The Bible In The Early Irish Church A D 550 To 850

This book aims at bringing together and providing all the information which was available to early Irish writers from Columbanus (6th century) onwards as far as the greater commentators (Sedulius Scottus, Scottus Eriugena) about 850.

The twenty-one essays in this volume, published from 1971 onwards, together with the introductions and conclusion, treat of the Bible and apocryphal works in Ireland during the pre-Norman period, from A.D. 600 to 1200. The essays cover developments during the period from Professor Bernhard Bischoff's seminal 1954 essay (Wendepunkte), on new evidence for Irish contributions in the field, down to the present day. After an initial survey of research during this period, attention is paid to the texts of the Latin Bible, in particular the Psalms and the Four Gospels, and to the Antiochene influence on Psalm interpretation, as well as to the rich corpus of Irish apocryphal writings, some of them very early (Transitus Mariae, so-called Infancy Narrative of Thomas, texts on the Magi and a related Infancy Narrative). Special attention is paid to the creative biblical interpretation of the Psalms in the early Irish Church A.D. 600-800, and also to what appears to be an early Irish (early eighth-century) commentary on the Apocalypse. It is hoped that these essays will contribute to a renewed examination of early Irish exegesis in this the sixtieth year of the publication of Dr. Bischoff's 1954 essay.

"The Introduction provides an overview of the history of the Latin Bible, with a summary of the contents of each chapter in this Handbook and the rationale for their arrangement. It then discusses the terminology for referring to the Latin Bible, along with a mini-glossary of specialist terms in manuscript and textual studies which appear in the chapters. The principal editions of the Latin Bible are introduced, along with other resources for its study such as book series and databases. Finally, the conventions for the Handbook are explained, such as spelling practices for Latin and proper nouns"--

1972 Foreword by Conor MacDari, Jr. Contents: a Survey; the Creation; the Creation of Adam & Eve & the Garden of Eden; the Children of Adam & Eve; the Genealogy of the Children of Cain; the Genealogy of the Patriarchs from Adam to Noah; the Ancie.