Commentary on the Epistles of Saint Paul
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Book Series
Brepols Library of Christian Sources, vol. 20
- Pages: approx. 400 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Language(s):English, Latin
- Publication Year:2026
- € 75,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-62392-4
- Paperback
- Forthcoming (Jun/26)
- € 75,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-62393-1
- E-book
- Forthcoming
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This Latin work, available here in complete English translation opposite the original Latin, enriches twenty-first-century understanding of theology and hermeneutics in medieval tradition, and brings material for discussion of monastic history, biblical interpretation, and gender studies to a wide audience.
Subject(s)
BIO
Carol Neel, Professor of History at Colorado College, is a historian of medieval monastic life specializing in the Order of Prémontré, founded in the early twelfth century and criticized by Rupert in his advocacy of traditional Benedictinism. Among Neel’s published works are several translations from medieval Latin including Dhuoda’s Liber manualis (ninth century) and Anselm of Havelberg’s Anticimenon (twelfth century).
Summary
The Benedictine abbot Rupert of Deutz (d. 1129) was among the most prolific, innovative, and influential of medieval theologians. Well-positioned in time and space to respond to the unfolding of the twelfth-century reform of European religious life, he actively engaged with proponents of the lay piety movement and the new religious orders as an apollogist for monastic tradition. The bulk of Rupert’s surviving writings, however, addresses biblical and liturgical texts. His inventive commentary on the Song of Songs offers a window into both his ecclesiastical context and his own role in the formation of the cult of the Virgin. Here, the Benedictine represents the famously obscure Song as the love-story of God the Father and the Virgin Mother of His Son—the first fully Marian interpretation of the ancient biblical canticle.
Rupert’s commentary on the Song, presented here in full English translation, projects his voice to modern communities of learning and inspiration far beyond the medieval studies and theological audiences to whom he has already been well known. With facing Latin, it will now be accessible to those interested in biblical interpretation, the history and theory of gender, and Christian spritual tradition. This volume of Brepols Library of Christian Sources is based on the authoritative critical edition of Rupert’s commentary by Raban Haake, O.S.B., published as CCCM 26 in 1974. Its introduction reviews the vibrant scholarship on Rupert and the tradition of Song commentary published in the intervening decades, most importantly by John Van Engen, E. Ann Matter, and Rachel Fulton Brown.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Introduction
Rupert and the Twelfth Century
Rupert in Liège and Beyond
The Song Commentary Tradition
Rupert as Commentator
Rupert, Reading, and Spirituality
Rupert and his Struggle with Scripture
Manuscript Tradition
Translation Conventions
Text and Translation
Select Bibliography of Works Pertaining to Rupert's Song Commentary
