Integral Communication with Listeners in Origen’s Four Homilies on Psalm 76(77)

Abstract

A recently discovered collection of 29 Origen’s homilies on the Psalms was published in 2015. Origen delivered them in the last years of his life. We find there speculations on the borderline between philosophy and theology, which Origen never abandoned. Do they not violate the canon of homilies? Are they not dominated by a theoretical, intellectual factor? To answer these questions, the author poses a broader question in his article, namely, about the nature of communication with listeners. Did Origen, as a homilist, appeal in an integral and balanced way to all human faculties: reason, imagination, will, feelings and senses? The article has a character of a survey of the issue, since four homilies to Ps 76(77) are the subject of its analysis.