Philosophy of Religion

On First Principles

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Origen

c. 220

On First Principles — De Principiis — is the first systematic work of Christian theology in the Western tradition. Composed in Alexandria around 220 CE, it attempts to construct a coherent rational account of the entire Christian worldview: God, creation, the soul, free will, Scripture, and last things. Origen draws freely on Platonic philosophy, particularly on the concepts of the logos, the pre-existence of souls, and the ultimate restoration of all things to God. The work is organised into four books treating God and the divine hierarchy, the rational creatures and their fall, the created world and its purpose, and the proper interpretation of Scripture. Condemned by later councils, many of its arguments have survived only in fragments and in a Latin translation by Rufinus that smoothed over its most controversial positions. It remains the foundational document of Christian philosophical theology.