Origen, Valentinianism and Women's Roles

Abstract

This article analyses Origen of Alexandria’s and Heracleon’s exegeses of the Samaritan woman. It focuses on their allegorical interpretations of the woman and feminine elements (e.g. water jar) as theological and philosophical concepts. The first part of the article offers a brief overview of the scholarship on Origen and Valentinianism. The second part examines and confronts the exegetical methodology, the feminine allegories and the resulting theologies in the texts of the two authors. I will show that their different uses of the feminine as theological and philosophical categories give rise to opposing exegeses of the gospel passage and divergent views about women’s role in society.