Christ – The Teacher of Salvation

Christ, his nature, and his works are the most central elements of Christian theology. Origen of Alexandria (185–254) plays an important role in the history of Christology and soteriology. He wrote his many biblical commentaries, theological treatises, and homilies before the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) issued their Christological doctrines, which were to set the agenda for Christological thinking for many centuries. In many respects Origen’s work paved the way for the decisions made in Nicaea and Chalcedon, yet Origen’s Christology is much more multifaceted than these creeds. His Christology is characterized by his understanding of Christ as God’s Wisdom and Word who includes and creates cosmos as a whole. His soteriology is characterized by his pedagogic and universalist thinking, which portrays Christ as a physician and a teacher who leads all human beings and the whole cosmos to completion in God. The present book provides a detailed analysis and interpretation of Origen’s Christology and soteriology as it is expounded in a number of his most important writings thus providing a comprehensive and coherent picture of Origen’s multifaceted Christology and soteriology.