Oxford early Christian studies

St. Jerome was one of the very few early Christian scholars who knew Hebrew. This is the first translation, complete with a comprehensive introduction and commentary, of his Hebrew Questions on Genesis - providing a striking and fascinating picture of that knowledge put to work. It shows clearly that Jerome was not only familiar with biblical Hebrew, which he had to know in order to translate the Old Testament into Latin; but that he was also aware of Jewish tradition, now preserved in the classic writings of Judaism, the Talmuds and the Midrashim. Jerome was interested in popular Jewish tradition as well as scholarly lore, and he often records details known to the Aramaic Targumim, the popular combined translations and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible in the every-day Aramaic language of the common Jew. Jerome's work provides unique evidence for the dating of much early Jewish material, now of increasing importance as modern critical study of Jewish texts has begun to question hitherto accepted dates. As a Christian who knew Hebrew, Jerome's influence on the Church was very great; but he acquired his knowledge with great effort, and his work reflects the curious relations between this particular Christian and his Jewish informants which is not without interest for current Jewish-Christian relations. Why Jerome wrote the Hebrew Questions is one of the major concerns of the book.

Augustine's 'Commentary on Galatians' offers insights into his understanding of Paul and of his own task as a biblical interpreter. Eric Plumer provides an English translation with facing Latin text, a comprehensive introduction and copious notes.

Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395) made important contributions to both theological thought and the understanding of the spiritual life. He was especially significant in adapting the thought of Origen to fourth-century orthodoxy. The early Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms shows the early stages of the development of Gregory's thought. This book presents the first translation of the treatise in a modern language. The annotations show Gregory's indebtedness to the thought of classical antiquity as well as to the Bible. The introduction sets forth the structure of Gregory's treatise, and places it in the context of earlier Christian commentaries on the Psalms. It shows how his hermeneutical approach was influenced by both Iamblichus the Neo-Platonist and Origen. Finally, Dr Heine compares Gregory's understanding of the stages of the spiritual life in the treatise with that in his later and more widely known writings on the life of Moses and the Song of Songs.