Dublin Core
Creator
Richard A. Layton
Title
"Didymus the Blind and the Philistores: A Contest over Historia in Early Christian Exegetical Argument"
Source
New Approaches to the Study of Biblical Interpretation in Judaism of the Second Temple Period and in Early Christianity: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Jointly Sponsored by the Hebrew University Center for the Study of Christianity, 9–11 January, 2007
Description
“Didymus the Blind was a celebrated Christian instructor in the second half of the fourth century. He was, according to Evagrius of Pontus, the “great and gnostic teacher.” Out of respect for the blind exegete’s interior vision, Jerome dubbed Didymus as “my seer,” and traveled to the teacher’s home city of Alexandria to consult him about doubtful passages of the Scriptures. Rufinus, perhaps his most devoted student, judged that “something divine and above human speech” sounded in the words of his teacher. These admirers regarded Didymus as the foremost exponent of his era of the figurative modes of interpretation that characterized the Alexandrian exegetical tradition. At the same time, however, his commentaries barely touched, in Jerome’s judgment, the “historical sense.”
Jerome’s assessment might have been shared by some critics of Didymus, whom the blind exegete identified as philistores. Didymus refers to these opponents by this term in only two instances in the extant commentaries. The first is in a comment on the outburst of Job, in which the patient sufferer curses the day of his birth (Job 3:3–5). The second is in a comment on the enigmatic act in genesis in which god clothes the first pair with “skin tunics” (Gen 3:21) before casting them from eden. Who are these mysterious opponents that Didymus attacks? The name philistores, which might be translated as “devotees of history,” gives only a slight clue to follow…”
Jerome’s assessment might have been shared by some critics of Didymus, whom the blind exegete identified as philistores. Didymus refers to these opponents by this term in only two instances in the extant commentaries. The first is in a comment on the outburst of Job, in which the patient sufferer curses the day of his birth (Job 3:3–5). The second is in a comment on the enigmatic act in genesis in which god clothes the first pair with “skin tunics” (Gen 3:21) before casting them from eden. Who are these mysterious opponents that Didymus attacks? The name philistores, which might be translated as “devotees of history,” gives only a slight clue to follow…”
Date
2013