Jerome
Latin biblical scholar and translator associated with the Vulgate, whose letters also discuss Scripture, ascetic life, and Christian communities.
Historical context
Jerome's biblical translation and study involved Hebrew and Greek sources. His letters are occasional writings and should be read in their specific pastoral and polemical contexts.
Key points
- His work on biblical texts made him influential in the Latin West.
- Letter 22 gives a situated account of ascetic practice, not a summary of every Christian vocation.
Scripture
- 2 Timothy 3:15-17 — The letter describes the sacred writings as able to instruct for salvation and equip the servant of God.
- Psalm 119:97 — The psalmist's meditation on God's law provides a biblical comparison for Jerome's exhortation to live among the biblical books.
Primary sources
Jerome writes to Paulinus:
Jerome urges sustained study and meditation on the biblical books.
I beg of you, my dear brother, to live among these books, to meditate upon them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else.
Passage context and translation
Jerome concludes a rapid survey of the biblical books by urging Paulinus to sustained study. It is pastoral exhortation within a letter, not a formal canon list.
Before the excerpt
You see how, carried away by my love of the scriptures, I have exceeded the limits of a letter
After the excerpt
Does not such a life seem to you a foretaste of heaven here on earth?