The Literal Sense and the Gospel of John in Late Medieval Commentary and Literature

Author: MArk Hazard Series: Studies in Medieval History and Culture

This book deals with medieval literary criticism of the Bible; it centers on the paradoxical interdependence of the literal and spiritual senses through examination of Nicholas of Lyra's literal commentary.

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This book considers medieval literary criticism of the Bible; it centers on the paradoxical interdependence of the literal and spiritual senses through examination of Nicholas of Lyra's literal commentary on the Gospel of John, and of the anonymous Middle English biblical adaptation, the Cursor Mundi . Inheriting a vocabulary of interpretation that split meaning into the literal and spiritual, Mark Hazard shows how biblical commentary of the late Middle Ages attempts to transform the relation between the literal and the spiritual from one of difference to continuity by adopting novel approaches to interpretation. Through a close examination of the practice of biblical criticism through its most important and famous practitioner, Nicholas of Lyra, the author demonstrates that a growing interest in the narrative structure of biblical sources, and a growing effort to read the bible as literature, effects a pivotal turn in the tradition of biblical commentary.