Gendered Allegories. Origen of Alexandria and the Representation of the Feminine in Patristic Literature

In the last six decades, gender studies have progressively gained importance across various academic disciplines, and Patristics is not an exception. This escalating scholarly interest has engendered a prolific body of research scrutinizing the experiences of women historically relegated to the periphery within early Christianity. Considerable attention has been paid to the way in which early Christian theologies and the Church Fathers understood women’s social and ecclesiastical roles and, in the rare occurrences where the sources allowed it, to Christian women’s self-perception. Nonetheless, the figure of Origen of Alexandria is conspicuously absent from these scholarly investigations. This volume undertakes the ambitious endeavor of bridging this scholarly lacuna while at last affording due scholarly attention to the figure of Origen of Alexandria. By approaching Origen’s work from a gender-focused perspective, the following studies aim to significantly enhance our comprehension of the nuanced portrayals of women and their corresponding archetypal manifestations in Christian exegesis. A fundamental premise that undergirds the following articles is the assertion that theological depictions of women and female personas in Christian exegesis were undeniably influenced by the prevailing social and cultural paradigms governing the roles ascribed to women in the third century. Concurrently, these theological representations exerted a reciprocal influence, subsequently shaping the evolving perceptions of women across successive centuries. This is particularly relevant because of Origen’s vast success in the following centuries. On one hand, Origen’s portrayal of women and the feminine exhibits a conformity to the deeply entrenched patriarchal expectations inherent to the third century. On the other hand, intriguing glimpses of a different perception emerge wherein women and the feminine are afforded a distinct and occasionally divergent consideration, particularly manifest when the salient attributes traditionally attributed to the female gender are harnessed as elucidatory conduits for expounding upon the intricate dynamics characterizing the relationship between the divine and the human.