Origen's Theory of Language and the Second Column of the Hexapla

Martin, Mathew (2004) Origen's Theory of Language and the Second Column of the Hexapla. Harvard Theological Review, 97 (1). ISSN 0017-8160

Preview

PDF Download (84Kb) | Preview

Abstract

Origen's primary aim in compiling the Hexapla has been the subject of much speculation. The Hexapla has been seen as an ideologically neutral source of comparative text-critical data, as weapon in polemical struggles against Judaism and its claims on Scripture, even as a text-book for learning Hebrew. In Comm in Matt 15.14, Origen himself describes the aim of his text critical work to heal the dissonances between the manuscripts of the Old Testament. Im Ep.ad Afr.9, Origen implies that a major motivation for the compilation of the Hexapla was to facilitate the comparison of the Jewish scriptures with the Septuagint so that Christians disputing with Jews would know if certain passages and phrases were common to both. There were, then, both polemical and scholastic motives for the compilation of the Hexapla. The Hexapla was a complex document and it should not surprise us that its function was equally complex and multiplicitous.

Actions (login required)