender and the historical possibilities for women and men participating in

religious practices in early Christianity. As the last words of this dissertation, I want to

mark the implications of my thesis for this key interest. We have seen in this dissertation

how passivity in prophecy or divination is linked to the feminine and is marked as

problematic by several of our key texts. Moreover, we have seen how Origen attempts to

deny the legitimacy of prophetic practices by women.3 Reading against the grain of the

arguments that obfuscate the presence of women prophets, however, we can see the

historical presence of women prophets in early Christianity.4 Given Origen’s hesitation

about women who prophesy, and given my findings in this dissertation, we may ask:

Does Origen only call men to cultivate a proper self that is worthy for the Holy Spirit’s

dwelling? Origen had women pupils, and the readers and hearers of Origen’s writings

must have comprised both men and women. Thus women were also potentially

encouraged to cultivate a self that is open to the divine, and that is worthy to be a proper

instrument and vessel. We have seen how Origen urges the readers and hearers to

participate in disciplined training with virtues of courage, justice, and self-mastery. We

then can also ask: Are men and women assigned different kinds of virtues, when Origen

3
See esp. Chapter 2.

4 See Introduction Chapter.

137
exhorts the audiences to cultivate a particular self? That is, are the virtues gendered? 5 I

hope, in future research, to continue to explore these questions.

5
For example, Karen Jo Torjesen argues, “Men were assigned the virtues of courage,
justice, and self-mastery. Women were assigned the virtues of chastity, silence, and obedience.”
Karen Jo Torjesen, When Women were Priests: Women’s Leadership in the Early Church and the
Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,
1993), 115.

138
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