The Catholic University of America
School of Theology and Religious Studies
TRS 721: Principles of Patristic Exegesis: Latin Fathers
Fall 2013
Credit Hours: 3
Time and Location: Thursdays, 2.10PM-4.40PM; Caldwell 451
Instructor contact information:
Tarmo Toom, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Latin Patristic Theology
Caldwell 420; e-mail: toom@cua.edu
Office Hours: please make an appointment by e-mail!
Course Description:
This course is a study of Latin patristic hermeneutical theories which informed and guided patristic biblical exegesis. It focuses on authors, who have written introductores rather than expositores, or have reflected on hermeneutics at least somewhere in their works.
Instructional Methods: Lectures and discussions of the assigned readings
Required Texts:
Augustine, De doctrina Christiana. Trans. and ed. R.P.H. Green. In OECT, 1995. (A
cheaper alternative: Augustine, On Christian Teaching. Trans. R.P.H. Green. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Some alternative English translations of De doctrina Christiana:
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine. Trans. D. W. Robertson. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1958.
Augustine: Teaching Christianity: De Doctrina Christiana. Trans. E. Hill. In WSA I.11, 1996.
Latin: Library of Latin Texts (Aladin), CSEL 80, CCL 32, or
http://www.augustinus.it/latino/dottrina_cristiana/index.htm
Augustine, Against the Academicians, The Teacher. Trans. P. King. Indianapolis:
Hackett, 1995.
Latin: Library of Latin Texts (Aladin), or
http://www.augustinus.it/latino/contr_acc/index.htm; and http://www.augustinus.it/latino/maestro/index.htm
Tyconius, Liber Regularum. Trans. W. S. Babcock. In Texts and Translations, vol. 31.
Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989. An alternative English translation: Burkitt, F. C. The Book of Rules by Tyconius. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1894.
Latin: Library of Latin Texts (Aladin), or SC 488 (2004), or
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=tyconius
Other texts will be posted on Blackboard.
Goals for Student Learning:
At the conclusion of the course, students should have developed a critical literacy in the field of patristic exegetical/hermeneutical theory.
Course Requirements and Assessment:
Final (30% of the grade)
Class participation/discussions (20% of the grade)
Research paper (50% of the grade)
The paper should be no less than 15 pages and no more than 16 pages, point 12, double-space, formatted according to Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 8th ed., 2013 (I mean this!), with a correctly formatted cover-page, footnotes, and bibliography.
As a Research Paper, it is supposed to demonstrate your skill in finding good and relevant books/articles (dictionary articles will not count, unless these are substantial articles), and to show that you know the current research developments in the particular area.
Tardiness in submitting the paper will result in a lower grade (A B, etc.).
Topics for Research Papers:
How does Augustine justify the phenomenon of the multiplicity of meanings?
Or
How does Eucherius decide what is figurative and what is literal in Scripture?
Or
What was Jerome’s notion of Hebraica veritas all about?
Expectations and policies:
The University grading system for graduates is available at http://policies.cua.edu/academicgrad//gradesfull.cfm#iii
Reports of grades in courses are available at the end of each term on http://cardinalstation.cua.edu
Academic honesty is expected of all CUA students.
Policy on Making Up: in the case of an excused absence, students can take their Final at a time negotiated with the instructor.
Accommodation for students with disabilities: http://disabilitysupport.cua.edu
Course Schedule and Assigned Readings:
Aug 22: READ: R. Morgan and J. Barton, Biblical Interpretation (Oxford, 1988), 1-43;
TOPICS: Introduction to patristic hermeneutics; Kannengiesser’s Handbook of Patristic Exegesis; Syllabus
Aug 29: Class starts at 3.00pm. READ: Augustine, De magistro; TOPICS: the two
theses of De magistro; Meno’s paradox; the role of signs/words in the process of learning; illumination and its relevance for interpreting Scripture
Sept 5: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Prologue; TOPICS: Augustine’s way
into Scripture; introduction to De doctrina Christiana (genre, date, context, structure); the necessity of hermeneutical praecepta and “illumination-gone-bad”
Sept 12: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Book I; TOPICS: res and signa; the
reference of Scripture as “preunderstanding”; regula fidei and regula dilectionis; the uti/frui distinction and the two-nature Christology; the transitory nature of Scripture as a system of signs
Sept 19: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Book II (2.1.1-2.5.6); Augustine,
De dialectica 5 (in Augustine: De dialectica, trans. B. D. Jackson, in Synthese Historical Library 16 [Boston: D. Reidel, 1975]). An alternative English:
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/dialecticatrans.html;
Latin: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/augustine/dia.shtml; TOPICS: semiotics; the division of signs; the quadriga and scientia signorum
Sept 26: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana Book II (revise 2.2.3-2.3.4);
Augustine, conf. 12.14.17-12.25.35; TOPICS: the signa data; the “communicative gaps”; authorial intention
Oct 3: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana Book II (2.10.15-2.42.63); Augustine,
De dialectica 6; TOPICS: unknown literal and figurative signs; notitia linguarum and etymology; notitia rerum and the usefulness of “secular” knowledge
Oct 10: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Book II (2.8.12, 2.11.16-2.13.20;
2.15.22); Jerome, Introduction to Eusebius’ Chronicle, Preface to the Book of Hebrew Questions, and Preface to the Vulgate version of the Pentateuch, in S. Rebenich, Jerome, in The Early Church Fathers, ed. C. Harrison (London: Routledge, 2002), 75-8, 93-6, 101-4 (Blackboard); Latin: Library of Latin Texts; Jerome, ep. 57. English: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001057.htm; Latin: Library of Latin Texts; TOPICS: translation of Scripture; Augustine’s guidelines for reading the translations of Scripture; Jerome on the “sequence of words”; vetus latina; Vulgate; the Septuagint and Hebraica veritas
Oct 17: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Book III (3.1.1-3.29.41), Augustine,
De dialectica 8-10; M. Cameron, Christ Meets Me Everywhere (Oxford, 2012), 57-61; TOPICS: ambiguity; ambiguous literal and figurative signs; devices of disambiguation
Oct 24: READ: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, Book III (revise 3.10.14-3.16.24 and
3.24.34-3.29.41); civ. Dei 13.21; 15.27; Eucherius of Lyons, Liber formularum spiritalis intelligentiae, Introductory letter, Books I and II; Latin: Library of Latin Texts; English: http://www.voskrese.info/spl/lyons.html; or, http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@texts/0440_eucherius/00a_start.htm; or, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/eucherius/formulae.toc.html; TOPICS: Is the text literal or figurative?; the importance of the “letter” and the necessity of figurative interpretation; the relation between literal and figurative interpretation; the absurdity criterion
Oct 31: READ: Augustine, en. Ps. 3 and 21 [1 and 2]; s. 341 (Dolbeau 22); civ. Dei 17.3;
TOPICS: Christological and prosopological exegesis; the unity of Scripture; hermeneutical implications of what Scripture is and what it is about; the multiplicity of meanings; prayer for understanding
Nov 7: REVIZE: Augustine, De doctrina Christiana (2.6.7-2.9.14, 3.17.25-3.29.41);
READ: Cassian, conf. 14; Latin: Library of Latin Texts; English:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/350814.htm; TOPICS: Augustine’s various exegetical rules; the importance of moral purification for understanding Scripture; the hermeneutical importance of the canon of Scripture; Cassian’s “pure heart methodology”
Nov 14: NB! Papers due! READ: Tyconius, Liber Regularum, and Augustine, De
doctrina Christiana, Book III (3.30.42-3.37.56); TOPICS: Tyconius’ exegetical rules; Augustine’s handling of Tyconius’ rules in doc. Chr. III; the hermeneutics of Tyconius and Augustine
Nov 21: READ: Cassiodorus, Institutiones, Book I. English: Cassiodorus: Institutions of
Divine and Secular Learning and On the Soul, trans. J. W. Halporn, in Translated Texts for Historians (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004) (Blackboard); Latin: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/cassinst1.html; Junillus, Instituta Regularia Divinae Legis, Book I (in Maas, M. et al [eds.], Exegesis and Empire in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean: Junillus Africanus and the Instituta regularia divinae legis. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 17. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) (Blackboard); English and Latin: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/junillus.trans.html; TOPICS: varia
In class: Oral reports on your paper (ca 10 minutes + discussion [What have you discovered? What sort of problems have you assessed and on the basis of which texts? What conclusions have you reached? etc.])
Dec 12: FINAL EXAM, 1.00pm-3.00pm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Some Recommended Reference Works:
Allenbach et al. (eds.), Biblia patristica: Index des citations et allusions bibliques dans la littérature
patristique. Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1975─. (This incomplete project lists biblical citations and allusions from the first to the ninth century.)
Catalogus verborum quae in operibus sancti Augustini inveniuntur. Eindhoven: Thesaurus Linguae
Augustinianae, 1976—. (Published volumes include Augustine’s main exegetical works, such as Tractus in Evangelium Joannis, Enarrationes Psalmos, Sermones de Vetere Testamento, etc.)
Hayes, J. H. (ed.), Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, 2 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999.
Kannengiesser, C. Handbook of Patristic Exegesis, 2 vols. In The Bible in Ancient Christianity, ed. D. J.
Bingham. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Klauck, H.-J. et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
2009—. (Volume 3, including Augustine, 2011).
Lausberg, H. Handbook of Literary Rhetoric: A Foundation for Literary Study. Trans. M. T. Bliss et al.
Leiden: Brill, 1998.
McKim, D. K. (ed.), Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2007.
Paget, J. C. and Schaper J. (eds.), The New Cambridge History of the Bible: From the Beginnings to 600.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Sieben, J. H. Kirchenväterhomilien zum Neuen Testament: Ein Repertorium der Textausgaben und
Untersuchungen, mit einem Anhang der Kirchenväterkommentare. Instrumenta Patristica 22. Hague: Martinus Nijhoff International, 1991. (An index to patristic homilies on the New Testament.)
Sæbø, M. (ed.), Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of Interpretation: Volume 1: From the
Beginning to the Middle Ages (Until 1300). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996.
The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers. Committee of the Oxford Society of Historical Theology.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. (A comprehensive index of the New Testament citations and allusions in the Apostolic Fathers.)
Wischmeyer, O. (ed.), Lexikon der Bibelhermeneutik: Begriffe—Konzepte—Theorien. Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 2009 (paperback 2013).
Some Important Projects:
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, ed. T. C. Oden. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001—.
(This is a sort of post-critical revival of the early commentary tradition known as the glossa ordinaria which, unfortunately, ignores the fact that various authors commented on various forms of texts. When complete, it will comprise 28 volumes encompassing the entire canon of Scripture, including the so-called “OT Apocrypha.”)
Ancient Christian Texts, ed. T. C. Oden. Downers Grove, IL” InterVarsity, 2009—. (As a “child” of the
previous project, this series provides translations of full-length commentaries and sermons based on biblical books.)
Novum Testamentum Patristicum: Ein patristischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, ed. G. May et al.
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007—.
(This is a scholarly project which cites key texts in their original language. When complete, it will comprise of 32 volumes on the New Testament books, plus five volumes on Apocrypha, Gnostics, Manicheans, iconography, and oriental traditions.)
The Church’s Bible, ed. R. Wilken. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005—.
(This is a series which draws extensively from early and medieval commentators, illuminating Scripture as it was understood during the first millennium of Christian history. When complete, it will comprise of volumes on all the canonical books of Scripture.)
A Few Recommended Texts (Monographs and Collections of Articles) for Further Study:
Andrews, J. A. Hermeneutics & the Church in Dialogue with Augustine. In Reading the Scriptures. Notre
Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.
Arnold, D. W. H. and Bright, P. (eds.), De doctrina Christiana: A Classic of Western Culture. In
Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity 9, ed. C. Kannengiesser. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.
Auwers, J.-M. La Lettre et l’Esprit: Les Pères de l’Église, lecteurs de la Bible. Brussels: Lumen Vitae,
2002.
Bermon, E. La signification et l’enseignement: texte latin, traduction française et commentaire du De
magistro de Saint Augustin. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 2007.
Bobertz, C. A. & Brakke, D. (eds.), Reading in Christian Communities: Essays on Interpretation in the
Early Church. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002.
Bochet, I. “Le Firmament de l’Écriture”: L’hermeneutique augustinienne. Collection des Études
Augustininennes: Série Antiquité 172. Paris: Institut d’Études Augustiniennes, 2004.
La Bonnardière, A.-M. Biblia Augustiana, 7 vols. Paris: Études augustiniennes, 1960–75.
Bright, P. (ed.), Augustine and the Bible. In The Bible Through the Ages 2, ed. C. Kannengiesser and P.
Bright. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1986.
_____. The Book of Rules of Tyconius: Its Purpose and Inner Logic. Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Press, 1988.
Brown, D. Vir Trilinguis: A Study in the Biblical Exegesis of Saint Jerome. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1992.
Burrows, M. S. and Rorem, P. (eds.), Biblical Hermeneutics in Historical Perspective. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1991.
Cameron, M. Christ Meets Me Everywhere: Augustine’s Early Figurative Exegesis. In Oxford Studies in
Historical Theology. Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2012.
Cary, P. Outward Signs: The Powerlessness of External Things in Augustine's Thought. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2008.
Dawson, D. Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Identity. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2001.
De Lubac, H. Exégèse médiévale, les quatre sens de l’écriture, vols. 1-3. Paris: Éditions Montaigne, 1959;
English: Medieval Exegesis: Volume 1-3: The Four Senses of the Scripture. Trans M. Sebank and E. M. Macerowski. In Resourcement. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998-2009.
De Margerie, B. Introduction à l’histoire de l’exégèse, 4 vols. Paris: Cerf, 1980; English: An Introduction
to the History of Exegesis, 3 vols. Trans. M.-J. Rondeau. Petersham: Saint Bede, 1995 (vol. 2: The Latin Fathers, vol. 3: Saint Augustine). (The forth volume, L’Occident latin de Léon le Grand à Bernard de Clairvaux, has not been translated into English.)
Den Boeft, J. et al (eds.), The Impact of Scripture in Early Christianity. Suppl. VC 44. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
Di Tomasso, L. and Turcescu, L. (eds.), Proceedings of the Montréal Colloquium in Honour of Charles
Kannengiesser, 11-13 October 2006. The Bible in Ancient Christianity 6. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
Duchrow, U. Sprachverständnis und biblisches Hören bei Augustin. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1965.
Eden, K. Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition: Chapters in the Ancient Legacy and Its Humanist
Reception. In Yale Studies in Hermeneutics, ed. J. Weinsheimer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
Enos,R. L., Thompson R. C., The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: De Doctrina Christiana & the Search
for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008.
Fiedrowicz, M. Prinzipien der Schriftauslegung in der Alten Kirche. Traditio Christiana, 10. Bern: Peter
Lang, 1998.
Finan, T. and Twomey, V. Scriptural Interpretation in the Fathers: Letter and Spirit. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 1995.
Fuhrer, T. et al. (eds.), De magistro/Der Lehrer. Philosophische und antipagane Schriften 1. Paderborn: F.
Schöningh, 2002.
Gallagher, E. L. Hebrew Scripture in Patristic Biblical Theory: Canon, Language, Text. In Vigiliae
Christianae Sup. 114. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Greene-McCreight, K. Ad litteram: How Augustine, Calvin, and Barth Read the "Plain Sense" of Genesis
1-3. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.
Gorday, P. Principles of Patristic Exegesis: Romans 9-11 in Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine.
New York: E. Mellen, 1983.
Hannam, W. A. Non intenta in eloquentia sapientia, sed a sapientia non recedente eloquentia: Augustine’s
De doctrina Christiana: Structure and Philosophical Method. M.A. thesis, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, 1996.
Hauser, A. J. and Watson, D. F. (eds.), A History of Biblical Interpretation: Volume 1: the Ancient Period.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
Heidl, G. The Influence of Origin on the Young Augustine. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2003.
Jackson, B. D. Semantics and Hermeneutics in Saint Augustine’s De doctrina Christiana. Ph.D. diss., Yale
University, 1967.
Kannengiesser, C. and Bright, P. (eds.), A Conflict of Christian Hermeneutics in Roman Africa: Tyconius
and Augustine: Protocol of Fifty-Eighth Colloquy. Berkley: Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1989.
Kelly, C. Cassian’s Conferences: Scriptural Interpretation and the Monastic Ideal. Farnham: Ashgate,
2012.
L’esegesi dei padri latini: dalle origini a Gregorio Magno: XXVIII Incontro di studiosi dell’antichità
cristiana, Roma, 6-8 maggio 1999, vol. I, Oriente, Africa. Studia ephemeridis Augustinianum 68. Rome: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, 2000.
Manetti, G. Theories of Sign in Classical Antiquity. Trans. C. Richardson. Advances in Semiotics.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Markus, R. A. Sign and Meaning: World and Text in Ancient Christianity. Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1996.
Mitchell, M. M. Paul, the Corinthians and the Birth of Christian Hermeneutics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2012.
Nauroy, G. and Vannier, M-A. (eds.), Saint Augustin et la bible. Actes du colloque de l’université Paul
Verlaine-Metz (7-8 avril 2005). Recherches en literature et spiritualité 15. Bern: Peter Land, 2008.
O’Keefe, J. J and Reno, R. R. Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the
Bible. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Paget, J. C. and J. Schaper (eds.) The New Cambridge History of the Bible: From the Beginnings to 600.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Pollmann, K. Hermeneutik unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Augustinus, ‘De doctrina christiana,’ in
Paradosis: Beiträge zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur und Theologie, ed. D. van Damme and O. Wermelinger, vol. 41. Freiburg: Universitätsverlag, 1996.
Reventlow, H. G. Epochen der Bibelauslegung. Volume 2: Von der Spätantike bis zum Ausgang des
Mittelalters. München: C. H. Beck, 1994. (English: History of Biblical Interpretation, 2 vols.
Atlanta: SBL [2009].)
Ruef, H. Augustin über Semiotik und Sprache: Sprachtheoretische Analysen zu Augustins “De Dialectica.”
Bern: K. J. Wyss Erben, 1981.
Schumacher, L. Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge.
Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Simonetti, M. Lettera e/o allegoria. Un contributo alla storia dell’esegesi patristica. Rome: Istituto
Patristico Augustinianum, 1985.
_____. Profilo Storico dell’ Esegesi Patristica. Rome: Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, 1981; English:
Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church. Trans. J. A. Hughes, ed. A Bergquist and M. Bockmuehl. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2002 (1994).
Tilley, M. A. The Bible in Christian North Africa. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.
Trigg, J. W. Biblical Interpretation. In Message of the Fathers of the Church 9, ed. T. Halton. Wilmington:
Michael Glazier, 1988.
Van Fleteren, F. and Schnaubelt, J. C. (eds.), Augustine: Biblical Exegete. In Collectanea Augustiniana:
Augustinian Historical Institute. Bern: Peter Lang, 2001.
Van Oort, J. and Wickert, U. (eds.), Christliche Exegese zwischen Nicaea und Chalkedon. Kampen: Kok
Pharos, 1992.
Whitman, J. Allegory: The Dynamics of an Ancient and Medieval Technique, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1987.
Young, F. M. The Art of Performance: Towards a Theology of the Holy Scriptures. London: Darton,
Longman & Todd, 1990.
_____. Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997 (Hendrickson paperback 2002, OUP paperback 2007).