| This work demonstrates that Origen defines and employs three separate senses of Scriptural meaning within his exegetical theory and practice. To better understand them, this work replaces the conventional labels "literal," "moral" and "spiritual" with Origen's terms "somatic," "psychic" and "pneumatic" (or "body's," "soul's" and "spirit's"). Origen develops the following definitions throughout his works: the somatic sense literally conveys historical information about God's interaction with humankind or moral instruction by specific precept or example; the psychic sense figuratively conveys broader moral instruction, emphasizing that the human soul is the prize for which good and evil forces temporally fight; the pneumatic sense figuratively conveys God's direct wisdom and love, emphasizing God's salvation plan played out in Christ and through the Church and completed at the Eschaton.; Further, this work demonstrates that the three senses interrelate to facilitate spiritual transformation in the hearer. Origen often presents separate psychic and pneumatic messages for a Biblical passage and relates them through a productive mingling: the pneumatic message establishes the telos of God's salvific plan, and the psychic message provides the means for the hearer to pursue virtue. Together, the psychic message becomes the temporal means of pursuing the eternal hope conveyed by the pneumatic message, the subtleties of which the hearer increasingly apprehends as he advances in virtue. The psychic sense (along with the somatic sense) will cease to edify by the final resurrection, when the pneumatic sense alone will unfold as the salvific experience of God's wisdom and love.; This work also argues that the relationship between the two higher senses reveals Origen's understanding of Scripture's structure and purpose and the exegete's responsibility. For Origen, Scripture conveys the mind of Christ and is constructed by the Holy Spirit to lead the hearer to perfect virtue and wisdom needed for salvation. By grappling with the three senses and their interrelationship, the hearer becomes more engaged in understanding Christ's mind. While Christ is the teacher and Scripture the tool, the exegete is the channel through which this teaching reaches others. |
