Tradition and Exegesis in Early Christian Writers

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 1997 by Grant, Robert M

Tradition and Exegesis in Early Christian Writers. By C. P. Bammel. London: Variorum, 1995. xii 312 pp. $87.50 (cloth).

Caroline Bammel of Cambridge, wife of Ernst Bammel and daughter of N. G. L. Hammond, and student of Origen's Commentary on Romans, published these valuable essays during the last fourteen years. The first, a venture into New Testament criticism, deals with a resurrection appearance in the Gospel of John and boldly suggests that "Peter, while at Jerusalem, experienced a vision in which he was encountered by the risen Jesus at the Sea of Galilee." In the second, "Ignatian Problems," she elaborately refutes claims that Ignatius's letters are forgeries. The third and fourth are encyclopedia articles on Justin, called the "Einzelfigur zwischen den apostolischen Vatern und Irenaeus" (p. 66; this neglects Melito, Tatian, and Theophilus) and the Valentinian Gnostic Heracleon. The fifth discusses the Contra Noetum of Hippolytus via a review of Frickel, but as Bammel herself points out in the preface, the whole question has been reshaped by A. Brent, Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century (Brill, 1995; see my review in Church History, December 1996).

In the sixth, "Peacemaking and Religious Tolerance," she rightly concludes that a great deal of "passive tolerance," plus the "active tolerance" of Irenaeus and Dionysius of Alexandria, was needed to hold the churches together. She follows this with (7) Irenaeus's prescription for "Unity of Faith and Multiplicity of Usages in Christian Tradition." Perhaps in spite of Irenaeus's peace-making it remains a question whether controversial usages are minor. Certainly he criticized the bishop of Rome over usage when, on his own theory, he should have followed him. (8) The conversion of those who are already Christians, with resemblances to conversions to philosophy and asceticism. (9) Farewell Discourse in Patristic Exegesis. This essay redoes an aspect of Maurice Wiles, The Spiritual Gospel, with some special reference to John 14-17. (10) A study of Origen's Hexapla as used by fourth-century theologians. (11) Law and Temple in Origen: Spiritual exegesis of the Law came only after Jesus' resurrection, and it was confirmed by the destruction of the temple. (12) For Origen's teaching about Adam in his lost commentary on Genesis, Bammel rightly relies on the papyrus commentary of Did?mus and notes that Origen, though he allegorizes many details, regarded Adam as a real person. (13) She concludes that according to Origen's Romans commentary there were "true Israelites" in ancient Israel and that the church originated out of believing Jews and pagans. (14) Patristic exegesis of "prophecy" in 1 Corinthians is chiefly concerned with fighting the Montanist prophetesses, though as usual Origen goes somewhat deeper.

Three more essays deal incisively with (15) the Pauline commentaries of Jerome (plagiarized from Origen, as Rufinus correctly claimed), (16) "Pauline exegesis, Manichaeism and philosophy in the early Augustine," and (17) "Augustine, Origen and the Exegesis of St. Paul." All three indicate the complexity and mutability of fourth-century exegesis. The final essay (18) carries the story farther, into the use made of Origen in the Pelagian controversy.

ROBERT M. GRANT

Chicago, Illinois