Origen [Paperback]

Theodore Vrettos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2001

The author paints a striking psychological portrait of Origen, the great Christian mystic, who lived in Alexandria during the third century. This historical novel received high praise and superb reviews throughout the United States and Canada.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Theodore Vrettos is the author of four novels and two non-fiction books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (February 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595166857
• ISBN-13: 978-0595166855
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,544,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfathomably awful, February 24, 2008

By 

Michael Anthony Novak (Loyola University New Orleans) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Origen (Paperback)

As an historian and theologian, I looked forward to reading this novel when I first discovered it in the library at the University of Notre Dame some years ago. Origen was a chief figure of my reading and so this book turned up in my search through the library stacks for his work and work on him. I was pleased that some writer had recognized the natural drama of Origen's life that one can find in Eusebius' "History of the Church," as well as in the nature of his thought, and had decided to adapt that to historical fiction.

What I found in the book was nothing of the sort.

This novel is instead more of the tired anti-Christian sort of tract that wants to make Origen out as a great genius who was merely used by the ugly Christian Church for its own ends. All of his greatness comes instead from his engagement with Neo-Platonic philosophy, and the author goes to great lengths to obscure the actual Christian content of anything Origen actually said, wrote or thought. In another predictable association of this sort, all Origen might actually owe to Christianity are sexual hang-ups, leading up to the famed "rash act" of his rumored castration.

The Origen of this novel is so distorted from everything approaching actual history as to still leave the subject open: there still has never been an historical novel based on Origen of Alexandria. Setting aside any historical reservations, the novel still gave me no particular pleasure. Myself, I was amazed to see that this book had been reprinted, so much so that it provoked me to write this (for me) rare review. Despite the vague claim made above, I cannot imagine anyone giving it positive reviews who isn't doing so purely for reasons of ideological sympathy.