Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/399

* EXEGESIS. 351 EXEGESIS. the direction of an allegorizing exegesis was given by Gnosticism. When men like Valentinua and his disciples, Ptolemy and Heracleon, Basi- lides and Isidore, Saturninus and Carpocrates, Marcion and Tatian embraced Christianity, it was impossible lor (hem to lie satislied with even the most liberal attitude of the Christian Jew. No synagogue training prevented them from measuring "the God of the Jews' by the standard furnished by the Christian revelation, and the commandments of the Law by standards of Chris- tian worship and morals. An effective defense of the Catholic side could only be made by the chastened Gnosticism and allegorizing interpre- tation that meet us in Hebrews, Barnabas, Colos- sians, Ephesians, the Pastorals, and the Fourth Gospel. The same method and speculation were characteristic of Justin (died c.luO), Pantaams (died c.190), Clement of Alexandria (died c.215), and Origen (died c.254). As a textual critic and as a thinker, Origen easily holds the foremost place among the early fathers, though his knowl- edge of Hebrew was inferior to that of Jerome. Iiis allegorical method was followed by Diony- sius (died 205), and Gregory Thaumaturgus (died c.270) ; and, to a large extent, bv Eusebius (died c.340), Athanasius (died 373), the three Cappadbcians, Basil (died 379), Gregory of Nvssa (died c.395), and Gregory of Nazianzus (died c.390) ; Ambrose of Milan (died 397), and Cyril of Alexandria (died 444). On the other hand, the foundations of a sound historieo-gra in- ula tical interpretation were laid b}' the school of Ant inch, whose chief representatives were Theo- dore of Heraclea (died 350). Eusebius of Emesa (died c.360),Diodonis of Tarsus (died 394), Chry- sostom (died 407 ), Theodore of Mopsuestia (died 429), his brother Polychronius, and Theodoret of Cyrus (died c.457 ). Especially the criticism of Theodore of Mopsuestia was often very keen. Ephraem Syras (died 378) also devoted himself particularly to a grammatical explanation of the text, and the school of Nisibis seems to have been comparatively free from allegorizing tendencies, as may'be seen from the conception of the Bible which Junilius (died 552) declares that he has received from Paul the Persian. Through Jerome (died c.420) and Augustine (died 430). however, the interpretation that sought to discover a double or manifold sense became dominant in the Latin Church. Jerome possessed a deeper knowledge of Hebrew, acquired from Jewish teachers in Palestine, than any other patristic writer, and had great skill as a translator; while Augustine knew no Hebrew and little Greek, but often understood the meaning of the text better. Though he had neither the erudition of Jerome nor the genius of Augustine. Faustus of Mileve (horn 344) was a greater critic than either, an- ticipating some important positions of modern scholarship. In the sixth century commentators like Cas- siodorus (died c.580) and Procopius of Gaza (died 520) began to give a conspectus of earlier interpretations in so-called chains' [catena, (cretpai), and Cosmas Indicopleustes (c.550) gave a summary of authorship, purpose, and contents of the biblical books. The learned Isidore of Seville (died 636), Bede (672-735). and Alcuin (died 804) largely epitomized Jerome. These excerpts from the fathers were much reduced in the Glossa Ordinaria of Walafrid Strabo (died 849), and by the learned Rabanus Maurus (died 856), who alnadv seems to have given some at- tention to the Hebrew; also bj tlaymo of Hal- berstadl (died 853) and Remigius oi Auxerre (died 890). With Johannes Seotus Erigi (died c.s'.ii )the allegorical interpretation covered many view.-, in advance of his age, on the erea lion, the fall of man, the last things, and other subjects. Lanfranc (c.1005-89) continued Al- cuin's labors for the purification of the Latin text. Anselm oi Laon (died 1117), in his Glossa IntertiiK at ia, Rupert "i Deutz (died 1135), and Hugo of Saint ictoi I died 1171) pursued I lie fourfold sense of Scripture, historical, allegorical, topological, and anagogic; and even men like Thomas Aquinas (died 1274), Bonaventura (died 1274), ami Albertus Magnus (died 1280) did not break with the prevailing method. But the teach- ing of Aboard (died 1142) and the Nominal: I had a tendency to call the alien! ion away from types and allegories, and Roger Bacon (.died 1294) applied his method, not only in the study of natural objects, but also OS a textual critic. In order to convert the Jews and Moslems, to dispute successfully with them, or even to ex- purgate their books, it became necessary to learn the Hebrew and Arabic languages. Seminaries where Hebrew and Arabic wire taught began to be founded in the thirteenth century, and the Council of Vienne (1311) ordained that chairs of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic should be estab lished in Paris, Bologna, Oxford, and Salamanca. The results of this new impulse are seen in the l'utjio Fidei of Raymond Martini (died 1296) and the Postilla of Nicolas of Lyra (died 1340). Both of these authors were familiar with Tal- mudic and Rabbinic writings, as well as with the Hebrew Bible, and especially the latter drew largely upon Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi). The Renaissance brought an improved critical method, as well as increased knowledge of class- ical antiquity. Of great importance was the criticism of sacred texts and traditions by Loren- zo Valla (died 1457). Such Hebraists as Johanii W'essel (died 1489), Pico della Mirandola (died 1494), Conrad Pellicanus (Kiirschner, died 1556; his grammar appeared 1503), and Johann Reuch- lin (died 1522) facilitated the philological study of the Bible. The exegesis of Franz Vatablus (Vatble, died 1547), Santes Pagninus (died 1541), Johannes Maldonatus (died 1583). and Gilbert Geneorard (died 1597) was based on the Hebrew text as well as the Latin and Greek ver- sions and sought to discover the* literal sense. Even Titelmann (died 1530) and Cajetan (died 1534), who knew the original only through Latin translations, recognized its importance and dis- carded allegorizing. The learned lawyer An- dreas Masius (Maes) in 1~>74 published an im- portant commentary on Joshua, in which lie maintained that the Pentateuch hail been com- piled by Ezra from documents of different ages. Great services were rendered to textual criticism by Xiniines through his editions of the Bible in the Compluteiisian polyglot (1514-17); Arias Montanus, as editor of the Antwerp polyglot (1509 721: Pierre Morin and Antonio Caraffa. by editing the Sixtine edition of the Greek Bible (15S7): and Robert Stephanus (Estienne) in preparing for the press the Latin Vulgate (1532). Martin Luther I died 1546) broke in principle with the allegorical method, though his exegesis still shows its lingering fascination and is at