Mother of Souls’. The Holy City of Jerusalem in Origen's Commentary and Homilies on the Song of Songs

In this essay, I investigate Origen’s exegeses of Jerusalem as polemical tools against Jewish, literalist and Gnostic exegetes. I will use his CCt and HCt as my primary textual reference, since these works display all the allegorical meanings offered by the theologian for the city of Jerusalem, providing also many examples of his polemic against the abovementioned alternative exegetical traditions. Furthermore, I will argue that Origen presented the heavenly Jerusalem as the eschatological fulfilment of the earthly one, thus granting an eschatological reality to the heavenly city alone. Moreover, by identifying the earthly Jerusalem with Jewish, literalist and Gnostic interpreters, and by envisioning the earthly Jerusalem as a mere step toward the establishment of the only true eschatological city, Origen was demonstrating his doctrine of the universal conversion of all creation to God. Furthermore, in tailoring his interpretation of Jerusalem to his polemical purposes, Origen shaped the Christian theological identity against internal and external opposing forces, and proposed a more mystical and spiritual interpretation of Christianity than that which had been previously envisioned.