Cornelis Hoogerwerf: Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Biblical Hermeneutics and East-Syriac Commentaries

Only one of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s commentaries on the Greek Old Testament has survived in a complete form in the original Greek. The other commentaries can be reconstructed partially on the basis of fragments, quotations, and paraphrases in various sources and languages. As a result, we have a fragmentary view of Theodore’s hermeneutics of the Old Testament in his actual exegesis. The reception of Theodore’s commentaries in the East-Syriac tradition may help to attain a richer picture of his exegesis and of his handling of the relationship between the Old and the New Testament. This paper will present two examples from East Syriac commentaries, one from Genesis and one from the Psalms, where Theodore’s influence is certain but where his actual commentary is (almost) lost. Both examples deal with the apostle Paul’s interpretation of the Old Testament. They show that the apostle’s use of the Old Testament was forged into an authoritative model with which the Jewish Scriptures could be interpreted in unity with the New Testament without falling into the pitfall of ‘pagan’, allegorical exegesis.