Krystyna-Maria Redeker: Aspects of the Suffering Servant in the Commentaries on the Book of Isaiah by St. Jerome and Haimo of Auxerre

“Do you understand what you are reading?” – “How can I, unless someone guides me?”(Acts 8:30-31). The quoted dialogue between Philip the Apostle and the Ethiopian eunuch about a difficult passage from the second half of the book of Isaiah (Isa. 53:7-8) illustrates that the songs of the (so called) suffering servant obviously played an important role throughout the history of Christian bible interpretation and theology from its very beginning.The proposed essay intends to examine the role of the suffering servant in Christian bible interpretation and theology by comparing the exegesis of Isa. 42:1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9 and 52:13-53:12 in the Commentaries on the Book of Isaiah by St. Jerome († 419) and Haimo of Auxerre († prob. 865). Whereas St. Jerome and his commentary on Isaiah can be rated as quite familiar, the annotation on the same biblical prophet by the Carolingian school master Haimo of Auxerre from the middle of the 9thcentury has not been considered much so far. Even though St. Jerome’s commentary is the major source of Haimo’s oeuvre, the Carolingian exegete and theologian knows to select from its source(s) and intends to highlight points of his own interest.By focusing on selected christological aspects implied in the exegesis of the suffering servant from both epochs (late antiquity resp. Carolingian era) the proposed essay wants to analyse the sources, the methods and the function of bible interpretation and hermeneutics revealed by their authors.