Read more
Is the difference of male and female to be "completely shaken off" so that men and women are no longer men and women but merely human beings? The great seventh-century saint Maximus the Confessor said yes, but such thinking is difficult if not impossible to reconcile with much else in Christian tradition that obliges men and women to live as either men or women.
Origen's Revenge contrasts the two main sources of early Christian thinking on male and female: the generally negative view of Greek philosophy, limiting sexual distinction to the body and holding the body in low regard, and the much more positive view of Hebrew Scripture, in which sexual distinction and reproduction are both deemed naturally good and necessary for human existence. These two views account for much of the controversy in early Christianity concerning marriage and monasticism. They also still contribute to current controversies over sex roles, gender identity, and sexual ethics.
Origen's Revenge also develops the more Hebrew line of early Christian thought to propose a new understanding of male and female with a firmer grounding in scripture, tradition, theology, and philosophy and with profound implications for all human relationships, whether social, political, or spiritual.
About the author
BRIAN PATRICK MITCHELL has a PhD in theology from the University of Winchester in England and a BA in English literature from the University of Cincinnati. He is a protodeacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, a former soldier and cabinet-level speechwriter, a former Washington bureau chief of Investor's Business Daily, and the author of seven books on politics and religion, most recently Origen's Revenge: The Greek and Hebrew Roots of Christian Thinking on Male and Female, published in 2021 by Pickwick Publications, an imprint of Wipf and Stock.
