Andrew of Saint Victor (died 19 October 1175) was an

Augustinian canon Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

of the abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, a

Christian Hebraist A Christian Hebraist is a scholar of Hebrew who comes from a Christian family background/belief, or is a Jewish adherent of Christianity. The main area of study is that commonly known as the Old Testament to Christians (and Tanakh to Jews), but C ...

and biblical

exegete Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations ...

. His learning "reflects a great humanist culture ... put at the service of theology," while he emphasised the literal meaning of the Old Testament "to an extent not found elsewhere in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

." Originally from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Andrew went to Paris and studied under Abbot

Hugh of Saint Victor Hugh of Saint Victor ( 1096 – 11 February 1141), was a Saxon canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology. Life As with many medieval figures, little is known about Hugh's early life. He was probably born in the 1090s. ...

. Around 1147 he was elected the first abbot of the Victorine daughter house of Saint James at Wigmore in England. He was at Wigmore between 1148/1149 and 1153, when he left after disagreements with the canons. He returned to Saint Victor for a time before finally returning to Wigmore between 1161 and 1163. He died at Wigmore in October 1175. Andrew wrote commentaries exclusively on the Old Testament, covering the

Octateuch The Octateuch (, from grc, ἡ ὀκτάτευχος, he oktateuchos, "eight-part book") is a traditional name for the first eight books of the Bible, comprising the Pentateuch, plus the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges and the Book of Ruth. The ...

, the major and minor

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

, the '' Book of Proverbs'' and '' Ecclesiastes''. To an even greater extent than his teacher, Hugh, he employed a literal exegesis. His hermeneutical scheme was based on the ''littera–sensus–sententia'' division of

classical rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

. Besides classical authors, he made use of the church fathers and of Jewish ''

Peshat ''Peshat'' (also ''P'shat'', ) is one of the two classic methods of Jewish biblical exegesis, the other being Derash. While ''Peshat'' is commonly defined as referring to the surface or literal (direct) meaning of a text,Goldin, S. (2007). Unloc ...

'' exegesis.

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* * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1175 deaths English abbots Canonical Augustinian scholars