This is the fourth and final volume of Origen's Commentary on Romans in the Sources Chrétiennes series. Mark Edwards reviewed the first volume (SC dxxxii) and I the next two (SC dxxxix, dxliii) for this Journal (lxi [2010], 795–7; lxiv [2013], 571–2). This last instalment contains the final two books of Rufinus’ Latin abridgement of Origen's Commentary: books nine (Romans xii.1–xiv.15) and ten (Rom. xiv.16–xvi.27). The Latin text and facing French translation are prefaced by an introduction by M. Fédou which briefly recounts the circumstances in which Origen first produced this Commentary c. 243 and Rufinus later translated it c. 405–6. Thereafter Fédou discusses an important textual problem that concerns Rom. xii.16–xiv.10a. Rufinus laments in his translator's preface that he has not simply been charged with condensing Origen's Commentary (which ran to fifteen volumes), but that these volumes were also interpolati. What precisely this term means has been debated in the scholarship: did they suffer actual interpolation, i.e. tampering, or was it simply the case that Rufinus could not find a complete treatise? Most prefer the latter reading. But this raises the problem of what to make of Rufinus’ abridgement that does, in fact, appear to transmit material from Origen's entire Commentary. Did Rufinus subsequently find the missing Greek sections, or did he reconstruct Origen's exegesis from his other writings? A number of answers have been proposed in the literature, and Fédou provides a useful status quaestionis. The introduction then orients readers to four major themes in these final two books of the Commentary: the transference of religion from the Jews to Gentiles (Rom. xii); submission to authority and the command to love (Rom. xiii); relationships between Christians (Rom. xiv.1–xv.13); Paul's ministry, including exhortations and salutations, and his concluding doxology (Rom. xv.14–xvi.27).

M. Fédou and L. Brésard reprint 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 adopt a handful of the variant readings in Bammel's apparatus: these are conveniently listed on p. 52. The authors preface each of the books of the Commentary with a brief summary of its contents and a continuous French translation of the corresponding section of Paul's Letter to the Romans, as Origen knew it. The volume closes with Rufinus’ epilogue and a scriptural index.

The main contribution of this diglot edition of Origen's Commentary on Romans lies with its French translation. I reiterate the assessment in my earlier review: congratulations to both Michel Fédou and Luc Brésard for promulgating Origen's work within the francophone world.