What Biblical Scholars Can Learn from Jerome: Sixteen Centuries After His Demise

Abstract

Jerome of Stridon (ca. 347–420 CE) was, after Origen, one of few Christian scholars of antiquity who engaged in profound studies of the biblical languages Greek and Hebrew. His stylistically accomplished Latin translation was received as the standard Bible of Western Christianity for a millennium — the Vulgate. Besides his intense studies of literature and languages, Jerome’s monumental achievement as a biblical scholar was grounded in monastic enthusiasm, the teaching of a wide range of exegetes of Christian and Jewish provenance, a knowledge of biblical geography, and an academic network that spanned the Mediterranean basin.