Bede: Commentary on Revelation
Published on 31. May 2013
Book
Hardback
343 pages
978-1-84631-844-3 (ISBN)
Description
The Commentary on Revelation is Bede's first venture into Biblical exegesis -- an ambitious choice for a young monastic scholar in a newly Christianized land. Its subject matter - the climax of the great story of creation and redemption, of history and of time itself - adds to the Commentary's intrinsic importance, for these themes lie at the heart of Bede's concerns and of his achievement as a historian, exegete, scholar, and preacher. But Bede was also a man of his age. When he penned the Commentary around 703, speculation and anxiety about the end of the world was in the air. According to conventional chronology, almost 6000 years had passed since creation. If for God 'one day... is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day' (2 Peter 3:8), the world was destined to last six millennia, corresponding to the six days of creation. The end, then, was close. Bede vigorously opposed the temptation to calculate the time of the end. The Commentary argues that Revelation is not a literal prophecy, but a symbolic reflection on the perennial struggle of the Church in this world. At the same time, the young Bede is starting to shape his own account of how the end-times would unfold. This translation, prefaced by a substantial Introduction, will be of interest to students of medieval religious and cultural history, of Anglo-Saxon England, and of the history of Biblical exegesis in the Middle Ages.
Reviews / Votes
This volume, with its brilliant introduction, will contribute greatly to an understanding of the theological debates and movements of thought in the Church in Europe at the turn of the eighth century. * ABR 65:2 * [Faith Wallis's] translation is accurate and animated and she has done a splendid job of situating the work in the context of Bede's early writings on time and the millennium.Michael Lapidge Now Faith Wallis, known for her Bedan scholarship, especially for Bede's The Reckoning of Time, has produced a translation of the Commentary with introduction and very informative notes that superbly complements Gryson's edition. Her accurate translation of Bede's work along with an informative commentary condenses Gryson's French and Latin notes and adds some additional references.
Wallis's translation, besides being accurate and occasionally adding in brackets Bede's Latin wording, has the advantage of indicating by the use of italics and notes when Bede incorporates within his commentary (as he very frequently does in this early work) comments by patristic authorities such as Tyconius, Primasius, Gregory, and Augustine; her book also provides a Select Bibliography and an excellent Index of Sources and Parallel Passages.
A scholar who has Gryson's Latin edition and Wallis's detailed introduction and annotated translation at hand will be eminently equipped to read, understand, and reflect on Bede's Commentary on Revelation.
George Hardin Brown, Digressus 13 (2013) -- George Hardin Brown * Digressus 13 (2013) *
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Liverpool
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 147 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84631-844-3 (9781846318443)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Faith Wallis is Professor Emerita at McGill University in Montreal. Her research focuses on the textual and manuscript transmission of medical and scientific knowledge in the Middle Ages. Her many books include Bede: Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (with Calvin B. Kendall, 2024), Isidore of Seville: On the Nature of Things (2016), Bede: Commentary on Revelation (2013), all in the Liverpool University Press Translated Texts for Historians series.
Content
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Bede and the Latin Tradition of Exegesis of Revelation
1.1 The Roots of Bede's Major Exegetical Theme
1.2 Victorinus of Pettau
1.3 Apocalyptic Retreats and Revivals in the Fourth Century
1.4 Tyconius
1.5 The Tyconian Tradition from Augustine to the End of the
Sixth Century
2. Bede's Immediate Sources and How He Used Them
2.1 'Commaticum interpretandi genus'
2.2 A Mosaic of Quotations
2.3 Reconstructing Bede's Use of Tyconius
2.4 The Occlusion of Primasius
2.5 Did Bede Read Caesarius?
2.6 Bede's Borrowings from Augustine
2.7 Bede Reads Jerome and Gregory
2.8 Was Bede's Exegesis Influenced by Visual Sources?
2.9 Bede and the Text of the Bible
3. Date and Circumstances of Composition
3.1 The Significance of the Date of Composition
3.2 The Commentary on Revelation and the Preface to the Commentary on Acts
3.3 Obstrepentes causae?
3.4 An Apocalyptic Eighth Century?
4. Shape and Style of the Commentary on Revelation
4.1 The Poem of Bede the Priest
4.2 Bede's Preface: The Structure of Revelation and the 'periochae'
4.3 Bede's Preface: The Methodological Framework
4.4. The Unscheduled Future: How Bede Shapes the Meaning of Revelation
4.5 Judgement and Reform
5. Bede's Commentary on Revelation: Transmission and Translation
5.1 Transmission in Manuscript
5.2 The Commentary in Print
5.3 Principles Governing the Present Translation
Bede: Commentary on Revelation
The Poem of Bede the Priest
Preface
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Appendix: The capitula lectionum on Revelation Ascribed to Bede
Select Bibliography
Index of Sources and Parallels
General Index
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Bede and the Latin Tradition of Exegesis of Revelation
1.1 The Roots of Bede's Major Exegetical Theme
1.2 Victorinus of Pettau
1.3 Apocalyptic Retreats and Revivals in the Fourth Century
1.4 Tyconius
1.5 The Tyconian Tradition from Augustine to the End of the
Sixth Century
2. Bede's Immediate Sources and How He Used Them
2.1 'Commaticum interpretandi genus'
2.2 A Mosaic of Quotations
2.3 Reconstructing Bede's Use of Tyconius
2.4 The Occlusion of Primasius
2.5 Did Bede Read Caesarius?
2.6 Bede's Borrowings from Augustine
2.7 Bede Reads Jerome and Gregory
2.8 Was Bede's Exegesis Influenced by Visual Sources?
2.9 Bede and the Text of the Bible
3. Date and Circumstances of Composition
3.1 The Significance of the Date of Composition
3.2 The Commentary on Revelation and the Preface to the Commentary on Acts
3.3 Obstrepentes causae?
3.4 An Apocalyptic Eighth Century?
4. Shape and Style of the Commentary on Revelation
4.1 The Poem of Bede the Priest
4.2 Bede's Preface: The Structure of Revelation and the 'periochae'
4.3 Bede's Preface: The Methodological Framework
4.4. The Unscheduled Future: How Bede Shapes the Meaning of Revelation
4.5 Judgement and Reform
5. Bede's Commentary on Revelation: Transmission and Translation
5.1 Transmission in Manuscript
5.2 The Commentary in Print
5.3 Principles Governing the Present Translation
Bede: Commentary on Revelation
The Poem of Bede the Priest
Preface
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Appendix: The capitula lectionum on Revelation Ascribed to Bede
Select Bibliography
Index of Sources and Parallels
General Index