00555 - Ancient Christian Literature

Course contents

“Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). Interpreting the Bible in the early Christian centuries

To the title question, concerning the book of Isaiah he is reading, the Ethiopian in the Acts of the Apostles answers, “How in the world can I, unless someone guides me?” Alongside the doctrinal aspects, the interpretation of the Bible, both Old and New Testament, constitutes one of the main lines for reconstructing the development of early Christian literature. The course aims to investigate methods, forms and contents of Christian exegesis of the Bible in the first five centuries, paying attention to the literary genres it made use of, the schools that confronted each other and the interpretative techniques implemented by different exegetes. In addition, the contribution of some Christian exegetes to the birth and development of biblical philology will be considered.

Module 1 (30 hours)

10 hours: Premises. Old Testament: Hebrew text, LXX translation, other Greek and Latin translations, and the exegesis of Philo of Alexandria. New Testament: birth of the texts and development of the canon.

10 hours: Forms, genres and methods of early Christian exegesis

10 hours: Early Christian exegetes: Justin, Irenaeus, Gnostics, Hippolytus, Tertullian

Module 2 (30 hours)

10 hours: Origen and the birth of “scientific” exegesis and biblical philology

10 hours: Alexandrian school versus Antiochian school? Ancient paradigms and new models

10 hours: Exegesis in the West: Jerome and Augustine

Readings/Bibliography

a) Literary Outline of Ancient Christian Literature

M. Simonetti – E. Prinzivalli, Storia della Letteratura Cristiana Antica, Bologna 2010 (only chapters II; IV-VII; VIII/3; XII; XIII/7-10; XVI/; XVIII/3-5; XIX); alternatively:

F. Young – L. Ayres – A. Louth, The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature, Cambridge 2004 (only chapters 3; 5-6; 11-12; 23; 26-30)

b) Texts

The texts to be read [translated, for Classical Humanities students] and commented on, in the original and in Italian [or English] translation, will be uploaded to Virtuale.it from time to time

c) Essays

1.General Studies

G. Agamben, Lo Spirito e la Lettera. Sull’interpretazione delle Scritture, Neri Pozza, Milano 2024

B. Chiesa, Filologia storica della Bibbia ebraica. Vol I: Da Origene al Medioevo, Paideia, Brescia 2000

M. Monfrinotti, Dai Grammata alla Sapienza. L’esegesi cristiana antica (II-V sec.), Studia Anselmiana, Pontificio Istituto S. Anselmo, Roma 2025

M. Simonetti, Lettera e/o allegoria: per una storia dell’esegesi patristica, Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma 1985

2. Specific Studies

J.-N. Guinot, “La frontière entre allégorie et typologie. École alexandrine, école antiochienne”, Recherches de science religieuse 99 (2011) 207-228

P. W. Martens, “Revisiting the Allegory/Typology Distinction: The Case of Origen”, Journal of Early Christian Studies 16 (2008) 283-317

Additional literature suggestions will be offered during class.

Teaching methods

Lectures; use of bibliographic and electronic databases

Assessment methods

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

In the current academic year, exam sessions are scheduled one and a half months apart.

Oral exam. Students will have to prove

• to be able to discuss the main problems arising from a critical reading of the works of early Christian literature, with the help of the critical introduction quoted supra in Bibliography, point a);
• (classics students only) to be able to read the Greek or Latin text, translate and comment the texts analysed during the lessons;
  
• to have read and be able to interpret early Christian literary production, supplementing and integrating class notes with one volume or two essays quoted supra in Bibliography, point b);

Additionally, students who cannot attend the lessons will substitute class notes with one other volume or two other essays of their choice from the books listed supra in Bibliography, point c).

More to the point, skills will be assessed according to the following guidelines:
- failing grade (< 18): lack of knowledge of ancient Christian literature; inability to provide a correct interpretation of texts; lacking notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the works under scrutiny.
- passing grade (between 18 and 24): elementary knowledge of ancient Christian literature; interpretation of texts is partially correct, but lacks accuracy and autonomy; schematic knowledge of the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the works under scrutiny.
- positive grade (between 24 and 30): good knowledge of ancient Christian literature; interpretation of texts is correct, but mostly superficial and not entirely autonomous; good knowledge of the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the works under scrutiny.
- excellent grade (30L): in-depth knowledge of ancient Christian literature; ability to interpret, contextualize and critically compare texts in detail and in full autonomy; full acquaintance with the notions of literary history and the exegetical approaches relevant for the understanding and contextualization of the works under scrutiny.

Teaching tools

Computer and projector; bibliographic and electronic databases; fotocopies; texts and segments of texts in PDF format uploaded by the teacher as teaching materials (downloadable from https://virtuale.unibo.it).

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Villani