Commentary Series

• E. Ann Matter, emerita, University of Pennsylvania, Series Editor
• Thomas E. Burman, University of Notre Dame
• John C. Cavadini, University of Notre Dame
• Robert Harris, Jewish Theological Seminary of America (New York)
• Jim O'Donnell, Arizona State University
• Lesley Smith, University of Oxford
• Frans van Liere, Calvin University

Proposals or completed manuscripts to be considered for publication by Medieval Institute Publications should be sent to Tyler Cloherty, acquisitions editor for the series, or the series editor, E. Ann Matter, emerita, University of Pennsylvania.

Forthcoming: The Commentary of Abraham ibn Ezra on the Book of Job

Introduction, translation, and annotation by Jason Kalman

The book of Job was among the most popular books of study for Jewish scholars in the Middle Ages. With its themes of suffering, providence, and theodicy it attracted much attention despite the difficulty of its language. Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164) was born in Muslim Spain, but composed his commentaries while residing in Christian Europe. His commentaries meld what was the most advanced thinking of his day to identify the distinction between biblical genres, to show sensitivity to rhetoric and poetry, to establish a model for defining hapax legomena, and to bring scientific and astrological knowledge to the reading of the Bible. By innovatively composing the commentary in Hebrew, rather than Arabic, he also transmitted the intellectual life of the Jews of the Muslim world North, making it available to new audiences.

ISBN 978-1-58044-701-0 (paperback), 978-1-58044-702-7 (hardback), 978-1-58044-703-4 (PDF) © 2024

Honorius Augustodunensis, Exposition of Selected Psalms

Edited by David Welch, translated by the Catena Scholarium, with an Introduction by Ann W. Astell

The abbreviated Psalms commentary by Honorius Augustodunensis (ca. 1070 – ca. 1140)—a redaction of his own, much larger commentary on the entire Psalter—participates in a long tradition of Christian interpretation of the Book of Psalms. A prolific author closely associated with Anselm of Canterbury, Rupert of Deutz, and Gilbert of Poitiers, Honorius wrote a massive commentary on the Psalms when the so-called “school of Laon” was at work on the Glossa ordinaria. Honorius’s work shares the academic interest of that school, while simultaneously serving the devotion of the Benedictine Reform. His Exposition of Selected Psalms highlights a tripartite division of the Psalter, even as it discovers in the psalms an apocalypticism fitting to the Church in its last age. 

ISBN 978-1-58044-552-8 (paperback), 978-1-58044-553-5 (hardback), 978-1-58044-554-2 (PDF) © 2023

Carolingian Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Theodulf and Smaragdus

Edited and translated by Francis X. Gumerlock

New translations of texts on the Apocalypse written by Theodulf of Orleans and Smaragdus of Saint Mihiel, two early ninth-century theological advisers to Charlemagne.

ISBN 978-1-58044-377-7 (paperback), 978-1-58044-378-4 (hardback) © 2019

Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency, Commentaries on Amos and Jonah (With Selections from Isaiah and Ezekiel)

Edited by Robert A. Harris

Introduction, translation, and critical notes to Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency: one of the most innovative exegetical projects of the twelfth-century Renaissance.

ISBN 978-1-58044-273-2 (paperback), 978-1-58044-303-6 (hardback) © 2018

Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse

Edited by Francis X. Gumerlock

This book provides English translations of two Latin commentaries on the Apocalypse from the seventh and eighth centuries.

ISBN 978-1-58044-223-7 (paperback) © 2016

Nicholas of Lyra, Literal Commentary on Galatians

Edited and translated by Edward Arthur Naumann

A new critical edition of the Latin text of Nicholas of Lyra's literal commentary on Galatians, with a facing English translation.

ISBN 978-1-58044-211-4 (paperback) © 2016

The "Glossa Ordinaria" on Romans

Translated with an introduction and notes by Michael Scott Woodward

The Gloss on Romans is a collection of sources from many periods and places, which accounts for [its] inconsistencies.

ISBN 978-1-58044-109-4 (paperback) © 2011

The Seven Seals of the Apocalypse: Medieval Texts in Translation

Translated with an introduction and notes by Francis X. Gumerlock

This book illustrates this vastness of medieval interpretive tradition on the seven seals. It includes fifteen texts from the sixth through the fifteenth century.

ISBN 978-1-58044-108-7 (paperback) © 2009

The "Glossa Ordinaria" on the Song of Songs

Translated with an introduction and notes by Mary Dove

In this translation of glosses on the Song of Songs, Mary Dove offers a readily accessible and inexpensive resource for students and scholars.

ISBN 1-58044-084-3 (paperback) © 2004

John Wyclif, On the Truth of Holy Scripture

Translated with an introduction and notes by Ian Christopher Levy

Wyclif sought the restoration of an idealized past even if that meant taking revolutionary steps in the present to recover what had been lost. His 1377–78 "On the Truth of Holy Scripture" represents such an effort in reform: the recognition of the inherent perfection and veracity of the Sacred Page which serves as the model for daily conduct, discourse and worship, thereby forming the foundation upon which Christendom itself is to be ordered.

ISBN 1-58044-031-2 (paperback) © 2001

Second Thessalonians: Two Early Medieval Apocalyptic Commentaries

Introduced and translated by Steven R. Cartwright and Kevin L. Hughes

Apocalyptic speculation, in one form or another, is as persistent at the turn of this millennium as it was at the last. The commentaries of Haimo of Auxerre and Thietland of Einsiedeln offer glimpses of two links in [the] unbroken chain of the apocalyptic tradition.

ISBN 1-58044-018-5 (paperback) © 2001

Rabbi Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Other Kabbalistic Commentaries

Selected, translated and annotated by Seth Brody

The commentary of Rabbi Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona (d. ca. 1245) on the Song of Songs is one of the most important texts of the first clearly identified circle of Kabbalists, those operating in the Catalonian town of Gerona at the middle of the thirteenth century.

ISBN 1-58044-000-2 (paperback) © 1999

Nicholas of Lyra's Apocalypse Commentary

Translated with an introduction and notes by Philip D.W. Krey

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.

ISBN 1-879288-78-8 (paperback) © 1997

Medieval Exegesis in Translation: Commentaries on the Book of Ruth

Translated with an introduction and notes by Lesley Smith

This book brings together and translates from the medieval Latin a series of commentaries on the biblical book of Ruth, with the intention of introducing readers to medieval exegesis or biblical interpretation.

ISBN 1-879288-68-0 (paperback) © 1996

Haimo of Auxerre, Commentary on the Book of Jonah

Translated with an introduction and notes by Deborah Everhart

Haimo of Auxerre's "Commentary on Jonah" was probably written as a study text for scholars in the monastery. His basic method is to present a verse from the Book of Jonah, then offer condensed versions of the diverse and occasionally contradictory interpretations of that verse that were available to him.

ISBN 1-879288-36-2 (paperback) © 1993