Commentaries On The Twelve Prophets

Jerome (c. 347-419/20), one of the West's four doctors of the church, was recognized early on as one of the church's foremost translators, commentators and advocates of Christian asceticism. Skilled in Hebrew and Greek in addition to his native Latin, he was thoroughly familiar with Jewish traditions and brought them to bear on his understanding of the Old Testament. Beginning in 379, Jerome used his considerable linguistic skills to translate Origen's commentaries and, eventually, to translate and comment on Scripture himself. In 392, while preparing his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, Jerome wrote his commentary on Nahum, the first in a series of commentaries on five of the twelve minor prophets. Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai and Habakkuk soon followed. He was interrupted in 393 by the Origenist controversy, after which he became a vocal critic of Origen of Alexandria—a controversy he referred to in his commentaries on Jonah and Obadiah in 396. This Ancient Christian Texts volume, edited and translated by Thomas Scheck in collaboration with classics students from Ave Maria University, includes these seven commentaries. The second volume contains Jerome's commentaries on Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Joel and Amos, all of which were written in 406, completing the group of twelve prophets. Throughout these commentaries Jerome displays his familiarity with both Hebrew and Greek texts. His spiritual exegesis relies heavily on the exegetical work of Origen. Jerome looks beyond the nationalistic sentiments of the prophets to see a wider message about God's mercy and justice. His commitment to the truthfulness of the Scriptures as the Word of God is exemplified by his defense of the historicity of Jonah. He finds the fundamental message of the prophets to be the intent to console the saints, so that they may disdain the things of this world and prepare themselves for the day of judgment. Ancient Christian Texts are new English translations of full-length commentaries or sermon series from ancient Christian authors that allow you to study key writings of the early church fathers in a fresh way.

Jerome (c. 347–419/20), one of the West's four doctors of the church, was recognized early on as one of the church's foremost translators, commentators, and advocates of Christian asceticism. Skilled in Hebrew and Greek in addition to his native Latin, he was thoroughly familiar with Jewish traditions and brought them to bear on his understanding of the Old Testament. Beginning in 379, Jerome used his considerable linguistic skills to translate Origen's commentaries and, eventually, to translate and comment on Scripture himself. Jerome began writing commentaries on the twelve minor prophets in 392 while preparing his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. After completing Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Habakkuk, he was interrupted in 393 by the Origenist controversy, after which he became a vocal critic of Origen of Alexandria. He finished his commentaries on Jonah and Obadiah in 396. These seven commentaries are available in volume one. The Origenist controversy and his commentary on Matthew occupied his time for the next several years. He finally completed the rest of the twelve prophets in 406. This Ancient Christian Text volume, edited and translated by Thomas Scheck in collaboration with classics students from Ave Maria University, includes those final five commentaries on Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Joel, and Amos. Throughout these commentaries Jerome refers frequently to the work of previous commentators, and his spiritual exegesis relies heavily on the exegetical work of Origen—though he acknowledges that "I have not followed them in everything." Jerome hears in these texts God's judgment and mercy not only on Israel but especially on the Christian community. In Amos, for example, he says that "whatever we have said about Judah refers to the church." He wrestles especially with the scandalous message of Hosea, which he refers to as drowning with Pharaoh during the crossing of the Red Sea. But he trusts that "the ways of the Lord are the reading of the Old and New Testament, the understanding of the holy Scriptures." Jerome's magisterial commentaries help us walk more faithfully in God's ways. Ancient Christian Texts are new English translations of full-length commentaries or sermon series from ancient Christian authors that allow you to study key writings of the early church fathers in a fresh way.

"And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [the risen Jesus] interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Lk 24:27). The church fathers mined the Old Testament throughout for prophetic utterances regarding the Messiah, but few books yielded as much messianic ore as the Twelve Prophets, sometimes known as the Minor Prophets because of the relative brevity of their writings. Encouraged by the example of the New Testament writers, the church fathers found numerous parallels between the Gospels and the prophetic books. Among the events foretold, they found not only the flight into Egypt after the nativity, the passion, and resurrection of Christ, and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, but also Judas's act of betrayal, the earthquake at Jesus' death and the rending of the temple veil. Detail upon detail brimmed with significance for Christian doctrine, including baptism and the Eucharist as well as the relation between the covenants. In this rich and vital resource you will find excerpts, some translated here into English for the first time, from more than thirty church fathers, ranging in time from Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus (late first and early second centuries) to Gregory the Great, Braulio of Saragossa, and Bede the Venerable (late sixth to early eighth centuries). Geographically the sources range from the great Cappadocians—Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa—John Chrysostom, Ephrem the Syrian, and Hippolytus in the East, to Ambrose, Augustine, Cyprian, and Tertullian in the West, and Origen, Cyril, and Pachomius in Egypt. This Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume is a treasure trove out of which Christians may bring riches both old and new in their understanding of these ancient texts.

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