Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
By (author) Hugh Bernard Feiss
Paperback (Published)
(July 2026)
ISBN: 9782503623788
6.14 x 9.21 inches
Price: $82.00
On back order
Richard of St. Victor’s writings on the Tabernacle, combining a literal explanation with works exploring its allegorical significance, collectively reveal how he contemplated, applied, taught, and exemplified the craft of biblical interpretation.
Richard of Saint Victor (d. 1173) is widely recognized for his commentaries on the spiritual senses of Scripture and for his theological contributions to Trinitarian doctrine, the Christian life, and contemplation. This study highlights two additional and often overlooked dimensions of his thought: his sustained reflections on the art of biblical interpretation, both literal and spiritual, and his detailed interpretations of the Mosaic Tabernacle in the desert and its contents. It presents improved Latin texts, together with English translations, of Richard’s Literal Explanation of the Tabernacle and his Allegories on the same subject. The result is a fresh appreciation of Richard’s interest in the literal meaning of the Old Testament’s sacred architecture, and of his theory and practice of biblical interpretation.
Introduction
The Scope of This Work
Victorine Biblical Interpretation: Literal and Spiritual
Tabernacle: Revelations and Concealment
The Tabernacle in Its Biblical Setting
Origen on the Tabernacle
Chapter One. Richard of Saint Victor, Explanation of the Literal Meaning of the Tabernacle
Introduction
Text
Translation
Commentary
Conclusions and Questions
Chapter Two. Richard of Saint Victor, Allegoriae tabernaculi foederis
Introduction
Text
Translation
Allegoriae and De archa Moysis
Why did Richard Write the Allegories? For Whom?
Allegories on the Tabernacle and Explanation of the Literal Meaning of the Tabernacle
Chapter Three. The Tabernacle, Ark, Table and Menorah in the Liber exceptionum, The Menorah in Sermones centum 81, The Table in Sermones centum 95
Introduction
Liber exceptionum 2.3.2, 9, 11
Comparison of the Meanings of the Ark in the Allegories and Liber exceptionum 2.3.9.
Sermones centum 81: On the Feast of St. Gregory
Sermones centum 95: On the Table of Proposition from the Book of Exodus in Praise of Sacred Scripture
Conclusion
Chapter Four. The Table of the Scriptures
Allegories, lines 258-337: The Table
Liber exceptionum: Prologues to the Second Part
Richard’s Theology of Scriptural Interpretation
Conclusion
Chapter Five. Into the Promised Land: The Ark of the Covenant in De Extermianatione mali et promotione boni
Introduction: Res gestae
De exterminatione mali et promotione boni
Commentary
Summary & Conclusions
Works Cited
Indices
The Scriptures
Ancient & Medieval Authors
Modern Authors
- By (author) Hugh Bernard Feiss
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