Introduction

Summary

This book is an attempt to reconfigure standard outlines of patristic exegesis of the Bible. This it seeks to effect by presenting not a linear argument or chronological account, but something more like a spider's web. Such a web is made up of strands carefully placed in relation to one another. The radiating segments of the web are analogous to the sections of the book: they represent the major themes, each of which is traced in second-century material and then broadened out by consideration of material from subsequent centuries. These segments, however, are interlinked by connecting threads, issues which keep recurring, and which defy simple organisation. Scattered over the web are dew-drops that highlight issues by providing depth of focus through detailed inspection of particular texts. The hope is that by a combination of panoramas and close-ups, new perspectives may emerge as the complete web is contemplated.

It has been suggested that ‘anyone engaged in studies related to the Fathers of the Church has not had readily available any historical outline of patristic exegesis’. The writer of those words, Manlio Simonetti, set out to fill the gap. Certainly, a great deal of the requisite material lies in studies of particular outstanding exegetes or scholarly monographs on the treatment of specific texts. So the translation of Simonetti's work is a useful addition to the introductory literature available in English. It is not my intention to duplicate such an account. Rather my discussion presupposes acquaintance with earlier work.