Ancient Become Like Angels: Origen's Doctrine of Soul. By Benjamin P. Blosser. (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press. 2012. Pp. x, 290. $69.95. ISBN 978-0-8132-2001-7.)No theologian's legacy more exemplifies tension between philosophy and faith than that of Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-254 CE)-the most astonishing sign of contradiction in history of Christian thought, says Henri Crouzel.1 This tension is nowhere more evident than in his complex teaching on human being. In his new book Become Like Angels: Origen's Doctrine of Soul, Benjamin Blosser argues that this most hotly contested area of Origen's system is, in fact, where he wrestles most passionately with Christian truth.Major scholarship on Origen's anthropology has tended to focus on his innovative doctrine of spirit (Jacques Dupuis, Crouzel) or contentious matters like pre-existence of souls (Marguerite Harl) and their primordial fall (Jean Laporte). Surprisingly, comprehensive survey of his doctrine of soul-for Origen, very heart of human person (Blosser, p. 3)-has not been attempted. Blosser aims to close this gap.Blosser acknowledges that, indisputably, Origen borrowed from diffuse philosophical tradition known today as Middle Platonism. How deep, then, does influence run? To answer this question, he undertakes an ambitious survey of Platonic views on through Origen's day, deftly untangling its many contradictions, beginning with Plato and leading up to Philo, Numenius, and Alcinous. The analysis is so lucidly developed that even readers with only marginal interest in Origen will find it useful guide to nuances of Middle Platonic psychology.The philosophical review is pursued in tandem with comparative study of main divisions of Origen's doctrine of soul. Blosser carefully attends to its sui generis features: rational creation, soul's radical mutability, and final restoration (cpokatastasis). Throughout discussion, Blosser correctly highlights special role played by uniquely unfallen soul of Jesus-exemplar of human psyche and vehicle of its divinization (p. 135).Blosser concludes that Origen adheres to the hermeneutical strictures of Christian revelation rather than philosophical categories. While Origen was highly aware of Middle Platonic speculations on soul, Blosser writes, [he] is in fact subtly critical of Middle Platonic theories of soul... (p. 267). Yet, he shows, even more than critiquing Platonic legacy, Origen endeavors to fulfill its potential by subduing it to its proper telos in Christ.According to Blosser, anthropology of Origen's intellectual contemporaries was bound to a closed cosmos that operates according to rigid, quasi-mechanis- tic laws of dualistic ontology. …