István M. Bugár: Hippolytus on the Virgin

The correct assessment of the theological output of the early-third-century author Hippolytus was considerable hindered by the discovery of a contemporary text transmitted under the name of Origen that soon became attributed the Hippolytus nearly unanimously by scholars from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century and was still considered a work by the renowned author by many for further four decades. The discussion of this controversial text and later of its authorship took virtually all the space devoted to Hippolytus by the scholarly literature. Now that this unfruitful digression of the Hippolytean studies is nearly over, it is worth revisiting the literary remains of this early Christian theologian for an assessment of his remarkably consistent thought. This concerns not only the fields of Trinitology, exegesis, or the theology of the Incarnation, but -- largely resulting from his treatment of the latter subject -- also of his insights concerning the place of the Virgin in salvation history. In this field, too, his achievement is not only remarkable as largely unparalleled in the surviving literary output by notable authors of this early period, but also as completely ignored by earlier scholarship. Thus, in the paper proposed I attempt at a comprehensive overview of his propositions concerning the Mother of Christ.