Reincarnation

65 2.4.3 The significance of Origen In Funk , Franz Xaver / Bihlmeyer, Karl: “Kirchengeschichte” (History of the Church), Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn, 1926, Part one: Das christliche Altertum (Christian antiquity), page 211, it states: “Origen is a man of brilliant talent, the greatest scholar and by far the most prolific writer of the pre-nicaeanic period (Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea ’Izuik’), therefore called ‘man of steel’ respectively ‘man of brass‘, the most influential theologian of the Greek Church, the most important of the united Church before Augustinus.” Basil Studer 23 is of the opinion, “that around the turn of the forth and fifth century, the whole of the Christian West was familiar with Origen.” To underline the importance of Origen in later centuries, only a few examples will be cited: E v e n t h o u g h Origen was later condemned and branded a heretic by the Church, his work “De principiis” was c o p i e d i n m o n a s t e r i e s and d i s t r i b u t e d . Often warnings about his heterodoxy accompanied these transcripts. For Thomas of Aquin, Origen was the spiritual father of Aryanism. In Dante’s, the “bodies of the spheres” of the blessed, reminds one of Origen. In “divine comedy” Origen is not found amongst the heretics. Two contrasting assessments from the times of the reformation: Erasmus appreciated Origen so much, that he praised him as “as preacher and best interpreter of the Holy Scriptures”, whilst Luther pushed him aside because of his speculative and moralising theology, he preferred to accept Augustin and his doctrine of grace and election. 24 Two examples from the times of enlightenment out of the work (15) mentioned below: On page 30 it states: “The world of free spirits and the redemption through the common spiritualising in the philosophy of Leibniz reminds us of Origen. He acknowledges, in a letter to Remond the year before his death, explicitly the synthesis of Christianity and Platonism by Origen.” 25 And further: “Lessing too writes quite a lot that reminds one of Origen: the comprehensive, ‘education of humanity’ striving towards the age of ‘the eternal gospel’, the new embodiment of the soul after death and maybe the imagination of a world cycle.” The question, if Origen has to be counted amongst the heretics or not, is still being discussed even today. Depending on the approach, the results are conflicting. What is interesting though is, that i n s p i t e o f t h e o f f i c i a l c o n d e m n a t i o n of Origen by the Church in the 6th 23 Studer, Basil: “Zur Frage des Westlichen Origenismus”, (About Origenism of the West), In Studia Patristica IX (TUI 94). 1966, S.279 24 Look at: Görgemanns, Herwig / Karpp, Heinrich: “Origen ‘Four books of principiis’, page 29 25 Look at: Görgemanns, Herwig / Karpp, Heinrich: “Origen ‘Four books of principiis’, page 30