COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW
Translated by
THOMAS P. SCHECK
Ave Maria University
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
Washington, D.C.
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
All rights reserved
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Jerome, Saint, d. 419 or 20.
[Commentariorum in Evangelium Matthei libri quatuor. English]
Commentary on Matthew / St. Jerome; translated by Thomas P. Scheck.
p. cm.—(The fathers of the church; v. 117)
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and indexes.
isbn 978-0-8132-0117-7 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Bible. N.T. Matthew—Commentaries. I. Scheck, Thomas P., 1964– II. Title.
br65.J473c6413 2008
226.2'077—dc22
2008011349
THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 117
EDITORIAL BOARD
Thomas P. Halton
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
Elizabeth Clark Duke University | Robert D. Sider Dickinson College |
Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J. Fordham University | Michael Slusser Duquesne University |
David G. Hunter University of Kentucky | Cynthia White The University of Arizona |
Kathleen McVey Princeton Theological Seminary | Rebecca Lyman Church Divinity School of the Pacific |
David J. McGonagle
Director
The Catholic University of America Press
FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles, Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M.
Carole Monica C. Burnett
Staff Editor
Dedicated in friendship and affection to
Father Ken Kuntz, Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church,
Iowa City, Iowa
3. The Origenist Controversies
4. Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew
5. Sources of Jerome’s Exposition: Origen
7. Themes of Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew
8. Influence and Printed Editions
Book Three (Matthew 16:13–22:40)
Book Four (Matthew 22:41–28:20)
I am grateful to Dr. Ralph McInerny, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame, who awarded me a post-doctoral fellowship for the 2004–5 academic year. Much of the present work is the fruit of that year of research. Craig Gibson, my Latin teacher at the University of Iowa, assisted in the translation of Jerome’s Preface. Carl Beckwith offered valuable criticisms of the Introduction. The Staff Editor, Carole Monica Burnett, offered wise and learned counsel, as did my friend and colleague Jay Martin of South Bend.
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About Commentary on MatthewSt. Jerome (347–420) has been considered the pre-eminent scriptural commentator among the Latin Church Fathers. His Commentary on Matthew, written in 398 and profoundly influential in the West, appears here for the first time in English translation. Jerome covers the entire text of Matthew’s gospel by means of brief explanatory comments that clarify the text literally and historically. Although he himself resided in Palestine for forty years, Jerome often relies on Origen and Josephus for local information and traditions. His stated aim is to offer a streamlined and concise exegesis that avoids excessive spiritual interpretation. Jerome depends on the works of a series of antecedent commentators, both Greek and Latin, the most important of whom is Origen, yet he avoids the extremes in Origen’s allegorical interpretations. His polemic against theological opponents is a prominent thrust of his exegetical comments. The Arians, the Gnostics, and the Helvidians are among his most important targets. Against Arius, Jerome stresses that the Son did not lack omniscience. Against Marcion and Mani, Jerome holds that Jesus was a real human being, with flesh and bones, and that men become sons of God by their own free choice, not by the nature with which they are born. Against Helvidius, Jerome defends the perpetual virginity of Mary. In this commentary, Jerome calls attention to the activity of the Trinity as a principal unifying theme of the Gospel of Matthew. He also stresses that exertions are necessary for the Christian to attain eternal salvation; that free will is a reality; that human beings cooperate with divine grace; and that it is possible to obtain merit during the earthly life. |
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