criticism (p. ). Origen invariably speaks of Platonism as a philosophy held by others, and even his adoption of its concepts and vocabulary, as Winrich Löhr observes in his subtle study of the theory of ideas in his writings, is motivated by a desire to answer question raised by his own tradition, often in controversy with other professing Christians. Jens Halfwassen ensures that the metaphysical system of Origen the Platonist receives some attention, arguing that his refusal to set the first principle above being aligns him with the original Parmenides against Plotinus’ reading of the logomachies which Plato had put into the mouth of that philosopher. M. J. EDWARDS CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD In the image of Origen. Eros, virtue, and constraint in the early Christian academy. By David Satran. (Transformations of the Classical Heritage.) Pp. xvi + . Oakland, CA: University of California Press, .$.. JEH () ; doi:./S David Satran’s In the image of Origen examines the teacher-student relationship as depicted in the Thanksgiving address to Origen of Alexandria, composed by his student Gregory (most likely Gregory Thaumaturgus, but Satran withholds defini- tive judgement), situated within the context of late antique paideia. The important contribution of this book is its study of the compositional nature of the Address and what this tells about pedagogy in the pivotal third and fourth centuries. Against predominant readings of this text as either a stock piece of rhetoric in service of culturally conservative ends or as a mine for historical information about Origen, the ‘catechetical schools’, or the development of Christianity in Cappadocia, the author shows how the literary structure of Gregory’s text illumines dimensions of the teacher-student relationship that are often acknowledged but rarely studied in detail. Satran situates his methodology against hyper-sceptical atti- tudes towards rhetorical texts, which are suspicious of any claim that their literary compositions conceal information of true value to the historian. Satran proposes instead to grapple seriously with its rhetoric, not as an obstacle but as a window to better understanding: ‘rhetoric neither conceals nor distorts but actually casts new light, enhancing certain features of an underlying reality’ (p. ). In this case, within the rhetorical structure of Gregory’s address lies an intimate portrait of the student-teacher relationship between Gregory and his teacher Origen. The first four chapters track the flow of Gregory’s Address, serving as a running commentary on the text, while a fifth chapter draws together the book’s themes and casts light on larger issues in third- and fourth-century developments. Chapter i charts Gregory’s initial ‘providential’ attraction to studying under Origen, which Satran characterises as a form of eros (understood in the philosoph- ical context of late antique amicitia more than a psychologising Freudian analysis), and the liberating ‘constraint’ that this bond among un-equals forged upon Gregory. Chapter ii explores the curricular expression of this relationship, where Gregory learned to shed deficient intellectual habits and to cultivate instead what Pierre Hadot calls learning ‘to live dialectically’. Chapter iii considers the non- JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY