4 Mankind in Adam’s Loins

The second group includes the Fathers who – it would seem – have little in common. I think, however, that Augustine must have read Origen, either in Rufin’s translation or in the original, and from him borrowed the idea of the presence of mankind in Adam’s loins based on the fragment of Hebrews 7:9-10: And as I may so say, Levi also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. What is interesting, many Fathers knew and commented that verse though none of them but Origen and Augustine used the phrase “in the loins” to describe the relation of mankind to Adam. That is why, although for both of them this is only one of the ways to explain the first fall, I grouped those Fathers together.