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  Carolingian Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Theodulf and Smaragdus

  Francis X. Gumerlock

  In the early ninth-century Theodulf of Orleans and Smaragdus of Saint Mihiel served as advisers to Charlemagne. This book provides English translations of a Latin commentary on the Apocalypse written by Theodulf and three homilies on the Apocalypse by Smaragdus. A comprehensive essay introduces these texts, their authors, sources, and place in ninth-century biblical exegesis.

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  Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency, Commentaries on Amos and Jonah (With Selections from Isaiah and Ezekiel)

  Robert A. Harris

  Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency represents the pinnacle of twelfth-century rabbinic exegesis of the Bible. A proponent of the literal school, Eliezer completely abandoned traditional rabbinic midrash in his explication of biblical texts and innovated a literary approach that anticipated the fruits of modern scholarship in virtually every paragraph. This volume presents, for the first time in English translation, an extended window into the oeuvre of this master interpreter.

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  Nicholas of Lyra, Literal Commentary on Galatians

  Edward Arthur Naumann

  Though little-known today, Nicholas of Lyra's commentaries are arguably among the most widely-read and influential commentaries of all time. For more than two hundred years, from the time of their composition, well into the Reformation era, they were copied and recopied, printed and reprinted, as an indispensable guide to the meaning of scripture. Naumann presents here a complete translation of Lyra's literal commentary on Galatians in English for the first time, with a freshly-edited Latin text, and provides ample notes on its significance in relation to the works of previous authors.

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  The Glossa Ordinaria on Romans

  Michael Scott Woodward

  "The Gloss on Romans is a collection of sources from many periods and places, which accounts for its inconsistencies. And this is what gives the Gloss much of its charm. . . . The twelfth century was an age of gathering sources and commentaries, in theology (Lombard's Sentences), canon law (Gratian's Decretum), and biblical studies (the Glossa ordinaria). Education began to flourish into what would become universities, where the master's role was to elucidate traditional, authoritative texts. And chief among these was the Bible, not standing alone but with the accompanying Gloss." - from the introduction

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  The Seven Seals of the Apocalypse: Medieval Texts in Translation

  Francis X. Gumerlock

  Filling today's religious book market are Apocalypse commentaries teaching that the seven seals of Revelation 5–8 describe tragedies that are to take place in the last days. Medieval Europeans, on the other hand, thought very differently about the seven seals. Some used the seven seals for catechetical purposes and associated them with seven major events in the life of Christ or seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Other medieval writers taught that the seven seals contained symbols about life in the church between the first and second comings of Christ. Still others viewed the seals as milestones in the grand outline of salvation history. This book illustrates this vastness of medieval interpretive tradition on the seven seals. It includes fifteen texts from the sixth through the fifteenth centuries, which have been organized under three headings: those illustrating christological interpretations of the seven seals, those proposing ecclesiastical interpretations, and those giving historical interpretations.

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  The Glossa Ordinaria on the Song of Songs

  Mary Dove

  In this translation of glosses on the Song of Songs, Mary Dove offers a readily accessible and inexpensive resource for students and scholars. Anselm of Laon, possibly assisted by his brother Ralph, is credited with compiling the Glossa Ordinaria on the Song of Songs, drawing from earlier commentaries by Origen, Gregory the Great, Bede, Alcuin, Hrabanus Maurus, Haimo of Auxerre, and Robert of Tombelaine as well as contributing his own readings of the text. As Dove notes in her introduction, the text is quite complicated, with each manuscript page divided into three columns - the biblical text in large letters in the center column, with space left for interlinear glosses, and glosses in smaller letters in both the right- and left-hand columns. (This format is not reproduced in this translation.) The number of surviving manuscripts (over seventy) shows that plenty of readers enjoyed the challenges the text offered, and for modern readers, the Glossa Ordinaria is the first place to go to find medieval interpretation of biblical texts.

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  Second Thessalonians: Two Early Medieval Apocalyptic Commentaries

  Steven R. Cartwright and Kevin L. Hughes

  Apocalyptic speculation, in one form or another, is as persistent at the turn of this millennium as it was at the last. The commentaries of Haimo of Auxerre and Thietland of Einsiedeln offer glimpses of two links in [the] unbroken chain of the apocalyptic tradition.

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  On the Truth of Holy Scripture

  John Wyclif and Ian Christopher Levy

  Wyclif sought the restoration of an idealized past even if that meant taking revolutionary steps in the present to recover what had been lost. His 1377-78 On the Truth of Holy Scripture represents such an effort in reform: the recognition of the inherent perfection and veracity of the Sacred Page which serves as the model for daily conduct, discourse, and worship, thereby forming the foundation upon which Christendom itself is to be ordered.

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  Rabbi Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Other Kabbalistic Commentaries

  Seth Brody

  The commentary of Rabbi Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona (d. ca. 1245) on the Song of Songs is one of the most important texts of the first clearly identified circle of Kabbalists, those operating in the Catalonian town of Gerona at the middle of the thirteenth century.

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  Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse

  Francis X. Gumerlock

  Many commentaries on the Apocalypse were produced in the early Middle Ages. This book provides translations of two Apocalypse commentaries from the seventh and eighth centuries. On the Mysteries of the Apocalypse of John is part of a large one-volume "Reference Bible" composed about 750. Written probably by an Irish teacher residing in northern France, it answers difficulties arising from the biblical text. The Handbook on the Apocalypse of the Apostle John, attributed erroneously to Jerome and written before 767, contains brief moral and allegorical interpretations of particular words and phrases of the Apocalypse. The introduction highlights the unique features of each commentary and the interrelationship of the three texts.

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  Nicholas of Lyra's Apocalypse Commentary

  Philip D.W. Krey

  Surveys of the history of biblical exegesis and, in particular, the history of Apocalypse commentaries rarely fail to allude to Nicholas of Lyra O.F.M. (1270-1349) as the greatest biblical exegete of the fourteenth century. Late medieval and Reformation verses were written about him. Nicholas was born in the town of Lyre, near Evreux in Normandy. Since Evreux was a center of Jewish studies, he was able to cultivate his interest in Hebrew and to become thoroughly acquainted with the Talmud, Midrash, and the works of Rashi (Solomon ben Issac, 1045-1105). Lyra's attraction to Rashi's literal method would have a profound influence on his exegetical style.

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  Medieval Exegesis in Translation: Commentaries on the Book of Ruth

  Lesley Smith

  This book brings together and translates from the medieval Latin a series of commentaries on the biblical book of Ruth, with the intention of introducing readers to medieval exegesis or biblical interpretation. . . . Ruth is the shortest book of the Old Testament, being only four chapters long. It is partly for this reason that it lends itself so well to a short book introducing medieval exegesis; but it is also of interest in itself. Ruth poses a number of exegetical problems, including the basic one of why such an odd book, in which God never appears as an actor, and with a central character who was not an Israelite but a Moabite outsider, and a woman at that, should find a place in the canon of Scripture.

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  Commentary on the Book of Jonah: Haimo of Auxerre

  Deborah Everhart

  Haimo of Auxerre's Commentary on the Book of Jonah was probably written as a study text for scholars in the monastery. His basic method is to present a verse from the Book of Jonah, then offer condensed versions of the diverse and occasionally contradictory interpretations of that verse that were available to him. For example, he displays familiarity with the commentaries written earlier by Jerome and Origen. He provides allegorical, literal, moral, and ecclesiastical interpretations. He moves freely between the language of his commentary and the language of the Bible, and he demonstrates the interrelatedness of his own text and biblical teachings. Sometimes he recalls interpretations from earlier in his own commentary. This rich interrelatedness makes Haimo's commentary both challenging and satisfying. In his work we can see the medieval mind at work, trying to interpret not only the biblical text but also his own world.