Interdisciplinary research on women and gender has made great progress in the past fifty years, opening up new research horizons concerning the living conditions, social status and cultural role of women in the first centuries of Christianity. By contrast, only few historical, philosophical and theological works have considered the feminine as an intellectual category – that is, as a means of representing ideas about theological discourses. In the third century, Origen of Alexandria was one of the most influential and prolific Christian theologians and used significant feminine metaphorical language in his theology. Hence, the main aim of my research is to establish to what extent the feminine was employed by Origen as an intellectual category to express theological doctrines. The importance of Origen for the study of the feminine as an intellectual category is testified not only by the presence of feminine metaphorical language in his works, especially his Commentary and Homilies on the Song of Songs, but mostly by its consistent and coherent use throughout his whole production. Origen was influential to such an extent that he established a model for subsequent Christian theologians who employed feminine metaphorical language in their theological and philosophical works. With few exceptions, there are no relevant studies on Origen and the feminine. Therefore, this project not only fills a significant gap in the Origenian scholarship, but it innovates the field of early Christian studies by showing how the feminine can function as theological framework through which analyse complex theological discourses.
OriGen aimed at investigating the way in which the feminine became a rhetorical tool for Origen’s theological concerns, that is, a means of expressing theological doctrines. It has three specific objectives. First, it listed and interpreted the numerous textual loci in which Origen uses the feminine to convey theological doctrines. Secondly, it contextualises these passages within Origen’s own theology. Thirdly, it identifies, where possible, antecedent traditions which held similar beliefs about the feminine. This research has indeed demonstrated that feminine metaphorical language is not only central, but theologically significant in Origen’s literary production. The research conducted during the MSCA represents a significant step forward for the current state of the art. The studies on feminine imagery conducted thanks to this fellowship have been the first to consider the feminine as a theological category in the works of Origen of Alexandria. They show that the feminine is not merely a rhetorical device employed by Origen in his allegorical exegesis of the Biblical texts, but a theological category he uses to convey theological doctrines. Most importantly, feminine metaphorical language is used by the Alexandrian theologian to describe the complex, ascensive, and pedagogical path that leads to God. This category is fairly consistent throughout his work and is evident in all his writings, though with varying degrees of importance.
