The ''medieval popular Bible'' is a term used especially in literary studies, but also in art history and other disciplines, to encompass the wide variety of presentations of
biblical material in
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
culture not directly recorded in the
exegetical tradition.
The "exegetical tradition" means the vast corpus of Latin writings, often
biblical commentaries
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 ...
,
sermon
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...
s or preaching handbooks, diatribes against doctrinal deviancy and philosophical explorations, in which scholars of the medieval
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
present the Bible according to medieval orthodoxy. Its intended readership is, in the first instance, other theologians.
In contrast to this, the "medieval popular Bible" is aimed at the ordinary population of medieval Europe, and to some extent is also created by them. It ranges from very pious vernacular writings such as the Biblical Epic to scurrilous
fabliau
A ''fabliau'' (; plural ''fabliaux'') is a comic, often anonymous tale written by jongleurs and clerics in France between c. 1150 and 1400. They are generally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, and by a set of contrary attitud ...
x in which biblical figures make an appearance. It includes most
religious drama, much
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
and some wild and fanciful retellings of
Bible stories
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
.
The
forbidden fruit
In Abrahamic religions, forbidden fruit is a name given to the fruit growing in the Garden of Eden that God commands mankind Taboo#In religion and mythology, not to eat. In the biblical story, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the know ...
is a standard example. The
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
itself does not say what kind of fruit it was, but in the popular retelling, as opposed to the theological schools, it became an
apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
. Since the apple served well to communicate spiritual ideas, the exegetical tradition did not resist it. In the medieval understanding of biblical truth, there was no need for a modern style of debate on the accuracy of the motif.
Serious work on this area of medieval culture probably began with
Beryl Smalley in the 1940s. The term ''medieval popular Bible'' became established in scholarship relatively recently as a result of the writings of
Brian O. Murdoch, though the phrase had been used before him, usually in a less clearly defined way.
[H. L. Spencer, "Review of Brian Murdoch. The Medieval Popular Bible: Expansions of Genesis in the Middle Ages," ''Review of English Studies'', 2005]
See also
*
Bible moralisée
*
Biblia pauperum
The (Latin for "Paupers' Bible") was a tradition of picture Bibles beginning probably with Ansgar, and a common printed block-book in the later Middle Ages to visualize the typological correspondences between the Old and New Testaments. Unlike ...
*
Legend of the Rood
*
Manuscript culture
A manuscript culture is a culture that depends on hand-written manuscripts to store and disseminate information. It is a stage that most developed cultures went through in between oral culture and print culture. Europe entered the stage in c ...
*
Mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...
References
Bibliography
*
*James H. Morey, "Peter Comestor, Biblical Paraphrase, and the Medieval Popular Bible, ''Speculum'' 68 (1993), 6-35.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medieval Popular Bible
Biblical studies
Medieval literature
Christianity in the Middle Ages