The Ten Commandments: Interpreting the Bible in the Medieval World

Description

What did the ten commandments have to teach? Using the commentaries of a group of scholars from c. 1150-1350, such as Peter Lombard, Robert Grosseteste, and Bonaventure, along with confessors’ manuals, mystery plays and sermon material, this book investigates the place of the Decalogue in medieval thought. Beginning with the overarching themes of law and number, it moves to consider what sort of God is revealed in the commandments of the first stone tablet, and uncovers the structure that lay behind the precepts dealing with one’s neighbour. Interpreting the commandments allows us to look at issues of method and individuality in the medieval schools, and ask whether answers intended for the classroom could make an impression on the wider world. The Ten Commandments Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Abbreviations for Commonly Cited Commandments Texts The Commandments Approaches 1 Law The Nature of Law Eternal and Natural Law The Written Law of Moses The Status of the Written Law The Killing Letter Law Creates Sin Keeping the Law Justification Punishment The Law of Grace and Human Law 2 Number Number Ten Connections Numbering and Division 3 God The First Commandment i I am the Lord Your God, Who has Led you Out of the Land of Egypt, Out of the House of Slavery ii You shall have no Other Gods before me iii You shall not Make for Yourself any Carved Image, or any Likeness of Anything that is in Heaven above, or in the Earth below, or of those Things that are in the Waters under the Earth. You shall not Revere them, or Worship them iv I am the Lord your God, Strong, Jealous v Visiting the Injustice of the Fathers upon the Children, to the Third and Fourth Generation of those who Hate me; and Showing Mercy to Thousands of Those Who Love me, and Keep my Commandments The Second Commandment The Third Commandment 4 Neighbour Who is My Neighbour? i Family as Neighbour ii Beyond the Family iii My Neighbour is Myself 5 The Hand and the Mind: Action and Intention in Keeping the Law The Second Tablet You shall not Kill You shall not Commit Adultery You shall not Steal You shall not Covet your Neighbour’s House; nor shall you Desire his Wife, nor his Manservant, nor his Maidservant, nor his ox, nor his Ass, nor Anything that is his. 6 Word and Truth You shall not Speak False Witness Against your Neighbour Lies and Lying Oaths Vows Perjury 7 Conformity and Diversity Conformity of Method The Individual Voice Diversity of Genre Last Words Bibliography General Index Index of References to Scripture