The Bible and the Apocrypha in the Early Irish Church (A.D. 600-1200)

The twenty-one essays in this volume, published from 1971 onwards, together with the introductions and conclusion, treat of the Bible and apocryphal works in Ireland during the pre-Norman period, from A.D. 600 to 1200. The essays cover developments during the period from Professor Bernhard Bischoff’s seminal 1954 essay ("Wendepunkte"), on new evidence for Irish contributions in the field, down to the present day. After an initial survey of research during this period, attention is paid to the texts of the Latin Bible, in particular the Psalms and the Four Gospels, and to the Antiochene influence on Psalm interpretation, as well as to the rich corpus of Irish apocryphal writings, some of them very early (Transitus Mariae, so-called Infancy Narrative of Thomas, texts on the Magi and a related Infancy Narrative). Special attention is paid to the creative biblical interpretation of the Psalms in the early Irish Church A.D. 600-800, and also to what appears to be an early Irish (early eighth-century) commentary on the Apocalypse. It is hoped that these essays will contribute to a renewed examination of early Irish exegesis in this the sixtieth year of the publication of Dr Bischoff’s 1954 essay.

Martin McNamara studied theology in Rome and later biblical studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome and Jerusalem, and at the École Biblique, Jerusalem. He specialised in the Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible (‘Targums’), with a doctoral dissertation in 1965 (published 1966) and has many later essays on the topic, published as collected essays in 2011. He has been active since 1954 in the study and critical edition of Irish texts on the Bible and the Apocrypha, and has written extensively on these topics.