Human Dignity in the Latin Reception of Origen

By (author) Sara Contini

Book cover: Human Dignity in the Latin Reception of Origen

Extent: 256 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Classical Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity

Series volume number: 135

Language: English

Paperback (Unspecified)

(December 2023)

ISBN: 9783161627736

6.14 x 9.13 inches

Price: $118.00

In stock

Sara Contini examines a crucial junction in the history of the idea of universal human dignity. She argues that a key role was played by Latin authors of the 4th century who mediated between the traditional Roman notion of dignitas and Greek Christian views on the human being made in the image of God.


Sara Contini assesses the meanings attributed to the term dignitas (“dignity”) in the Latin translations of Origen of Alexandria, as well as in other Latin Christian texts of the 4th century which, to different degrees, show the reception of Origen’s views on the creation of the human being according to the image of God. Authors like Rufinus, Jerome, or Hilary of Poitiers are the first Latin writers to employ the term dignitas to denote the universal potential of humans as rational and free beings. The contribution offered by these authors to the history of the idea of human dignity was, based on Origen’s notion of the universal reach of God’s love, to problematise the elitism and individualism associated with Classical views on dignitas , and thus to frame the traditional understanding of dignity as rank in a new egalitarian perspective.

  • By (author) Sara Contini