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Gregory of Nyssa’s fifteen Homilies on the Song of Songs offer an important resource for the history of Christian biblical exegesis, as well as for the history of Christian ascetical and spiritual teaching, and stand alongside Origen’s commentary on the Song as a source for the later interpretative tradition. In addition to offering the original text and an English translation of all fifteen homilies, Norris provides an analysis of the characteristic themes of Gregory’s ascetical teaching, emphasizes its connection in his mind with the institution of baptism, and stresses the degree to which Gregory sees the teaching of the Song as addressed not to a special class of believers but to any and all Christians.

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Hans Urs von Balthasar places Origen of Alexandria “in rank . . . beside Augustine and Thomas” in “importance for the history of Christian thought,” explaining that his “brilliance” has captivated theologians throughout history (Spirit and Fire, 1984, 1). This brilliance shines forth in his nine extant homilies on Isaiah, in which he employs his theology of the Trinity and Christ to exhort his audience to play their crucial role in salvation history. Origen reads Isaiah’s vision of the Lord and two seraphim in Isaiah 6 allegorically as representing the Trinity, and this theme runs throughout the nine homilies. His representation of the seraphim as the Son and Holy Spirit around the throne of the Father brought early accusations that Origen was a proto-Arian subordinationist, followed by a pointed condemnation by Emperor Justinian in 553. These homilies, originally delivered between 245 and 248, are extant only in a fourth-century Latin translation. Though St. Jerome, likely because of these controversies, does not identify himself as the Latin translator, the evidence overwhelmingly points to his pen, and his reliability in conveying Origen’s authentic meaning is well documented. If one sets aside the questionable charges of subordinationism, these homilies, expounding on passages from Judges 6-10, come alive with Origen’s legacy of presenting Christ as the central figure of the soul’s ascent to God. Reading allegorically the two seraphim to be Jesus and the Holy Spirit around the Father’s throne, Origen draws a picture of the Trinity as a tightly knit whole in which the Son and the Holy Spirit eternally sing the Trisagion (“Holy, holy, holy”) to each other and the Father about the divine truths of God’s nature, allowing the part of their song that conveys the “middle things” of salvation history to be heard by creation. The “second seraph” is the Son, or Jesus, who descends holding a hot coal, or Scripture, from the altar of the throne, with which he cleanses Isaiah’s lips, or the believer’s soul. Origen employs his signature exegetical method of allegory and typology through the lens of the threefold meaning of Scripture to emphasize to his hearers that Christ is the deliverer, the content, and the reward of the healing Word. He repeatedly assures them that those who submit to Scripture will enter into salvation history’s cycle of cleansing from sin, growth in virtue, and ever-deepening knowledge of God. As a result, they will become like Christ and thus will be prepared to join the Trinity for all eternity at the heavenly wedding feast.

Presented in this volume are the remains of twenty-two homilies and a collection of fragments delivered by Origen around A.D. 240. The original texts of the homilies on Jeremiah have not come down to us completely; two of the homilies survive only in a Latin translation of St. Jerome. The homily on I Kings 28, while not a part of the homilies on Jeremiah, deals with the Witch of Endor and has been added to this volume in virtue of its own inherent interest.

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This volume provides the first English translation of the nine extant homilies on Psalms 36[37]–38[39] preached by Origen (d. 253/4) to his congregation at Caesarea as arranged and translated for Latin readers by his admirer, Rufinus of Aquileia (d. 411). These homilies are among the earliest extant examples of patristic preaching on the Psalter. The interpretation offered throughout these homilies, which is almost wholly moral, reflects Origen’s understanding of the “soul” of the scriptural text. These homilies provide a glimpse of Origen’s account of scriptural meaning, outlined in De principiis 4, in pastoral practice. In his preaching, Origen offers a vision of the Christian life as centered on the soul’s continuing conversion, growth, and progress, with particular reference to and within the context of the Church. The life of the believer is one of combat and struggle with powers opposed to Christ. It is Christ, as the divine Physician, who offers healing to the one who is wounded and ailing from sin, and it is Christ, as Wisdom and Word of God, who instructs and educates the believer in the life of the Spirit. These homilies reveal the substantial coherence of Origen’s thought, as expressed in the more speculative De principiis and as revealed in the more elaborate, nuptial theology found in his Commentary on the Canticle. This volume includes a robust introduction and complements the work of Joseph Trigg, whose translation from the original Greek of the cache of homilies discovered in Codex Monacensis 314 has recently appeared in this series.

In 2012 Dr. Marina Marin Pradel, an archivist at the Bayerische Stattsbibliotek in Munich, discovered that a thick 12th-century Byzantine manuscript, Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, contained twenty-nine of Origen’s Homilies on the Psalms, hitherto considered lost. Lorenzo Perrone of the University of Bologna, an internationally respected scholar of Origen, vouched for the identification and immediately began work on the scholarly edition that appeared in 2015 as the thirteenth volume of Origen’s works in the distinguished Griechische Christlichen Schrifsteller series. In an introductory essay Perrone provided proof that the homilies are genuine and demonstrated that they are, astonishingly, his last known work. Live transcripts, these collection homilies constitute our largest collection of actual Christian preaching from the pre-Constantinian period. In these homilies, the final expression of his mature thought, Origen displays, more fully than elsewhere, his understanding of the church and of deification as the goal of Christian life. They also give precious insights into his understanding of the incarnation and of human nature. They are the earliest example of early Christian interpretation of the Psalms, works at the heart of Christian spirituality. Historians of biblical interpretation will find in them the largest body of Old Testament interpretation surviving in his own words, not filtered through ancient translations into Latin that often failed to convey his intense philological acumen. Among other things, they give us new insights into the life of a third-century Greco-Roman metropolis, into Christian/Jewish relations, and into Christian worship. This translation, using the GCS as its basis, seeks to convey, as faithfully as possible, Origen’s own categories of thought. An introduction and notes relate the homilies to the theology and principles of interpretation in Origen’s larger work and to that work’s intellectual context and legacy.

Pauline Allen translates into modern English John Chrysostom’s Greek homilies on 1 and 2 Timothy. As with her other translations of Chrysostom’s homilies in the WGRW series, Allen provides an introduction that includes a brief overview of the homilist’s life and career, the themes of the homilies, and their probable context. These homilies on the letters to Timothy reveal Chrysostom’s thoughts on the spiritual, moral, social, and religious challenges he believed his own audience faced. While the homilist denounced Jewish law, women, and heretics, he praised a solitary monastic existence over life in an urban setting. Additionally, Chrysostom advocates that the virtue of mercy exhibited in almsgiving is the key to salvation. Allen’s notes and translation make this source for church history and theology accessible to students and scholars alike.

Pauline Allen translates Frederick Field's text of John Chrysostom's twelve homilies on Paul's Letter to the Colossians. Chrysostom concentrates in part on the apparently prevalent angel worship in Colossae (in modern Turkey). These homilies provide many details about everyday life in the late Roman period, such as the position of slaves and their treatment as well as various aspects of raising healthy, educated children. The themes of conflict between pagans, Jews, and Christians in the community, as well as the distinction between rich and poor in late antiquity, run throughout the homilies. This latest text and translation volume from WGRW is an essential resource for scholars and students interested in the history of the church.

This volume offers a translation of sixteen homilies by the most famous preacher in Christian antiquity, John Chrysostom. These homilies on Paul’s letter to the Philippians constitute the most comprehensive ancient surviving commentary on the letter in any language. The homilies have a direct and conversational style in which examples from daily life abound: children, the elderly, food, agriculture, seafaring, money, commerce, building, furniture, weather, illness, good health, animals, and slavery. Friendship themes, based on Paul’s relationship with the church at Philippi, and Christology also figure largely in these homilies. This volume, with Greek text and English translation on facing pages, situates Chrysostom’s homilies on Paul’s letter to the Philippians in their historical, homiletical, rhetorical, and liturgical contexts.

In her latest volume on John Chrysostom, Pauline Allen translates into English nine homilies on two of Paul’s letters. Included in this collection are six homilies on Titus that deal with Chrysostom’s attitudes toward episcopal accountability, the household, marriage, and almsgiving. Three homilies on Philemon address the short letter’s inclusion in the canon, forgiveness, honor, the treatment of slaves, and God’s punishment. A thorough introduction that addresses the date, provenance, and content of these homilies makes this volume an essential source for scholars and students interested in the development of the church in the fourth to fifth centuries CE.

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This volume contains fifty-nine homilies preached by St. Jerome on selected Psalms.

This volume of the Homilies of Saint Jerome contains fifteen homilies on Saint Mark's Gospel, Homilies 75-84.