Origen was not the first person to sedulously examine Paul's letter to the Romans. He was, however, the first to write a substantial commentary on it. His wide-ranging, fifteen-book Commentary was composed c. 243 during the latter part of his career, which was spent in Caesarea Maritima. Unfortunately, only scattered Greek fragments of the original work remain. We are, thus, dependent upon Rufinus' Latin translation, composed in 405–6. Rufinus abridged Origen's work into ten books. The two Sources Chrétiennes volumes under review are the second and third in a projected series of four on Origen's Commentary on Romans. Their chief contribution lies in their translation into French. In recent years the Commentary has been rendered into Italian (F. Cocchini), German (T. Heither) and English (T. P. Scheck). With these four volumes the francophone world is indebted to Michel Fédou and Luc Brésard for introducing Origen's work to an even wider audience.

In the inaugural volume of the Commentary (SC dxxxii) (rev. Mark Edwards, this Journal lxi [2010], 795–7), readers will find a substantial introduction to the Commentary, as well as the text and translation of its first two books. These two latest instalments contain, respectively, books iii–v (Romans iii.5–vi.1) and vi–viii (Romans vi.12–xi.36). M. Fédou and L. Brésard use the Latin text of C. P. Hammond Bammel's critical edition (Der Römerbriefkommentar des Origenes: kritische Ausgabe der Übersetzung Rufinus [Freiburg 1990, 1997, 1998]). They do not print her apparatus and depart only minimally from the established text (for a rare instance of a disagreement see, for example, SC dxxxix. 258 n. 1). Their apparatus is lightly annotated with commentary touching upon knotty philological and theological matters. Particularly valuable is their comparison of Rufinus' text with the surviving Greek fragments. The authors preface each of the books of the Commentary with a helpful summary of its contents. For a more detailed orientation to the themes of the Commentary – such as the entrance of sin and death from one man to the whole world (Romans v.12), affinities (and tensions) with Pelagius’ later theology, and the destiny of Israel (Rom. xi) – readers will find M. Fédou's introductions to each volume especially instructive. Fédou notes that Origen's Commentary on Romans has enjoyed periodic popularity, notably in the ninth, twelfth and sixteenth centuries (SC dxxxix. 10). In recent history, it has admittedly paled in comparison to the scholarly interest in On first principles, Against Celsus, and other exegetical writings, most notably the Commentary on the Song of Songs and Commentary on John. There are indications, however, that this great work of Origen's later years is beginning to receive the attention that it is due. This Latin-French diglot of the Commentary is emblematic of this new interest.