During the Middle Ages, Christian scholars sought to preserve the insights and teachings of the church fathers. In doing so, they also invented new forms of biblical commentary. This presentation introduces viewers to these developments. It’s intended for early-stage undergraduate students with minimal prior background in Christian studies, medieval studies, or biblical studies. Suggestions from colleagues with expertise in this field are most welcome. (A related presentation on “Genesis in Medieval Christian Creativity” is in the works.)

1. Genesis in
Medieval Christian
Scholarship
A Very Short Introduction for
Beginning Reception Historians
Chris Heard
Associate Professor of Religion
Pepperdine University

2. 476
Rome falls to the “barbarians.”
The Middle Ages fade in.

3. Rome remains
the “home base”
for Western
ROME•
Christianity …

4. … but Christian learning
and scholarly production
occurs all over …

5. … from African locales
such as Alexandria*
and Hippo** …
ROME•
HIPPO•
•ALEXANDRIA
* Where Origen lived. ** Of which Augustine was bishop.

6. … northward
IRELAND
BRITAIN
throughout
GERMANY
FRANCE Western Europe.
ROME•
SPAIN

7. Eastern Christianity
EASTERN
EUROPE flourishes in Greece
and eastward …
GREECE
ASIA MINOR
PERSIA
INDIA

8. EASTERN … centering especially
on Constantinople.
EUROPE
GREECE
•CONSTANTINOPLE
ASIA MINOR
PERSIA
INDIA

9. Clergy, monks, and lay teachers
preserve patristic* approaches
to biblical interpretation.
* “Of or relating to the fathers”—that is, the church leaders of antiquity.

10. For Western exegetes,* any
given Bible passage offers four
“levels” of meaning:
* Interpreters of the Bible.

11. 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.

12. 2. The allegorical meaning,
by which the text reveals
something about Christ
and/or the church.

13. 3. The tropological
meaning, in which the text
reveals something about a
soul’s relationship with God.

14. 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.”

15. Littera gesta docet
quid credas allegoria
quid agas tropologia
quo tendas anagogia.

16. 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.

17. Medieval interpreters seek
to start with the literal
sense, but not to end there.

18. By their standards, an exegesis*
that stops with just the literal
level is incomplete.
* Systematic interpretation.

19. Medieval scholarly
interpreters deliver their
interpretations through:

20. 1. Homilies, that is, sermons
expounding a biblical text (as
distinct from topical sermons).

21. 2. Verse-by-verse
commentaries.

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

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

24. 610
Muhammad hears a voice
telling him to “Recite!”
Islam is on the rise.

25. 632–661
Muslims conquer lands they, Jews,
and Christians all consider holy.

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 711–718
Muslims from North Africa
invade and conquer Spain.

29. Christians and Muslims vie for
control over Spain …
… for the next seven centuries.

30. John Scotus
Eurigena*
(810–877)
* Or “John the Scot from Ireland”

31. 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

32. Peter Abelard
(1079–1142)
* Or “John the Scot from Ireland”

33. 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

34. The Ordinary
Gloss* (11th
century)
* Latin Glossa ordinaria.

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

36. Long
Glosses
Bible
Short
Glosses

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

38. 1096–1099
Christian crusaders retake Jerusalem
from its Muslim occupants.
This was the first of several crusades.

39. 1000–1500
Western Christians found over 75
schools and universities.
Many of these will operate for over 500 years.

40. Hugh of
St. Victor
(c. 1097–
1141)

41. 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

42. Hugh of St. Victor
• Incorporates Jewish learning into his
Old Testament interpretations, quoting
Rashi and Rashbam in his Explanatory
Notes on the Pentateuch

43. Peter
Comestor
(d. 1178)

44. 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.

45. Teachers supplement the Ordinary
Gloss with additional running
commentary called postillae.*
* Postillae is plural; the singular is postilla.

46. 1203
Stephen Langton divides the Vulgate
into chapters; Thomas Gallus later
divides the chapters into paragraphs.

47. Thomas
Aquinas
(1225–1274)

48. 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

49. 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.

50. 1453
Constantinople falls to the Ottomans,
who rename it Istanbul.
The Middle Ages begin to fade out.

51. 1492
Christians complete the Reconquista,
expelling Muslims from Spain.
In Germany, the Reformation is brewing.

52. Primary Sources
Abelard, 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.

53. Secondary Sources
Blowers, 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.

54. Photo Sources
Walters Art Museum via Rambures Master (c. 1470) via
Sam Segar via stock.xchng
Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons
Andreas Tille via Wikimedia Codex Fuldensis via Wikimedia
Irish banknote via Wikipedia
Commons Commons
Sculpture by Jules Cavelier, before
Gentile da Fabriano (1370–1427)
Billy Alexander via stock.xchng 1853; photo by Jastrow via
via Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Latin Bible with Glossa Ordinaria Marion Schneider & Christoph
Prasetyo via Wikimedia Commons produced by Adolf Rusch (1481) Aistleitner via Wikimedia
via Wikimedia Commons Commons
Chris Yunker via Wikimedia
DWR via Wikipedia
Commons
Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) via Illuminated Works of St. Hugh of
Wikimedia Commons Victor via Wikimedia Commons