Polythecon
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Book Series
Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, vol. 53C
- Pages: lxviii + 355 p.
- Size:155 x 245 mm
- Language(s):Latin
- Publication Year:2021
- € 250,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-58983-1
- Hardback
- Available
Subject(s)
Review(s)
"Though translating medieval interreligious engagement presents a challenge, van Liere’s editing sheds plenty of light on Andrew’s project seeking the “Hebrew truth.” The critical edition shows that Andrew sought linguistic and cultural knowledge of the Hebrew source text from avariety of sources. These included both Christian sources, like Jerome’s commentary on Isaiah and the glossa ordinaria (the standard gloss on the Bible in the twelfth century),and Jewish sources likely gleaned from consultation with rabbis (since Andrew appears conversant with but not fluent in Hebrew). The critical edition’s skillfully arranged apparatus fontium will delight those eager to investigate this latter influence, as it generously identifies sources and parallels not only in Jerome, the glossa, and other Christian sources, but also Jewish interpreters like Rashi, Joseph Kara, and Abraham Ibn Ezra (to name a few)." (Craig Tichelkamp, in Speculum, 101/2, 2026, p. 599)
BIO
Frans van Liere holds a Ph.D. in medieval studies from Groningen University and is Professor of History at Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI (USA).
Summary
Andrew of Saint Victor was one of the most prominent biblical scholars of the twelfth century. He was a regular canon of the Parisian abbey of St Victor, which in the twelfth century had developed into a prestigious center of spiritual learning, closely connected to the nascent university in Paris. Because of his frequent use of Jewish exegetical materials, Andrew's commentaries are a rich source for the history both of biblical hermeneutics and of inter-religious dialogue during the Middle Ages. His Isaiah commentary caused outrage among medieval Christian scholars because it eschewed traditional christological interpretations, and instead offered a reading "secundum Hebraeos." Scholars have seen Andrew of St Victor as standing at the cradle of a scholarly interest in the Biblical text, which influenced scholars such as the fourteenth-century Franciscan Nicholas of Lyra, and, in the long run, reformers such as John Wycliff, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.
