Abstract

The New Jerusalem of Rev 21-22 is one of the most heavily contested biblical figures in the earliest centuries of the Christian church. Of those who contributed to the conversation the most, Origen is likely the most influential. And yet no proper study has been made of Origen’s contribution to the figure’s reception. In this article, I review the reception of Revelation’s New Jerusalem prior to Origen, its likely influence on Origen, and the Alexandrian’s unique reception and hermeneutical perspectives on, and applications of, the figure throughout his corpus. What emerges in Origen is a richly interpersonal interpretation that bespeaks not only persons human and divine but their intimate union both in the church today and in the consummation in the age to come. As such, Origen both solidifies prior allegorical readings of Rev 21-22 and sets the agenda for subsequent Greek patristic interpretations.