Angela Christman: In misericordia tua vivifica me: Ambrose’s understanding of misericordia in Expositio Psalmi CXVIII

Psalm 118 (119) repeatedly speaks of God’s misericordia. In this paper I will examine how Ambrose conceives of misericordia in his Expositio Psalmi CXVIII, a lengthy commentary that intertwines exegesis of Psalm 118 with a reading of the Song of Songs. How does Ambrose’s understanding shape his exegesis of the psalm overall? What is the nature of Ambrose’s debt to earlier interpretations of Psalm 118 (e.g., those of Origen and Hilary of Poitiers)? How, if at all, does Ambrose modify these earlier interpretations, to adapt them to his own, different context?