This book is the first English translation of a text that Michael Cahill identifies as the first formal commentary on Mark's Gospel. Thought to have been written by an early seventh-century abbot, the commentary was for almost 1000 years attributed to St. Jerome and as such exercised incalculable influence on subsequent commentary. St. Thomas Aquinas drew on it freely in his Catena Aurea, for example, as did the highly influential Counter-Reformation commentary of Cornelius a Lapide. Renaissance scholarship demoted the work to the pseudepigrapha of Jerome and it clearly lost status as a result. However, the contemporary recovery of interest in the commentary tradition ensures a welcome for the publication of this translation. Irrespective of authorship, the text is important in the history of biblical interpretation--it is the first commentary on Mark, and has had wide influence in the Latin west. It is written in the allegorical style, and attempts to provide an application of
the gospel text to the practice of Christian discipleship. It is characterized by the use of other biblical texts, and through the use of bold face and italics in the translation, the reader is able to see the extent of quotation, paraphrase, and allusion. The extensive notes are designed to provide information on source material and on the author's technique. As the first Markan commentary this text holds a unique place in the history of biblical exegesis. This translation will make it available to scholars who do not read Latin, and will serve as a useful introduction to early and medieval Bible commentary, both in format and content.
Industry Reviews
"...a welcome contribution to NT scholarship....In addition to providing us with a clear translation, Cahill has heavily and usefully annotated the commentary and has provided a useful bibliography of the relevant scholarly works. The resulting text is one that will be of great interest to Marcan specialists and to historians of exegesis, as well as to historians of the early Middle Ages."--The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"Text, translation and commentary together should open up this unique commentary once again to a new generation of scholars in biblical studies, Hiberno-Latin studies, and related fields. Michael Cahill deserves our thanks for that."--The Medieval Revew
"Cahill has good treatment of the contemporary interest in the older commentaries and of the value of such allegorical commentaries for our own age. The translation reads well and the notes to the text are excellent."--Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association
"The translation is both readable and faithful to the original....Those scholars who are interested in the history of interpretation of the Latin Bible, allegorical exegesis, the Gospel of Mark, and monastic writing will find this volume a valuable addition to their bookshelves."--Review of Biblical Literature
"Adding to the interest in early medieval biblical exegesis, Michael Cahill has produced an edited translation of the first full-length continuous Markan commentary....Many scholars today would have great interest in studying this practical analysis of a biblical text. Cahill's translation will aid the scholarship of the history of biblical interpretation and the history of the Markan gospel."--Church History
"...a welcome contribution to NT scholarship....In addition to providing us with a clear translation, Cahill has heavily and usefully annotated the commentary and has provided a useful bibliography of the relevant scholarly works. The resulting text is one that will be of great interest to Marcan specialists and to historians of exegesis, as well as to historians of the early Middle Ages."--The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"Text, translation and commentary together should open up this unique commentary once again to a new generation of scholars in biblical studies, Hiberno-Latin studies, and related fields. Michael Cahill deserves our thanks for that."--The Medieval Revew
"Cahill has good treatment of the contemporary interest in the older commentaries and of the value of such allegorical commentaries for our own age. The translation reads well and the notes to the text are excellent."--Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association
