Originally published in French as Ex g se m di vale, Henri de Lubac s monumental, multivolume study of medieval exegesis and theology has remained one of the most significant works of modern biblical studies. Examining the prominent commentators of the Middle Ages and their texts, de Lubac elucidates the medieval approach to biblical interpretation that sought the four senses of Scripture, especially the dominant practice of attempting to uncover Scripture s allegorical meaning.

The Crossroad Publishing Company once again makes available this examination of the quality and quantity of the "spiritual understanding" of Scripture that developed during the Christian centuries. Far from believing that modern exegetical insights and abilities make earlier interpretations of Scripture naive curiosity, de Lubac communicates to the modern reader his own appreciation and knowledge of the irreplaceably creative role that exegesis of the church fathers and of medieval theologians played in the survival and formulating of Christianity. Even more fundamentally, he links the process of exegesis to the permanent foundation of Christian thought, demonstrating that all forms of scriptural exegesis are part of the ongoing reflective life of God and the process by which the human race learns to share in this mystery.

This book focuses on a historical analysis of hte genesis of the idea of pure nature, which arose in reaction to the distorted Augustinianism of nominalist theologians at the end ot the Middle Ages.

Translated by E. M. Macierowski Originally published in French, de Lubac's four-volume study of the history of exegesis and theology is one of the most significant works of biblical studies to appear in modern times. Still as relevant and luminous as when it first appeared, the series offers a key resource for the renewal of biblical interpretation along the lines suggested by the Second Vatican Council in Dei Verbum. This second volume, now available for the first time in English, will fuel the currently growing interest in the history and Christian meaning of exegesis.

Originally published in French as Ex g se m di vale, Henri de Lubac's multivolume study of medieval exegesis and theology has remained one of the most significant works of modern biblical studies. Available now for the first time in English, this long-sought-after second volume of Medieval Exegesis, translated by E. M. Macierowski, advances the effort to make de Lubac's major study accessible to the widest possible audience.

Henri de Lubac's four-volume study of medieval exegesis and theology is one of the most significant works in modern biblical studies. Now available for the first time in English, this volume stands on its own as an introduction and overview of the subject. It will be an essential addition to the libraries of all those studying in any field of biblical interpretation.

First published in 1965, this book represents a refinement and further development of the core thesis that Henri de Lubac had originally put forward many years earlier in a bold and controversial work in which he first called into question the idea of pure nature.

Originally published in French as Exegese medievale, Henri de Lubac's multivolume study of medieval exegesis and theology has remained one of the most significant works of modern biblical studies. Available now for the first time in English, this long-sought-after volume is an essential addition to the library of those whose study leads them into the difficult field of biblical interpretation. The first volume in de Lubac's multivolume work begins his comprehensive historical and literary study of the way Scripture was interpreted by the church of the Latin Middle Ages. Examining the prominent commentators of the Middle Ages and their texts, de Lubac discusses the medieval approach to biblical interpretation that sought "the four senses" of Scripture, especially the dominant practice of attempting to uncover Scripture's allegorical meaning. Though Bible interpreters from the Enlightenment era on have criticized such allegorizing as part of the "naivete of the Middle Ages," de Lubac insists that a full understanding of this ancient Christian exegesis provides important insights for us today.

In this important volume one finds the ultimate justification for de Lubac's positions against the atheisms of East and West. The book stands as a gloss on this dictum of Thomas Aquinas: 'In every act of thought and will, God is also thought and willed implicitly.' Although this book provoked much controversy at the time of its original publication, de Lubac insisted that its intention was simply to draw on the double treasure of the philosophia perennis and Christian experience in order 'to lend a helping hand to a few people in their search for God.'