THE RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF JUDAISM FOR TWELFTH-CENTURY MONASTIC EXEGESIS: A STUDY IN THE THOUGHT OF RUPERT OF DEUTZ, C. 1070 - 1129 (GERMANY)

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity in the Middle Ages must be better understood if Christians are to take theological responsibility for the consequences of that relationship. An important aspect of this problem is the impact of the Jewish presence on the Christian exegesis of the common portion of the Jewish-Christian canon: the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament. The contributions of Beryl Smalley to our understanding of this relationship resides chiefly in her focus on the development of literal exegesis as a shared criterion of validity; those of Henri de Lubac in his insistence on the autonomy of spiritual interpretation. An adequate methodology must combine the strengths and transcend the limitations of these contrasting approaches. Rupert of Deutz, a Benedictine scholar and abbot, offers a valuable case-study; his ambiguous reputation, as both a literalist and an allegorist, and his interest in Judaism, suggest that his exegesis and hermeneutics can be illuminated by attending to the impact of Judaism. The favorable circumstances of European Jewry before the First Crusade, and the deterioration of their status in the face of the new assertiveness of the church, combined to create a situation ripe for controversy. Rupert's career brought him into contact with Jews, especially in the Rhineland; his general assessment of Judaism suggests that he saw the Jews as significant adversaries. The actual content of the Jewish-Christian debate, reconstructed from Latin and Hebrew polemics, showed an increasing concentration on issues of theodicy, connected with divine Incarnation, the displacement of Israel in the covenant, and the abrogation of the Law. Rupert shared the concern of his contemporaries to respond to Jewish charges that the Christian God behaved in an unseemly or unwise fashion. For Rupert, the response took the form of a hermeneutic which construed the Old Testament as a narrative of the activity of the pre-Incarnate Word; and an exegetical method which attempted to combine historical concreteness with a consistent Christological interpretation. The balance which Rupert achieved between these tasks suggests comparison with the Antiochene Theodore of Mopsuestia and with the Franciscan Nicholas of Lyra.