Commentary on the Psalms (review)

Theodoret of Cyrus. Commentary on the Psalms. Translated with an introduction and notes by Robert C. Hill. Fathers of the Church, vols. 101-102. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2000, 2001. Vol 1: Psalms 1-72. pp. xiv + 437. $39.95. Vol. 2: Psalms 73-150. pp. xii + 383. $39.95.

Completed late in his career so that he could honor requests for treatment of other Old Testament books, Theodoret of Cyrus's Commentary on the Psalms represents the full maturation of his exegetical scholarship. Generally faithful to the Antiochene tradition, the work clearly privileges the literal sense of Scripture, but as Frances Young has reminded us, biblical historia for the Antiochenes was hardly flat or transparent; it had dimensionality. Despite Robert Hill's portrait here of Theodoret the exegete as a "desk theologian" composing a "desk commentary" (vol. 1: 13), the bishop presses the prophetic vision of the Psalms far beyond his predecessor Theodore of Mopsuestia, and on occasion even entertains allegorical or anagogical interpretations. Prefacing the Commentary, Theodoret openly expresses his desire to pave a via media between earlier types of Psalms commentaries, i.e., those "taking refuge in allegory" (Origen's, no doubt) and those fixated on historical narrative to the point of judaizing (probably Theodore's) (vol. 1: 40-41). Conservative, not an adventurer, Theodoret in this Commentary still betrays great sympathy for the spiritual profundities of the Psalter as providing insight (theoria) into the fullness of the Christian oikonomia.

In most instances, as Hill demonstrates, Theodoret seeks to locate a psalm historically in the life of David or in reference to other episodes of Old Testament history (normally using a psalm's title as a signal). David sings of his own life experiences but can equally speak prospectively of Israel's future fortunes (the infidelity of "the Jews," the exile, the rebuilding of the Temple, etc.). More importantly—and here Theodoret follows Eusebius's example—David is a christocentric prophet par excellence and forecasts events in the future history of salvation beginning with the incarnation itself. Indeed Theodoret, unlike Theodore, is thoroughly comfortable with dual fulfillments of prophecy (e.g. Ps. 33, 69, 85, 102, 103, 107, 108, 118 [Hebrew Bible enumeration]). The exegesis is usually terse, sometimes little more than an amplifying paraphrase. Theodoret does not labor his interpretations though occasionally he undertakes doctrinal excurses (e.g. his foray into original sin invited by Ps. 51:5), christological and ecclesiological elucidations, or typological reflections on the sacraments. Hill is probably correct in surmising that the Commentary was directed mainly to monks and clergy, those regular users most likely to have had interpretive questions about the Psalter.

Hill's translation of the Commentary on the Psalms is the first in English, and the quality overall is superlative. It is fluid, lively, technically astute, and richly annotated with helpful comments on the biblical recensions with which Theodoret is working, the peculiarities of his interpretive method, and the nuances of specific exegeses. In numerous notes Hill brings Theodoret into conversation with modern commentators on the Psalms (Mowinckel, Weiser, Dahood, et al.). Certainly this establishes the distance between two different worlds of professional or critical exegesis, but there is at times an unseemly hostility against Theodoret's deficient knowledge of the Sitz im Leben and native cultural idioms of the Psalms' language. Theodoret fails to recognize peculiarities of the Temple cult (vol. 1: 161, n. 5; vol. 2: 301, n. 2; 313-14, n. 1-2), has no idea what "Sheol" really means in the Hebrew context (vol. 1: 178-79, n. 4; 188, n. 5; 238, n. 4), and ignores the weighty notions of divine hesed and emeth (vol. 2: 237, n. 6). Hill utterly defuses the bishop's exegesis of Ps. 55:6-7: "Modern commentators recognize in these verses a resemblance to Jer. 9:2, but Theodoret does not know his Bible well enough to pick up those echoes" (vol. 1: 317, n. 14...