The Language and Logic of the Bible
The Earlier Middle Ages

G. R. Evans (Author)

9780521423939, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 November 1991

220 pages
21.4 x 13.9 x 1.2 cm, 0.29 kg

'Constant allusions to particular persons at concrete moments keep the narrative down to earth and unremote … individuals are not subsumed beneath grand general categories … The story is rather traced honestly, receptively, and flexibly from the works, practices, and life-histories of recognizable persons.' Journal of Theological Studies

All the apparatus of learning in the earlier Middle Ages had the ultimate purpose - at least in principle - of making it possible to understand the Bible better. The fathers laid foundations on which their successors built for a thousand years and more, which helped to form and direct the principles of modern criticism. This study looks at the assumptions within which students of the Bible in the West approached their reading, from Augustine to the end of the twelfth century, when distinct skills in grammar and logic made it possible to develop more refined critical methods and to apply fresh tools to the task.

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
List of ancient and mediaeval sources
Biographical notes
Introduction
Part I. The Background: 1. The monastic way
2. Bible study in the schools
3. A standard commentary: the Glossa Ordinaria
Part II. Lectio: Surface and Depths: 4. Words and things and numbers
5. The historical sense and history
6. Exegesis and the theory of signification
7. Transference of meaning
Part III. Disputatio: 8. Questions
9. Contradictory authorities
10. A new approach to resolving contradictions
Conclusion
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]