Christ the New Joshua: Retrieving Origen and Aquinas for Today

Matthew Webb Levering

doi:10.53439/stdfyt48.24.2021.117-136

Authors

Matthew Webb Levering Mundelein Seminary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53439/stdfyt48.24.2021.117-136

Keywords:

Chist, Origen, Joshua, Jordan baptism, Promised land

Abstract

This essay examines the theme of Christ as the New Joshua, according to patristic literature (preeminently Origen) and then according to St. Thomas Aquinas. I show that Thomas Aquinas knows and adopts Origen’s central insights regarding Christ as the New Joshua. The purpose of the essay is to suggest that the theme of Christ as the New Joshua should have a more central place both in contemporary Christology and in Thomistic Studies.

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