Beschreibung:
<jats:p>In this article I will discuss whether the teaching and preaching of Origen should be understood as aiming at a conversion to philosophy. The idea that Origen’s teaching can be understood this way is inspired by Gregor Thaumaturgus-or Gregory the Wonderworker as he is called in English.1 In his address2 to Origen and his fellow pupils when he left Origen’s school in Caesarea Gregory describes what happened to him in Origen’s school as a kind of conversion. Reading Gregory’s address one can get the impression that his conversion was a conversion to philosophy more than a conversion to Christianity or to a certain kind of Christian theology. In a shorter form, Eusebius mentions something similar. At this background it is reasonable to ask what Gregory could have meant by his description, and whether such a description of Origen’s work can be confirmed and substantiated by Origen’s own writings. I will focus on Origen’s activities in Caesarea, but these will be seen in the context of what we know about his own education and his teaching in Alexandria in the period before he moved to Caesarea.</jats:p>