Eschatology

Forthcoming Books & Articles in 2019

February 18, 2019 by Frank Leave a Comment

First, to all of our readers and visitors, I wish you a blessed New Year.

Concerning books and articles to be published in 2019, this spring I look forward to the release of The Carolingian Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Theodulf and Smaragdus published by Medieval Institute Press. It will contain English translations of the Apocalypse commentary of Theodulf of Orleans from the year 810 and three homilies on the Apocalypse of Smaragdus from the year 812. Both served under King Charlemagne. Hopefully this year an essay I wrote on “Tenth-Century Exegesis of the Apocalypse” will be published in the Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature edited by Colin McAllister. It treats Arethas of Caesarea, the Catechesis Celtica, and an anonymous Gloss on the Apocalypse of John. These are discussed further under the “Forthcoming” tab on this site.

The “Current Projects” tab has also been updated. Concerning current writing projects, this year I look forward to finishing and submitting two books of translations of sixth and seventh-century writings on the Apocalypse. This spring I also plan to write three articles: “Spiritual Gifts: Patristics through Reformation Era,” “Predestination: Greek and Latin Patristics and Orthodox Churches,” and “Sin and Its Effects on the Human Will in Early Medieval pseudo-Augustinian Literature on Predestination.” All three of these I agreed to write for various books edited by others and they are due in June and July.

Finally, I would like to recommend a few books by others that I have read recently. On eschatology The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age by Jesse Hoover (Oxford, 2018), Robert Wilken’s The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought (Yale University Press, 1992), and 40 Questions about the End Times by Eckhard Schnabel (Kregel, 2011). On the theology of grace and much more, there is the first English translation of Isidore of Seville’s Sententiae in the Ancient Christian Writers series, Vol. 73 (Newman, 2018), which I thoroughly enjoyed. Also the text “On the Hardening of Pharoah’s Heart,” probably written by Pelagius, came out in a first English translation by Bryn R. Rees in Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture 6 (2012):1-54.

My prayer for myself and for you in 2019 is that in holiness and humility we would serve our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and died for us. Frank

New Books on Eschatology & the Theology of Grace in Christian History

January 1, 2018 by Frank Leave a Comment

Happy New Year! In this post I want to inform our readers of some new books on eschatology and the theology of grace in early and medieval Christian history. On eschatology, they are:

T.C. Schmidt, transl., Hippolytus of Rome: Commentary on Daniel and ‘Chronicon’ (Georgias Press, 2017).

Peter of John Olivi, Commentary on the Apocalypse. Translation, Notes, and Introduction by Warren Lewis (Franciscan Institute Publications, 2017). This is a large commentary written in the year 1298.

On the theology of grace, most of which relate to the ninth-century controversy over divine predestination, are the following books:

Matthew Bryan Gillis, Heresy and Dissent in the Carolingian Empire: The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Rachel Stone and Charles West, eds., Hincmar of Rheims: Life and Work (Manchester University Press, 2015).

Jared G. Wielfaert, Prudentius of Troyes (d. 861) and the Reception of the Patristic Tradition in the Carolingian Era (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 2015). Available from ProQuest.

Guido Stucco, The Doctrine of Predestination in Catholic Scholasticism (2017).

Also, the following articles on the Gottschalk controversy may be of interest:

Brian Matz, “Augustine in the Predestination Controversy of the Ninth Century, Part 1: The Double Predestinarians Gottschalk of Orbais and Ratramnus of Corbie,” Augustinian Studies 46:2 (2015):155-184.

Jenny Smith, “As if Augustine Had Said: Textual Interpretation and Augustinian Ambiguity in a Medieval Debate on Predestination,” Past Imperfect 19 (2016)

Jenny Smith, “The Rebellious Monk Gottschalk of Orbais: Defining Heresy in a Medieval Debate on Predestination.” Both of Ms. Smith’s articles can be found on line.

Happy reading and wishing all of our readers a blessed 2018.

Frank

Tyconius, Exposition of the Apocalypse

June 20, 2017 by Frank Leave a Comment

My English translation of Tyconius’s Exposition of the Apocalypse has been published. It is in Volume 134 of the Fathers of the Church series. I hope you get a copy and enjoy reading his explanations of the Book of Revelation.

Tyconius wrote this Exposition about 380 AD. It is useful in many ways. He interpreted John’s visions to make them relevant for the church of all times, similar to modern “idealist” interpretations. He also believed that some passages in Revelation were symbolic of the future persecution of Antichrist, the Second Coming, and the Last Judgment.

He believed that the Book of Revelation is recapitulatory, rather than visions of events that reflect chronological order. On some familiar passages and themes, Tyconius saw the 144,000 as a symbol of the whole church. Likewise, the two witnesses are symbolic of the church prophesying in both testaments. Those sitting on thrones and reigning for a thousand years represent the present reign of the saints; and the first resurrection “is in this life through forgiveness of sins.”

The introduction and notes to the translation of Tyconius were written by David Charles Robinson of Toronto.

For a review of our book in Augustinian Studies 50:2 (2019), click here.

To order Tyconius of Carthage, Exposition of the Apocalypse from Amazon, click here.

I leave you with an encouragement from a Syriac commentator: “Let us spiritually refresh ourselves in the Apocalypse of the Son of God which is very dear and wonderful.”

Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse

January 16, 2017 by Frank Leave a Comment

Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse contains translations of two Hiberno-Latin commentaries on the Book of Revelation from the seventh and eighth centuries. They are the pseudo-Jerome Handbook on the Apocalypse of the Apostle John and On the Mysteries of the Apocalypse of John found in the anonymous eighth-century Reference Bible. These commentaries use earlier Latin commentaries, such as those of Victorinus and Tyconius, as source material. However, they contain unique interpretations of the Book of Revelation. The Handbook has the number of the beast (Rev 13:18) as 666, 000, which the author says may be the number of Antichrist’s army or disciples. It also says that they are heretics who interpret the thousand years of Rev 20 in a carnal manner and who think that Christ has not already bound the devil. On the Mysteries implies that Nero was reigning when John wrote the Apocalypse (On Rev 17:10), and that the mark of the beast will be a slight counterfeit of the Chi-Rho symbol for Christ.

Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Francis X. Gumerlock is reasonably priced and available on Amazon. To purchase a copy, click here.

To read a review of Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Dr. James Palmer of the University of St. Andrews, click here.

New Books and Commentaries on Revelation from the Middle Ages

August 7, 2016 by Frank Leave a Comment

The purpose of this notice is to inform readers about commentaries on the Book of Revelation from the Middle Ages that have been published recently.

Two Apocalypse commentaries attributed to Alcuin of York (d. 804) were recently translated by Sarah Van Der Pas and published in the Consolamini Commentary Series at Consolamini Publications in West Monroe, Louisiana.

A new critical edition and English translation of Scholia in Apocalypsin, once attributed to Origen, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. Its title is An Ancient Commentary on the Book of Revelation by P. Tzamalikos.

A new translation by Faith Wallis of Bede’s eighth-century Commentary on Revelation was published by Liverpool University Press in 2013 in the Translated Texts for Historians series, Volume 58. It contains a great introduction and extensive notes.

The first portion of Beatus of Liebana’s eighth-century Commentary on the Apocalypse is available in English translation by Maureen O’Brien. It is for sale in electronic form on amazon.

A Gloss on the Apocalypse found in a tenth-century manuscript at Cambridge was edited recently by Roger Gryson in Corpus Christianorum. The commentary may be from an earlier century. Dr. Colin McAllister of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is preparing an English translation of it.

The Glossa Ordinaria on the Apocalypse was recently translated into English by Sarah Van Der Pas. Its title is Consolamini Commentary Series: The Glossa Ordinaria on Revelation. An English Translation. It was published in 2015 by Consolamini Publications in West Monroe, Louisianna.

Catherine A. Scine wrote a very informative doctoral dissertation that discusses in much detail commentaries on the Apocalypse from the thirteenth century, including those of Peter of Tarentaise and Hugh of Saint Cher. Hugh wrote two commentaries, with the incipits Aser pinguis and Vidid Jacob respectively. The dissertation is entitled “Early Dominicans on the Apocalypse: A Reading of the 1260s Apocalypse Commentary of Peter of Tarentaise,” and is available from Proquest.

Finally, a Latin edition of Peter John Olivi’s Lectura super Apocalypsim from the year 1298 is now available from Franciscan Institute Publications. This edition by Warren Lewis was previously only available in a hard-to-locate typewritten European doctoral dissertation from the 1970s, and is a great edition to scholarship on the subject.

I hope in these volumes you find refreshment, delight, and insight.

Frank

Chromatius of Aquileia on John 21:22 and Rev 10:11

December 31, 2015 by Frank Leave a Comment

An essay entitled “Chromatius of Aquileia on John 21:22 and Rev 10:11 against a Legend about the Apostle John” by Francis X. Gumerlock was recently published as Chapter Two in The Book of Revelation and Its Interpreters: Short Studies and an Annotated Bibliography, Ian Boxall and Richard Tresley, eds. (New York: Rowan & Littlefield, 2016).

In early Christianity there was a legend that the apostle John never died, but was alive in Paradise with Enoch and Elijah. It continued that when the Antichrist comes upon the world scene, John will return to earth and preach again. Believers in this legend used John 21:22 and Rev 10:11 for support. This essay shows how Chromatius (d. 408) interpreted these passages of Scripture to show that John really died and that he prophesied again (Rev 10:11) after his release from the island of Patmos, by returning to Ephesus and writing the Gospel of John. The essay provides the first English translation of Chromatius’ Sermon 21 and also a translation of a preface to the Book of Revelation from the sixth century.

Other chapters in the book are about John of Patmos in Christian history, the reception of the Book of Revelation, Tyconius’ exegesis, and the Book of Revelation in visual art. Half of the book is an extensive bibliography of commentaries that were written on the Apocalypse up to the year 1700.

Besides Boxall, Tresley, and myself, other contributors include Christopher Rowland, Sean Michael Ryan, and Natasha O’Hear.

For those interested in the Book of Revelation, its reception and interpretation in Christian history, commentaries on Revelation, Tyconius, and visual representations of the Apocalypse, I trust you will find The Book of Revelation and Its Interpreters to be a great read and a useful resource. To purchase a copy from Amazon, click here.