pseudo-Jerome

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.

I Will Show Wonders in Heaven

August 5, 2014 by Frank Leave a Comment

NEW ARTICLES: Under the sidebar “Published Articles by the Author” are two new articles. The first is “I Will Show Wonders in the Heaven Above” published in Trinity Journal. It examines the eschatology of an eighteenth century Baptist community in Pennsylvania, called Ephrata, and how they viewed certain comets, which had appeared at that time, as signals of end time events.

The second is “Arnobius the Younger against the Predestined One” published recently in Augustinian Studies. Arnobius had many negative things to say in his Psalms commentary and Praedestinatus about a certain person whom he called pejoratively “predestined one.” This article makes a case that his predestinarian opponent was the defender of Saint Augustine, Prosper of Aquitaine, who resided in Rome at the same time as Arnobius.

NEW CONFERENCE PAPERS: Four new conference papers were posted recently on this website. These include papers on the theology of grace of Prosper of Aquitaine, the interpretation of the 144,000 in Revelation 7 & 14, an 8th century predestination controversy in Spain, and an early Christological heresy called Nestorianism.

FORTHCOMING is my review IN Augustinian Studies of the first English translation of Fulgentius of Ruspe’s “On the Truth of Predestination” in the Fathers of the Church series.

CURRENT PROJECTS: On the Latin to English translation of Tyconius’ Exposition of the Apocalypse, I have finished the translation, and am going over it one more time. David Robinson is working on the introduction and footnotes. I have also finished translations of the Apocalypse commentary in the Reference Bible, another by pseudo-Jerome, and one by Theodulph of Orleans, all from around 650-810 AD. I am going over them one more time, and then I need to write the introduction, before sending it to publication.

More Ancient Apocalypse Commentaries in Translation

February 2, 2011 by Frank Leave a Comment

Below are some announcements of ancient commentaries on the Apocalypse in English translation that either have been published recently or are scheduled to appear soon.

Nerses of Lambron. Commentary on the Revelation of Saint John. Translation of the Armenian Text, Notes, and Introduction by Robert W. Thomson (Leuven: Peeters, 2007). Nerses, archbishop of Tarsus, wrote this commentary in 1180 AD in the Armenian language. It is an adaptation of the Apocalypse commentary on Andrew of Caesarea from the seventh century. Thomson’s translated text is excellent reading. A full review of it by me appears in the May 2011 issue of Kerux journal. Click here to read my review of Nerses of Lambron-Commentary on the Revelation of St. John.)

An English translation of the aforementioned Greek commentary on Revelation composed by Andrew of Caesarea in Cappadocia, from 609-614 AD, appeared in Part 2 of the 2008 doctoral dissertation of Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou at the Universite Laval in Quebec entitled “Andrew of Caesarea and the Apocalypse in the Ancient Church of the East.” It is available for free download at www.revelation-resources.com. Constantinou’s translation of the commentary is scheduled to appear soon in the Fathers of the Church series from Catholic University of America Press. Another English translation of Andrew’s commentary completed by Dr. William Weinrich is scheduled for publication in InterVarsity’s new series Ancient Christian Texts.

The Turin fragments of Tyconius of Carthage’s lost Apocalypse commentary are translated in an excellent dissertation completed in 2010 by David Charles Robinson at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto entitled “The Mystic Rules of Scripture: Tyconius of Carthage’s Keys and Windows to the Apocalypse.”

An English translation of the massive Commentary on the Apocalypse of Peter John Olivi, composed in 1297, is scheduled for release this summer by Franciscan Institute Publications.

The Apocalypse commentaries of Victorinus, Apringius, Caesarius of Arles, and Bede, translated by William Weinrich, are projected for publication in a volume of the Ancient Christian Texts series by InterVarsity.

Bede’s Apocalypse commentary from the early middle ages was translated into English by Edward Marshall in the 1800s in England and for years it was difficult to obtain in the States because so few libraries carried it. But it has now been reprinted in paperback and is available for purchase at www.fledby.com or www.whitcoulls.co.nz. The commentary is also available in electronic version on line at www.apocalyptic-theories.com and at the medieval sourcebook webpage at www.fordham.edu. Besides the aforementioned translation of Bede’s Apocalypse commentary by Weinrich, a new translation by Faith Wallis of McGill University is scheduled to appear in the Translated Texts for Historians series published by Liverpool University Press.

Two other items not related to Apocalypse commentaries, but that may be of interest to our readers:

Steven Cartwright’s English translation of Peter Abelard’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans is scheduled for release this April in the Mediaeval Continuation Series of Fathers of the Church from Catholic University of America Press. Abelard wrote the commentary in the mid 1130s.

Probably the most comprehensive book on Gottschalk of Orbais in English is the 2009 dissertation of Matthew Bryan Gillis entitled “Gottschalk of Orbais: A Study of Power and Spirituality in a Ninth-Century Life.” I read it last summer. It was one of those books you never want to be over. Gottschalk’s views on predestination sparked a heated controversy in Europe in the mid-ninth century. Most American doctoral dissertations can be purchased from proquest.com.

I would encourage institutional libraries, those who wish to learn more about how the Scriptures have been interpreted throughout Christian history, those interested in the Book of Revelation, and those who work with medieval texts, to add the aforementioned titles to their stacks as they become available.

Have a great day.
Frank