Gildas and the Scriptures

Observing the World through a Biblical Lens

By (author) Thomas O'Loughlin

Book cover: Gildas and the Scriptures

Extent: 408 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Studia Traditionis Theologiae

Series volume number: 12

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(January 2013)

ISBN: 9782503534367

Price: $113.00

In stock

This book is a study both of Gildas’ use of the scriptures (his text, his canon, his exegetical strategies) and of how, from the way he interprets sacred history, he created a distinctive theology of the church and of salvation.


Gildas is the earliest insular writer who has left us a substantial legacy of theological writing. He is usually, however, not seen as a theological writer but as an historical source for ‘dark age’ Britain at the time of the Germanic invasions in the mid-sixth century. Yet the deacon Gildas saw himself as a prophet charged by God to call the rulers and clergy of his society back to being a chosen people of the covenant. The form this call took was that of an indictment of those groups based on the testimonia of the Christian scriptures. This book is a study both of Gildas’s use of the scriptures (his text, his canon, his exegetical strategies) and of how, from the way he interprets sacred history, he created a distinctive theology of the church and of salvation.

  • By (author) Thomas O’Loughlin