Introduction

Origen, who studied in Alexandria and preached in Caesarea in the first half of the third century, has a justified, if at times exaggerated, reputation as the founder of philosophical theology. 'In countering the attacks launched by the philosopher Celsus, Origen adopts Platonic philosophy to shape his argument and mount his reply. Assuming many elements of Platonic thought, he begins to construct an early form of Christian theology'. It is only the title of C. H. Bigg's fine monograph, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria, which perpetuates the assumption that we 'know' that Clement and Origen were Platonists, as we know that Aquinas was an Aristotelian. In keeping with the reprehensible usage of New Testament scholars, everything said or written in the interval from Alexander the Great to the fall of Rome is deemed to be 'Hellenistic'; against this background, Christianity moves like a shadow on an unmarked sundial.