Ambrosiaster is the name given to the writer of a commentary on St
Paul'sPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
epistles, "brief in words but weighty in matter," and valuable for the criticism of the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
text of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
. This commentary was erroneously attributed for a long time to St
AmbroseSaint Ambrose was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church.-Political career:...
.
Erasmus in 1527 threw doubt on the accuracy of this ascription, and the author is usually spoken of as Ambrosiaster or pseudo-Ambrose.
Ambrosiaster is the name given to the writer of a commentary on St
Paul'sPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
epistles, "brief in words but weighty in matter," and valuable for the criticism of the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
text of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
. This commentary was erroneously attributed for a long time to St
AmbroseSaint Ambrose was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church.-Political career:...
.
Erasmus in 1527 threw doubt on the accuracy of this ascription, and the author is usually spoken of as Ambrosiaster or pseudo-Ambrose. Because
AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
cites part of the commentary on
RomansThe Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, also known as Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was written by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
as by "Sanctus Hilarius" it has been ascribed by various critics at different times to almost every known Hilary.
Germain MorinGermain Morin was a Belgian Benedictine historical scholar and patrologist, of the Beuronese Congregation.-References:* Grosselin, Oliver A., O.S.B., "Dom Germain Morin," American Benedictine Review, 6:4 408-418...
broke new ground by suggesting in 1899 that the writer was Isaac, a converted Jew and writer of a tract on the Trinity and Incarnation, who was exiled to
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
in 378-380 and then relapsed to
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
; but he afterwards abandoned this theory of the authorship in favour of Decimus Hilarianus Hilarius, proconsul of
Africa-Carthage and the Berbers:Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC and established Carthage around 800 BC. By the sixth century BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa...
in 377.
With this attribution
Alexander SouterAlexander Souter was a Scottish biblical scholar.-Biography:Souter was born in Perth, and studied at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cambridge. He subsequently became a Latin assistant at Aberdeen. While at Cambridge he studied under J. E. B...
agrees. There is scarcely anything to be said for the possibility of Ambrose having written the book before he became a bishop, and added to it in later years, incorporating remarks of
Hilary of PoitiersHilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
on Romans. The best presentation of the case for Ambrose is by P. A. Ballerini in his complete edition of that father's works.
In the book cited above Souter also discusses the authorship of the
Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti, which the manuscripts ascribe to
AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
. He concludes, on very thorough
philologicalPhilology considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies.Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages...
and other grounds, that this is with one possible slight exception the work of the same "Ambrosiaster." The same conclusion had been arrived at previously by Dom Morin.
Texts
- Heinrich Joseph Vogels, Vinzenz Bulhart, and Rudolf Hanslik. 1966. Ambrosiastri qui dicitur Commentarius in Epistulas Paulinas. Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum vol. 81, pt. 1-3. Vindobonae: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky.
- Isaac Judaeus, Isacis Judaei Quae supersunt, ed. A. Hoste, CCL 9 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1957), pp. 331–48. The questions were at this time attributed to Isaac the Jew, but now to Ambrosiaster.
- also see links below
Studies
- Moreschini, Claudio, and Enrico Norelli. 2005 "Ambrosiaster," in Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature: A Literary History. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers. vol. 2, p. 296-98.
- Mundle, Wilhelm. 1919. Die Exegese der paulinischen Briefe im Kommentar des Ambrosiaster.
- Queis, Dietrich Traugott von, and Augustine. 1972. Ambrosiaster: Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti. Quaestio 115: De fato. Basel.
- Rockliffe, S. 2007. Ambrosiaster's Political Theology. Oxford.
- Souter, Alexander. 1905. A study of Ambrosiaster. Cambridge [Eng.]: The University Press.
- Souter, Alexander. 1927. The earliest Latin commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul; a study. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
External links