medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
My main area of research is in fact medieval Latin biblical exegesis (though I focus on Psalms) so let me just try to clarify a few things, for Bret and for others who don't keep up with exegesis (explication of the scriptures in terms of its historical, or "literal" sense, as well as its several "spiritual" or metaphorical senses):
Certainly both the New Testament and the "Old" (ie Hebrew scripture) are most intimately related, as Bret says. However, Christian exegesis develops its own styles and approaches to exegesis, some of which are quite informed about ancient and medieval Jewish biblical scholarship (in the Latin West, Jerome was very aware; in N.France, the school of St Victor was in touch with local Jewish communities). Those strands of exetical tradition would be most likely to pick up on the euphemism in the OT Hebrew; in fact I am pretty sure Jerome knows what "feet" are intended to mean in this context. (As I said in an earlier note, I will check tomorrow).
Other scholars of the Bible in the middle ages either knew less or cared less about Hebrew scholarship of the Bible, and tended to interpret OT scripture through a New-Testament lens (as symbolic prophecies or "types" of Christ, etc). In that tradition, surely the uncovering of Boas' "feet" by Ruth could be seen as parallel to the washing of Christ's feet; I do not know, but would not be surprised at all, to find such an interpretation in medieval latin commentary. Such a spiritual interpretation has its own internal logic and validity.
Before the Christians ever came along, the Jews studied their own scripture, and developed (right through to the present day, of course) their own traditions - and again I stress the plural - of interpreting Scripture. Both more symbolic and more literal schools of thought are represented.
As I understand it, the reference to "feet" as a euphemism for genitals was fairly common ( as Mary Suydam just said in an earlier posting). Apparently, in the Hebrew of the time, it was just a way of avoiding mentioning the "unmentionable" in polite company! And since he was a scholar of Hebrew as well as of the Bible, St Jerome knew this and recognized that what was going on in this passage of Ruth was basically that Ruth was proposing to Boaz, and both of them behave quite respectably. Later medieval exegetes who did not know Hebrew, did not pick up on the double entendre, nor on Jerome's rather delicate circumlocutions about it (again, I am writng from memory, ...)
I say no more until I have the texts in fromt of me! Lesson continues tomorrow!
Best
TGD
> Quoting Bret Busby <[log in to unmask]>:
I did say in my response above, that I am a layman, and, as such, I do
not understand Leah's response above, as it is not in layman's terms.
All that I understood of that response, is that it could be worth trying
to read the thesis cited.
However, I am an external student (full-time, off-campus), and travel to
the university is inconvenient and difficult, and, if the university
does not have a book, etc, it now costs 35AUD to request an interlibrary
loan via my university (Murdoch University), making such requests
unaffordable. Hence, that is not an option.
--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............
"So once you do know what the question actually is,
you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
Chapter 28 of
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
A Trilogy In Four Parts",
written by Douglas Adams,
published by Pan Books, 1992
....................................................
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