Jerome's 'Excerpta de psalterio' : a study in originality and methodology : together with a first translation into English

Abstract

This study comprises two distinct sections. The first part is a study in the origins and methodology of Saint Jerome's Excerpta de Psalterio; and the second part a first translation into English of the Latin text, which is printed in the Corpus Christianorum Series Latina. In the first part, (the dissertation), I have arranged my research into three chapters. The first tackles the history of the Excerpta text, its title(s), and the question of Jerome's authorship. In this chapter I was particularly interested to research the links between this work and another by Origen, whom many scholars have suggested is the true author of the Excerpta. The second chapter takes a look at the educational background and situation of Jerome in the history of Biblical interpretation. Then it moves on to a more particular examination of Jerome's interpretative technique in the Excerpta. One of the aims of this chapter was to try to see Jerome's technique both as heavily indebted to, and yet innovatively building upon the work of other previous and contemporary Biblical interpreters. The third chapter examines in detail some of the characteristic uses of Hebrew words in Jerome's works, with an aim to assessing Saint Jerome's level of understanding of the Hebrew language. This is done with a view to reviewing the Excerpta in a new light, which takes into account all the linguistic work done by Jerome and not by Origen. This goes some way to clarifying dispute over the authorship of the work in question. This is followed by the Translation, the first (known) into English from the Latin of the CCSL, including footnotes and biblical references.