Handbook of Patristic Exegesis (review)

In two substantial volumes Charles Kannengiesser, along with a number of invited contributors, offers us a Handbook that contains a huge amount of information and bibliography on the development of early Christian exegesis up to the eighth century. There is little doubt that these volumes are a major reference work that will soon be found on the shelves of all respectable research libraries. At the same time, a number of significant problems with the work demand comment. But let me begin with the many contributions made by this Handbook.

The first volume begins with 370 pages (divided into four chapters) discussing in general terms some of the major themes and methods of early Christian exegesis. Kannengiesser first gives us a survey of journals and research tools in the field. He and a number of contributors then consider the Jewish and Greco-Roman educational and rhetorical background of early Christian exegesis. Chapter 4 by David Balás and Jeffrey Bingham is one of the stars of this volume: the chapter outlines how individual books (and collections of books) within the Scriptural canon were viewed and offers a survey of extant commentaries on each book. This material is extremely useful and very helpfully presented. Every chapter is provided with an extensive and usually excellent bibliography, which will be of immense help for those teaching advanced courses in the area.

The remaining 400 pages of the first volume and all of the second are given over to a historical survey divided into individual treatments of figures grouped by chapter into appropriate temporal and geographical areas. Some of the introductions constitute extensive essays in their own right: Robert Wilken's elegant introduction to Cyril of Alexandria is one of the best examples. Thomas Böhm contributes a very useful discussion of how we might understand Arius to be a biblical theologian. George Berthold's excellent treatment of Maximus (942–71, lacking the bibliography of editions and translations usually given), focuses mainly on Maximus's theology of Scripture more than a detailed description of his exegetical practices, but it will be extremely useful in a number of contexts.

There is, then, much to be grateful for. Nevertheless, there are a number of significant problems that cannot be avoided in a review. On virtually all the major theoretical questions concerning early Christian exegesis, the initial introductory chapters are problematic. They fail to provide adequate discussion of the status quaestionis on major questions, and fail to discuss sufficiently the significance of the reading techniques learnt at the hands of the grammatikos. These techniques have been recognized to be at the heart of early Christian exegesis since at least the time of Marrou and have been the subject of much important scholarship over the past few decades. Chapter 2 ("Judaism and Rhetorical Culture") begins well with a concise and very helpful summary of Jewish background by Michael Signer and Susan Graham (117–44). This is followed by three and a half pages summarizing the history of "Graeco-Roman rhetorics"! Christoph Schäublin then offers a short and elegant discussion of the significance of rhetoric (149–63). Unfortunately, Schäublin has little to say in detail about grammatical technique, perhaps indicating that he was asked to focus elsewhere. This is a pity given the significant contribution he himself has made to scholarship on both grammar and rhetoric in early exegesis. This section also lacks the extensive bibliography provided for its Jewish counterpart. It may well be that the problem stems from the editor's general practice of treating "rhetoric" as encompassing both grammar and rhetoric: the former then receives only minor discussion as a propaedutic to the latter. In this context the work of scholars such as Neuschäfer and Young receives no useful introduction, and I could not find mention of Robert Kaster or Martin Irvine. (En passant it may be noted that Pierre Jay's treatment of Jerome [1094–133] gives clear and helpful examples of how one exegete adapted these practices.)

Chapter 3 does not build on this background...