The Pelagian controversy - whether man is saved through predestination or by his own free will - has proved one of the most enduring and fiercely contended issues of the Christian church, and has secured Pelagius a lasting place within its history. Few of Pelagius' writings, however, have been preserved, and until recently none was available in English translation. This volume presents Pelagius' commentary on Paul's Letter to the Romans for the first time in English. The commentary, one of thirteen on the Pauline Epistles, dates from the time when Pelagius was active in Rome, before he became embroiled in controversy. But already there are adumbrations of the later debate and signs of different currents of thought in Italy and beyond. In his introduction Theodore de Bruyn discusses the context in which Pelagius wrote the commentary and the issues which shaped his interpretation of Romans. He also takes up questions about the edition of the commentary. The translation is annotated with references to Pelagius' contemporaries. A new recension of Pelagius' text of Romans is presented in an appendix.

Building on his own translation from the Greek, Hultgren walks readers through Romans verse by verse, illuminating the text with helpful comments, probing into major puzzles, and highlighting the letter's most inspiring features. He also demonstrates the forward-looking, missional character of Paul's epistle -- written, as Hultgren suggests, to introduce Roman Christians to the major themes of Paul's theology and to inspire in them both confidence in the soundness of his teaching and support for his planned missionary efforts in Spain.

Despite its importance and the frequent references made to it by modern scholars, this commentary has never before been translated into English in its entirety. This volume, which includes an extensive introduction, fills this gap, thus providing a needed contribution to medieval scholarship.

This highly anticipated commentary on the Greek text of Romans by veteran New Testament scholar Richard Longenecker provides solid scholarship and innovative solutions to long-standing interpretive problems. Critical, exegetical, and constructive, yet pastoral in its application, Longenecker’s monumental work on Romans sets a course for the future that will promote a better understanding of this most famous of Paul’s letters and a more relevant contextualization of its message.

This is the second volume of The Bible in Medieval Tradition (BMT), a series that aims to reconnect the church with part of its rich history of biblical interpretation. Ian Levy, Philip Krey, and Thomas Ryan's Letter to the Romans presents the history of early and medieval interpretations of Romans and gives substantial translations of select medieval commentaries. Written by eight representative medieval interpreters between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, these commentaries have never been translated into English before. This valuable book will enhance contemporary reading of the Bible even as it lends insight into medieval scholarship. As Levy says, the medieval commentaries exhibit "qualities that many modern commentaries lack: a spiritual depth that reflects their very purpose, namely, to read Holy Scripture within the sacred tradition under the guidance of the Holy Spirit."

A new translation for scholars and students of biblical interpretation and ancient Christianity The ancient writer dubbed Ambrosiaster was a pioneer in the revival of interest in the Pauline Epistles in the later fourth century. He was read by Latin writers, including Pelagius and Augustine, and his writings, passed on pseudonymously, had a long afterlife in the biblical commentaries, theological treatises, and canonical literature of the medieval and the early modern periods. In addition to his importance as an interpreter of scripture, Ambrosiaster provides unique perspectives on many facets of Christian life in Rome, from the emergence of clerical celibacy to the development of liturgical practices to the subordination of women. Features An up-to-date overview of what is known about Ambrosiaster, the transmission of his commentary on the Pauline Epistles, his exegetical method, his theological orientation, and aspects of Christianity in Rome in the fourth century A scholarly translation of the final version of the commentary, along with notes that identify significant variants from prior versions of the commentary Bibliography thatincludes a comprehensive list of the scholarly literature on Ambrosiaster

A fresh analysis of the Book of Romans for scholars, pastors, and students that blends scholarly depth with readability.

In the late fourth and early fifth centuries, during a fifty-year stretch sometimes dubbed a Pauline "renaissance" of the western church, six different authors produced over four dozen commentaries in Latin on Paul's epistles. Among them was Jerome, who commented on four epistles (Galatians, Ephesians, Titus, Philemon) in 386 after recently having relocated to Bethlehem from Rome. His commentaries occupy a time-honored place in the centuries-long tradition of Latin-language commenting on Paul's writings. They also constitute his first foray into the systematic exposition of whole biblical books (and his only experiment with Pauline interpretation on this scale), and so they provide precious insight into his intellectual development at a critical stage of his early career before he would go on to become the most prolific biblical scholar of Late Antiquity. This monograph provides the first book-length treatment of Jerome's opus Paulinum in any language. Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach, Cain comprehensively analyzes the commentaries' most salient aspects-from the inner workings of Jerome's philological method and engagement with his Greek exegetical sources, to his recruitment of Paul as an anachronistic surrogate for his own theological and ascetic special interests. One of the over-arching concerns of this book is to explore and to answer, from multiple vantage points, a question that was absolutely fundamental to Jerome in his fourth-century context: what are the sophisticated mechanisms by which he legitimized himself as a Pauline commentator, not only on his own terms but also vis-à-vis contemporary western commentators?

In this fresh and readable addition to the Paideia series, well-respected New Testament scholar Frank Matera examines cultural context and theological meaning in Romans. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by • attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs • showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits • commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book • focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text • making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format