the conjunction of visible and invisible matters, disclosing heavenly mysteries while cloaking them in the language, events, and diverse physical manifestations of earthly reality.87 When viewed from this perspective, allegory is much less a “method” that Origen brings to the text in order to explicate it than a metaphysical presupposition: his exegesis assumes that “spiritual” meaning is an inherent dimension of the biblical text itself. His method is, rather, disciplined attention to issues of