Scheck’s new edition of St. Jerome’s exegetical epistles is a marvelous addition for both scholars and a more general readership. As indicated by the title, this is the first of two volumes dedicated to presenting St. Jerome’s epistles related to biblical exegesis. The result of Scheck’s careful study and presentation is a resource which should find readership beyond the specialist. This has much to do with the surge in biblical literacy which we are seeing in Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.

This is not to say that the selections of epistles included in this volume, and those which will be included in volume 2, are not technical. Most are, and they will likely be a challenging read for the non-specialist looking for a resource to help guide him into a better understanding of the scriptures. For the specialist, these translations make available a number of letters previously unpublished in English and therefore allow ready access to the ideas and methodologies of one of the most important exegetes in the early Church.

Volume 1 contains epistles 18-21, 25-30, 34-37, 42, 53, 55-56, 59, 64-65, 72-74, and 78, while volume 2 will add nine more epistles to the collection. With such a variety of epistles, the length and scope vary. Some of the epistles are quite short and offer just a glimpse into the insights or ideas of St. Jerome. For example, Epistle 25 to Marcella comes to just about a page and a half and quickly states information St. Jerome has about the meanings of the ten names of address given to God: “El, Elohim, Eloe, Sabaoth, Elion, Eser ieie, Adonai, Ia, the tetragrammaton JHVH, and Shaddai” (p. 125). Other letters, such as Epistle 21, are far more detailed and richer in information and interpretive style. In this letter, for example, St. Jerome responds to Pope Damasus’s question about the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). St. Jerome’s response is long (over 25 pages in this volume), but it is clear and well organized.

The brief and effective short introductions to each letter are a testament to the enormous value of this volume. These introductions do not just provide basic historical context for the letters. They also engage a host of important ideas which Scheck helps readers keep an eye on throughout the volume as a whole, providing descriptions and analysis of important topics that have captured scholarly attention or debate. The introduction to Epistle 21, mentioned above, is just such an example. The following is a bit of a lengthy quotation, but it typifies the kind of observations about these topics and related ones which can be found in the volume introduction, the epistle introductions, and the footnotes. Scheck writes, “In 21.5-6 and 40, Jerome provides what appears to me as significant theological reflection on the endowment of free will to humanity. He denies divine necessity, or compulsion in human affairs, and affirms that the human ability to do what we want distinguishes us from other living things and makes reward and punishment in the judgment meaningful. To be made in the image and likeness of God means for Jerome to be able to turn in either direction we choose, whether toward virtue or toward vice” (p. 96). As noted, since Scheck directs attention repeatedly to these theological ideas and others throughout various parts of St. Jerome’s writings, readers are better able to evaluate and judge the progression of St. Jerome’s thought.

I turn finally to the beginning of the volume. Scheck has written nearly a 50-page introduction covering many topics, including biographical material, his relationship with Origen’s works, his relationship with the Septuagint and Vulgate, as well as a survey of particularly important epistles in terms of their contents and the controversies (theological and otherwise) surrounding them. Scheck deftly introduces and weighs out the major scholarly trends, including recent scholarship, on St. Jerome’s life and works. Scheck consistently provides the helpful context and judicious reflections needed for avoiding both the kind of unwarranted censure or unrestrained hagiography which sometimes accompanies presentations of this great figure and his works.

Many readers will find cause to pick up this volume or the next specifically to search out a particular epistle or several. Scheck has introduced each with enough information and cross-references for just such access and profitability. But the far greater benefit to the reader will be to see Scheck’s work not only as a whole in terms of the one volume, but in terms of the set. Some of his most consequential ideas and analysis of St. Jerome’s thinking are tied to the set as a whole, and allusions to continued assessment and presentation of ideas in volume 2 are scattered throughout volume 1. Readers will be well rewarded by treating this book as a cover-to-cover read. In doing so, it will make them impatient to continue the journey later in 2024 when the second volume is published.