Project description
The feminine as an intellectual category in Origen’s theology
The use of the feminine as an intellectual category for expressing theological doctrines is explored in women and gender studies. However, a renowned theologian of the third century, known as Origen of Alexandria, who employs the feminine as a philosophical and theological category, does not conform with the dichotomous model. The EU-funded OriGen project will study to what extent Origen of Alexandria employs the feminine as an intellectual category in the expression of his doctrines. The project will identify and record all the instances in which the feminine is employed in Origen's literary production, consider these passages within Origen’s theology, and trace previous traditions with similar doctrines that might have influenced the theologian in his writings.
Objective
My project aims to investigates to what extent Origen of Alexandria used the feminine as an intellectual category, that is, as a rhetorical and literary code for expressing theological doctrines. The majority of studies on women and gender have only marginally discussed the works of such a renown third century theologian, since Origen does not fit the dichotomous paradigm of research in this field, traditionally divided between “gender studies” and “women’s studies”. Rather, he employed the feminine as a philosophical and theological category to express his trinitarian, anthropological and ecclesiological doctrines. My project will be conducted in three following steps, each one focused on a specific objective. First, I will identify and list all the occurrences in which the feminine is employed as an intellectual category in Origen’s literary production. Secondly, I will contextualise these passages within Origen’s overall theology. Thirdly, I will identify antecedent traditions which held similar beliefs about the feminine and from which Origen could have drawn. I am well suited for this task, as I am trained in historical theological methods of investigation and have already conducted research on feminine imagery in early Christianity. Moreover, my project is innovative in the field as there are only a handful of studies which considers the feminine as an intellectual category, and none of them concerns Origen of Alexandria. Aarhus University is the perfect match to my project, as my proposed supervisor (Prof. Anders-Christian Jacobsen) is an expert on Origen of Alexandria and the other members of staff are experts in Origen’s reception history and trained in literary analysis of early Christian texts.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark