Thomas O'Loughlin has written prodigiously, in the course of his career, on medieval church history, biblical exegesis, and the history of theology in the West. His work has helped to advance our knowledge of how the Scriptures were seen, used, and understood by medieval theologians—an area of study once given scant attention and wherein yet more work remains to be done. This book brings together fifteen of his essays, published between 1990 and 2000, which illustrate the variety in medieval Latin exegesis, yet also, in O'Loughlin's own eyes, “form a real unity in that each of them exhibits in specific respect one of the most important driving forces in Christian theology: how it recycles, interacts with, and perpetuates its past” (xi). O'Loughlin's introduction sets these articles in the context of this phenomenon of recycling and interacting with the past, based on three assumptions: that “there is de facto a continual appeal to the past in every theological act” (xi); that theology is “constantly changing and in the process understanding its declared ‘sources' anew” (xii); that “the results of one generation's recycling of the past leaves an imprint on the tradition altering it for subsequent generations” (xiii).
For O'Loughlin, these are the “central planks” to the discipline of historical theology, and each essay selected examines the traditions of Christianity at work in medieval biblical exegesis mostly between the sixth and eighth centuries (with a couple of forays into earlier and later centuries). Since the 1990s, however, scholarship in this area has grown; O'Loughlin himself admits that some of his footnotes are dated and that he would not “necessarily restate some of the positions now in the same terms” (ix). Some readers may already be familiar with these articles. Yet, although they offer nothing new, they repay rereading; and for those coming to them for the first time, they may even be revelatory. As a collection, they form a representative ‘core’ of sorts to O'Loughlin's work in historical theology.
The articles are grouped into three parts which have a general theme to tie them together: part one “Processing the Patristic Inheritance” (items I–IV); part two “Developing New Exegetical Strategies” (items V–IX); and part three “Exegesis as Practice” (items X–XV). The first article, “Aquae Super Caelos (Gen. 1:6–7): The First Faith-Science Debate?”, which looks back to as early as the fourth century, opens the theme of patristic inheritance by exploring the problem, for Christians, of reconciling the account of creation in Genesis and the ‘waters above the heavens' with late classical cosmology. In this, O'Loughlin follows the arguments of Basil, Ambrose, and Augustine on the Genesis story and their effect on future debates. It can fruitfully be paired with item XI in part three, “The waters above the heavens: Isidore and the Latin tradition.” These and other essays reflect debates which continue even today: item X under part three, “Adam's Rib and the equality of the sexes: some medieval exegesis of Gen. 2:21–22” still has a relevancy in the ongoing (and continuous) debates over the place of women in the Church. O'Loughlin's examination of the tradition of interpretation of these verses in Genesis may yet hold a charge for first-time readers.
O'Loughlin's expertise covers not only the exegetical tradition of the Continent; his reach extends into Ireland and he has been among the forefront of those who have challenged, successfully, the notion that Ireland in the early Middle Ages was an isolated place on the edge of the remnants of the Roman Empire with an eccentric Christian theology and practice. Under part two, item VI, “The exegetical purpose of Adomnán's De Locis Sanctis” (a major work of the late seventh century from the famous abbot of Iona), and item IX, “The plan of the New Jerusalem in the Book of Armagh” (a manuscript produced in 807), reveal a vibrant and sophisticated intellectual culture of exegesis, in touch and in dialogue with European Christendom.
Other articles in part one deal with problems of chronology, for example when did Methuselah die? in item II; the tradition of Adam's burial at Hebron in item III; and the western Fathers' interpretation of the story of the woman taken in adultery in item IV. Part two contains essays on Julian of Toledo's Antikeimenon (item V); Eucherius of Lyons's formula for exegesis (item VII); and biblical contradictions Eriugena's Periphyseon (item VIII). Part three offers examinations on the medieval view of the Song of Songs (why is it included in Scriptures?) in item XII and the image of the gates of Hell in the writings of Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, and Adomnán of Iona (item XIII). Item XIV looks at number symbolism and its transmission in the so-called “dark ages,” that period in the Latin West “between the death of Boethius (AD 525) and the Carolingian renaissance.” The final essay, “Individual Anonymity and Collective Identity: The Enigma of Early Medieval Latin Theologians,” nicely concludes the volume, as an exegesis in itself on the (largely) anonymous theologians of those “dark ages,” their activity and their purpose, and why they were (largely) unstudied.
The Variorum series itself presents some problems in publication: there is no sequential pagination; the articles are reproduced as they were first published, with their original pagination. This means that all the typos and copy errors are also reproduced, and some articles appear less sharp and clear in reproduction (which does little to justify the price). Nevertheless, for the scholar of medieval biblical exegesis and especially for the student, this collection can be a valuable resource.
