Homelies sur les Nombres. Vol. 3 (review)

This volume contains the last nine of Origen's Homilies on Numbers which are extant in Rufinus' Latin translation (=Hom.20-28). These homilies, originally delivered at Caesarea in Palestine between 235 and 253, expound selected passages from Numbers 25-35 and are representative of Origen's mature thought. They will be of particular interest to those studying the early Christian interpretation of the Hebrew Bible and the development of early Christian spirituality.

Although W. A. Baehrens's critical edition of the Homilies had appeared in the Griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller series (GCS 30) in 1921, the Homilies received limited attention until 1951, when a Catholic layman, André Méhat, produced a French translation of all twenty-eight homilies for the Sources Chrétiennes series (SC 29). Méhat provided a helpful introduction to the work (SC 29, 7-64) and his translation, being oriented toward a general audience, was idiomatic, readable, and accompanied by some useful notes. The failure to include Baehrens's Latin text within SC 29 was eventually felt to be a liability, and a new edition within the Sources Chrétiennes series was therefore planned. To accompany Baehrens's Latin text in the new edition, the Jesuit Marcel Borret sought to prepare a revision of Méhat's French translation which was more literal in character and had more extensive and detailed notes. When Borret died in December 1993, his partially completed revised translation was again revised by the Jesuit Louis Doutreleau and published (with a revised version of Borret's notes) in three volumes (SC 415, 442, and 461).

In the present volume, the Latin text has been printed without discernable typographical errors. Doutreleau has generally followed Baehrens's text, introducing only a few minor corrections and omitting Baehrens's apparatus while carefully identifying biblical citations and allusions. The traditional chapter divisions have been retained, but helpful subdivisions have been introduced to facilitate the location of passages cited.

The revised French translation is of a very high quality, being literal enough to facilitate comparison with the facing-page Latin text and yet sufficiently dynamic to be both idiomatic and of literary quality. The revised translation makes it considerably easier to see the connection between phrases and sentences than was the case in Méhat's original translation. At the same time, the revised translation is actually more consistent than the original translation in rephrasing awkward passive and impersonal constructions and eliminating all Hebraisms which are not strictly necessary to understand Origen's exposition of the text.

To aid the reader, Doutreleau has introduced each homily with a brief prefatory notice, indicating what is known about the composition and background of the homily and summarizing the homily's main points. The introduction of a Scriptural index (382-90) and an analytical index of the major themes found in this volume of the Homilies (373-81) is also commendable.

The notes in the current volume (expanded from those found in Méhat's original work) strike the right balance, being introduced only where truly useful to the reader. They reflect a deep acquaintance with Origen's thought and accu-rately indicate the most important points of dependence upon Philo's works, allowing one to see continuities within the Alexandrian exegetical tradition.

Those interested in early Christian biblical interpretation will find much inter-esting material within the present volume regarding the various senses and levels of meaning in Scripture. Origen defends his allegorical interpretation of biblical names and events in Hom. 27.1.5-27.2.1and 27.13.1. In Hom. 25.3.2and 28.2.1-2, he further argues that the names given in Scripture signify actions, moral states, and their causes; the etymologies and meanings of biblical names can, therefore, function as an organizing principle...