Genesis in Medieval Christian Scholarship

A Very Short Introduction for Beginning Reception Historians

Chris HeardAssociate Professor of ReligionPepperdine University

Rome falls to the “barbarians.”

476

The Middle Ages fade in.

Rome remains the “home base” for Western Christianity …

ROME•

… but Christian learning and scholarly production

occurs all over …

… from African locales such as Alexandria* and Hippo** …

ROME•

* Where Origen lived. ** Of which Augustine was bishop.

•ALEXANDRIA

HIPPO•

… northward throughout Western Europe.

ROME•SPAIN

FRANCE

GERMANYBRITAIN

IRELAND

Eastern Christianity flourishes in Greece and eastward …

GREECE

INDIA

EASTERNEUROPE

PERSIA

ASIA MINOR

… centering especially on Constantinople.

•CONSTANTINOPLEGREECE

INDIA

EASTERNEUROPE

PERSIA

ASIA MINOR

Clergy, monks, and lay teachers preserve patristic* approaches

to biblical interpretation.

* “Of or relating to the fathers”—that is, the church leaders of antiquity.

For Western exegetes,* any given Bible passage offers four

“levels” of meaning:

* Interpreters of the Bible.

1. The historical or literal* meaning.

* That is, the intended meaning. For example, interpreting the metaphorical phrase “O God, my rock” to mean that God is really a physical rock would not be considered a “literal” interpretation, because it’s not what the author intended.

2. The allegorical meaning, by which the text reveals something about Christ

and/or the church.

3. The tropological meaning, in which the text reveals something about a

soul’s relationship with God.

4. The anagogical meaning, in which the text reveals

something about the end* of the world.

* “End” could be understood chronologically, as in “the end of time,” or teleologically (“purpose-oriented”), as in “the ends justify the means.”

Littera gesta docetquid credas allegoriaquid agas tropologiaquo tendas anagogia.

The letter teaches events,allegory what you should believe,

tropology what you should do,anagogy where you should aim.

Thirteenth-century poem about the four senses of scripture. Quoted from Ocker 2009: 265.

Medieval interpreters seek to start with the literal

sense, but not to end there.

By their standards, an exegesis* that stops with just the literal

level is incomplete.

* Systematic interpretation.

Medieval scholarly interpreters deliver their interpretations through:

1. Homilies, that is, sermons expounding a biblical text (as

distinct from topical sermons).

2. Verse-by-verse commentaries.

3. Glosses, or marginal notes in copies of the Bible.

4. FAQs.*

* No, really. Ancient and medieval Christian scholars often wrote in question-and-answer style.

Muhammad hears a voice telling him to “Recite!”

610

Islam is on the rise.

Muslims conquer lands they, Jews, and Christians all consider holy.

632–661

The Venerable* Bede (673–735)

* “Venerable” means “deserving of respect.” It’s also a title in the Catholic church for a dead person who is considered saintly but has not actually been beatified as a saint.

The Venerable Bede

• Monk at Jarrow and Wearmouth in Northumbria, Britain

• Starts writing a commentary on Genesis around 703–709; finishes it in the 720s

• More famously, finishes his History of the English Church and Peoples around 731

Muslims from North Africa invade and conquer Spain.

711–718

Christians and Muslims vie for control over Spain …

… for the next seven centuries.

John Scotus Eurigena*(810–877)

* Or “John the Scot from Ireland”

John Scotus Eurigena

• Emigrates from Ireland to France before 845, perhaps to escape Viking raids

• Teaches liberal arts and theology in the western Frankish Empire

• Writes the Periphyseon (On the Divisions of Nature), seeking to interpret Genesis 1–3 scientifically

Peter Abelard(1079–1142)

* Or “John the Scot from Ireland”

Peter Abelard

• Studies liberal arts and theology, often getting into heated disputes with his teachers and peers

• Writes works of philosophy and systematic theology

• Writes a Commentary on the Creation Narrative

The Ordinary Gloss* (11th century)

* Latin Glossa ordinaria.

The Ordinary Gloss

• French biblical scholars compile patristic and early medieval materials into the Ordinary Gloss, an extensive marginal commentary on the Bible

Bible

Long Glosses

Short Glosses

The Ordinary Gloss

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a convenient English translation of the Ordinary Gloss to Genesis currently in print.

Christian crusaders retake Jerusalem from its Muslim occupants.

1096–1099

This was the first of several crusades.

Western Christians found over 75 schools and universities.

1000–1500

Many of these will operate for over 500 years.

Hugh of St. Victor (c. 1097–1141)

Hugh of St. Victor

• Enters the monastery of St. Victor sometime between 1114–1125

• Writes a Textbook on the Study of Reading integrating liberal arts and theology

• Writes commentaries on the creation story and the Noah’s ark story, as well as annotating the Pentateuch

Hugh of St. Victor

• Incorporates Jewish learning into his Old Testament interpretations, quoting Rashi and Rashbam in his Explanatory Notes on the Pentateuch

Peter Comestor (d. 1178)

Peter Comestor

• Teaches at the Notre Dame cathedral school and the University of Paris

• By 1175, finishes the Historia Scholastica, a paraphrase of the biblical story*

• The Historia Scholastica goes on to become a standard textbook in later medieval universities

* I.e., the narrative books. Proverbs, Psalms, epistles and other books that don’t fit into a storyline aren’t treated.

Teachers supplement the Ordinary Gloss with additional running commentary called postillae.*

* Postillae is plural; the singular is postilla.

Stephen Langton divides the Vulgate into chapters; Thomas Gallus later

divides the chapters into paragraphs.

1203

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

Thomas Aquinas

• 1230: Thomas’s parents (he’s 5) send him to the monastery of Monte Cassino

• 1239: Conflict between the state and the church expels Thomas from Monte Cassino; his father sends him to Naples, where he encounters Aristotle’s works, as transmitted by Muslim scholars

Thomas Aquinas

• 1255: Thomas joins the Dominican order• Thomas studies, then teaches, in Paris;

after that, alternates between Rome and Paris

• Writes the Summa Theologiae,* a massive theological compilation that sometimes refers to passages in Genesis

* Sometimes referred to as the Summa Theologica.

Constantinople falls to the Ottomans, who rename it Istanbul.

1453

The Middle Ages begin to fade out.

Christians complete the Reconquista, expelling Muslims from Spain.

In Germany, the Reformation is brewing.

1492

Primary SourcesAbelard, Peter. 2011. An Exposition on the Six-Day Work. Turnhout: Brepols, 2011.Aquinas, Thomas. 1920–1942. The “Summa Theologica” of St. Thomas Aquinas. London:

Burns, Oates, and Washburne. Bede. 2008. On Genesis. Trans. Calvin B. Kendall. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Hugh of St. Victor. 1962. Selected Spiritual Writings. New York: Harper & Row. (Includes

translations of the first and third of Hugh’s studies of the flood story.)John Scotus Eurigena. 1968–1981. Periphyseon: De Diuisione Naturae. Ed. Inglis Patric

Sheldon-William and Ludwig Bieler. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Le Mangeur, Pierre and Guiart des Moulins. 2010. The Historye of the Patriarks: With Parallel Texts of the Historia Scholastica and the Bible Historiale. Ed. Mayumi Taguchi. Heidelberg: Winter.

Secondary SourcesBlowers, Paul M. 2009. “Eastern Orthodox Biblical Interpretation.” Pp. 172–200. in

Hauser and Watson.Hauser, Alan J. and Duane F. Watson, eds. 2009. A History of Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 2,

The Medieval through the Reformation Periods. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.Mayeski, Mary A. 2009. “Early Medieval Exegesis: Gregory I to the Twelfth Century.”

Pp. 86–112. in Hauser and Watson.Ocker, Christopher. 2007. “Biblical Interpretation in the Middle Ages.” Pp. 14–21 in

Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters. Ed. Donald K. McKim. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

———. 2009. “Scholastic Interpretation of the Bible.” Pp. 254–279 in Hauser and Watson.

Salomon, David A. 2012. An Introduction to the Glossa Ordinaria as Medieval Hypertext. Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

Smith, Lesley. 2009. The Glossa Ordinaria: The Making of a Medieval Biblical Commentary. Leiden: Brill.

Andreas Tille via Wikimedia Commons Irish banknote via Wikipedia

Walters Art Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Billy Alexander via stock.xchng

Prasetyo via Wikimedia Commons

Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) via Wikimedia Commons

Chris Yunker via Wikimedia Commons

Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427) via Wikimedia Commons

Sculpture by Jules Cavelier, before 1853; photo by Jastrow via Wikimedia Commons

Latin Bible with Glossa Ordinaria produced by Adolf Rusch (1481) via Wikimedia Commons

DWR via Wikipedia

Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner via Wikimedia Commons

Photo Sources

Illuminated Works of St. Hugh of Victor via Wikimedia Commons

Codex Fuldensis via Wikimedia Commons

Rambures Master (c. 1470) via Wikimedia CommonsSam Segar via stock.xchng