Nicholas Of Lyra

The first modern study of Nicholas of Lyra, immensely influential fourteenth-century Franciscan biblical commentator. Fifteen essays on his masterpiece, the "Postillae super totam Bibliam," illuminate the remarkable achievement of this key thinker, from his knowledge of Hebrew to political ideas.

In the year 1309, Nicholas of Lyra, an important Franciscan Bible commentator, put forth a question at the University of Paris, asking whether it was possible to prove the advent of Christ from scriptures received by the Jews. This question reflects the challenges he faced as a Christian exegete determined to value Jewish literature during an era of increasing hostility toward Jews in western Europe. Nicholas's literal commentary on the Bible became one of the most widely copied and disseminated of all medieval Bible commentaries. Jewish commentary was, as a result, more widely read in Latin Christendom than ever before, while at the same moment Jews were being pushed farther and farther to the margins of European society. His writings depict Jews as stubborn unbelievers who also held indispensable keys to understanding Christian Scripture. In The Insight of Unbelievers, Deeana Copeland Klepper examines late medieval Christian use of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish interpretation of Scripture, focusing on Nicholas of Lyra as the most important mediator of Hebrew traditions. Klepper highlights the important impact of both Jewish literature and Jewish unbelief on Nicholas of Lyra and on Christian culture more generally. By carefully examining the place of Hebrew and rabbinic traditions in the Christian study of the Bible, The Insight of Unbelievers elaborates in new ways on the relationship between Christian and Jewish scholarship and polemic in late medieval Europe.

'Lucid, restrained, persuasive. If there is such a thing as the history wars, then Bain Attwood has struck a major blow for the peace process. Telling the Truth About Aboriginal History is unflinchingly fair, scholarly, and refreshingly accessible.' Hugh Mackay, social researcher and author 'Genuinely good Australian history is under serious attack and Attwood's book is a brilliant battlefield analysis.' Alan Atkinson, Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow 'Hard-hitting but always thoughtful, Bain Attwood's rich, informed, and powerful book. has much to say about the centrality of history and memory to debates on the future of social justice in democratic societies.' Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago Once upon a time historical controversies were debated among a small circle of academic historians. Today they are the subject of intense 'history wars' fought out in parliament, court rooms, museums, newspapers, cafes and blog sites. Bain Attwood takes us to the heart of the conflict about the Aboriginal past in Australia. He tracks the growing popularity of history and weighs the consequences for the nature of historical knowledge and the authority of the historian. He asks why and how Aboriginal history has become central to Australian politics, culture and identity. He examines the work of historical 'revisionists' and tests their promise of historical truth. Finally, Attwood ponders how the traumatic history of frontier conflict might better be remembered - and mourned - and why telling the truth about history matters for the nation and for all of us.

Surveys of the history of biblical exegesis and, in particular, the history of Apocalypse commentaries rarely fail to allude to Nicholas of Lyra O.F.M. (1270-1349) as the greatest biblical exegete of the fourteenth century. Late medieval and Reformation verses were written about him. Nicholas was born in the town of Lyre, near Evreux in Normandy. Since Evreux was a center of Jewish studies, he was able to cultivate his interest in Hebrew and to become thoroughly acquainted with the Talmud, Midrash, and the works of Rashi (Solomon ben Issac, 1045-1105). Lyra's attraction to Rashi's literal method would have a profound influence on his exegetical style.

Tropologies is the first book-length study to elaborate the medieval and early modern theory of the tropological, or moral, sense of scripture. Ryan McDermott argues that tropology is not only a way to interpret the Bible but also a theory of literary and ethical invention. The “tropological imperative” demands that words be turned into works—books as well as deeds. Beginning with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, then treating monuments of exegesis such as the Glossa ordinaria and Nicholas of Lyra, as well as theorists including Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Martin Luther, and others, Tropologies reveals the unwritten history of a major hermeneutical theory and inventive practice. Late medieval and early Reformation writers adapted tropological theory to invent new biblical poetry and drama that would invite readers to participate in salvation history by inventing their own new works. Tropologies reinterprets a wide range of medieval and early modern texts and performances—including the Patience-Poet, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, the York and Coventry cycle plays, and the literary circles of the reformist King Edward VI—to argue that “tropological invention” provided a robust alternative to rhetorical theories of literary production. In this groundbreaking revision of literary history, the Bible and biblical hermeneutics, commonly understood as sources of tumultuous discord, turn out to provide principles of continuity and mutuality across the Reformation’s temporal and confessional rifts. Each chapter pursues an argument about poetic and dramatic form, linking questions of style and aesthetics to exegetical theory and theology. Because Tropologies attends to the flux of exegetical theory and practice across a watershed period of intellectual history, it is able to register subtle shifts in literary production, fine-tuning our sense of how literature and religion mutually and dynamically informed and reformed each other.

This introductory guide, written by a leading expert in medieval theology and church history, offers a thorough overview of medieval biblical interpretation. After an opening chapter sketching the necessary background in patristic exegesis (especially the hermeneutical teaching of Augustine), the book progresses through the Middle Ages from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, examining all the major movements, developments, and historical figures of the period. Rich in primary text engagement and comprehensive in scope, it is the only current, compact introduction to the whole range of medieval exegesis.

When the sculpture of a horse disappears from the gallery, everyone is panicked! The police start a countrywide search--where could he be? Has he been stolen? Did he run away? In a village outside the city, young Lyra dreams of having a friend of her very own. So when she hears a knocking at her window and sees the face of a horse peering through the glass, she cannot believe her luck! Their friendship blossoms as Lyra and the horse spend a wonderful few days together, playing games and picking flowers in the garden. But then, a figure arrives to take the horse home--back to where he belongs. And before she knows it, Lyra is whisked off on an unexpected adventure. This inspiring picture book is a celebration of friendship and reminds us all that the power of dreaming means we'll never be alone for long!

Surveys of the history of biblical exegesis and, in particular, the history of Apocalypse commentaries rarely fail to allude to Nicholas of Lyra O.F.M. (1270-1349) as the greatest biblical exegete of the fourteenth century. Late medieval and Reformation verses were written about him. Nicholas was born in the town of Lyre, near Evreux in Normandy. Since Evreux was a center of Jewish studies, he was able to cultivate his interest in Hebrew and to become thoroughly acquainted with the Talmud, Midrash, and the works of Rashi (Solomon ben Issac, 1045-1105). Lyra's attraction to Rashi's literal method would have a profound influence on his exegetical style.