Bede : a Biblical Miscellany

Book excerpt: Cited today as the first historian of the English, the Venerable Bede (ca. 673-735) was known in his own time primarily as a commentator on Holy Scripture. Taking seriously the insights of both ancient schools of biblical exegesis, the Antiochene and he Alexandrian, Bede was as proficient at explaining the plain sense of difficult scriptural texts as he was at discerning the figurative or allegorical significance. This volume contains six of Bede's shorter biblical writings, most of which appear here in translation for the first time. Taken together, they reveal his amazing versatility. On Tobias shows his skill as an allegorist, while On the Resting Places, Thirty Questions on the Book of Kings, and On Eight Questions reveal his fascination with the logical puzzles posed by Scripture's literal sense. On the Holy Places is an exegetical tool conveying information about the geography of the Holy Land that Bede considered indispensable for an adequate understanding of biblical revelation. In aletter On What Isaiah Says, Bede refutes a heretical understanding of Scripture in an attempt to build up the faith of the Church.