Bede's Exegetical Theology: Ideas of the Church in the Acts Commentaries Of St. Bede the Venerable
Abstract
PARENTIBUS MAGISTRISQUE MEIS BENEMERENTIBUS
ET
MEMORIAE
ILLIUS QUONDAM MERTONIENSIS PROFESSORIS
ANGLICAE LINGUAE LITTERARUMQUE
IN UNIVERSITATE OXONIENSE
QUI TURREM A QUO PELAGUS VIDERE POSSUMUS AEDIFICAVIT
Exegesis and theology are inseparable in Bede's biblical commentaries, for Bede understands the Scriptures to have been written to present Christian doctrine, even when the form of a particular text may be lyric or narrative rather than expository. In order to illuminate the teachings of the Scriptures, Bede employs the techniques set out by Augustine in De doctrina christiana, techniques based in Augustine's late antique rhetorical culture. In addition to these Augustinian principles, Bede observes his own rule of "following in the footsteps of the Fathers," quoting frequently, and usually without acknowledgment, the comments of earlier authorities. Though Bede is a "pre- critical" reader in modern terms, these practices in fact constitute a critical approach to the text, and one with clear connections to the literary culture in which the Christian scriptural canon was established. In practicing this exegetical theology, Bede proves himself to be a careful reader, and reaches conclusions with which modern biblical scholars can agree. Bede's two commentaries on Acts (Expositio, c. 710, and Retractatio, c. 725) show the workings of Bede's exegetical theology with particular clarity, for they mix historical and spiritual interpretations with textual criticism, they have few patristic sources on which to draw, and they span Bede's writing career. Bede understands both the literal and the allegorical senses of Acts to be concerned with teaching about the Church. By examining what Bede finds Luke saying about the Universal Church (i.e., the Church as including the righteous persons of the OT as well as virtuous pagans), about those outside the Church (Jews, heretics and sinners) and about ministry within the Church (especially focussed on teaching), we can see how Bede's own preconceptions, his patristic inheritance, and the biblical text interact to produce a teaching both loyal to its authorities and distinctive in its details (e.g., Bede's conclusion, contra Augustine, that OT rituals were effective means of salvation). An appendix to the study examines Bede's interpretation of Acts 3:1-4:22 verse by verse in order to highlight the degree to which Bede's understanding of the scriptural text and of his patristic citations takes into account their larger contexts.
This page last revised on November 30, 1996.