The Historico-Systematic Position of Meister Eckhart´s Latin Bible Commentaries

Despite the scientific progress of the past few decades, the question concerning the systematic significance of Meister Eckharts Latin works is still subject to discussion among scholars. Initially, Eckharts great project called Opus tripartitum was to deal with philosophical and theological problems mainly in the form of thetic expositions and systematic discussions, and only secondarily in the form of Bible commentaries. Nevertheless, the first two systematic blocks, i.e. the Opus propositionum and the Opus quaestionum, have survived as mere fragments, while most of Eckharts extant Latin writings are in fact exegetical works. The present project is based on the hypothesis that this fact is not primarily due to losses of manuscripts but mirrors a shift in Eckharts systematic approach, which leads him to develop his philosophico-theological project inside his Bible commentaries. This does not mean, however, that he intends to make the textual facticity of Holy Scripture disappear by sublating it into philosophical conceptuality. On the contrary, Eckharts exegesis pays particular attention to the concrete form of the Latin Vulgate text, whose grammatical structures and words serve as starting points for speculative conclusions. The historical form of the biblical text is, therefore, not merely an external garb for an otherwise ideal content of thought but appears in its linguistic materiality as a carrier of rationally relevant meaning. Another particularity of Eckharts exegetical approach lies in the fact that he does not write continuous commentaries on the Bible but apparently makes an eclectic choice of single passages or even isolated verses to comment on. All these aspects confer a unique position to Eckharts exegetical method in the context of late thirteenth and early fourteenth century scholasticism. On the one hand, Eckharts program of a parabolic of figurative reading of Holy Scripture marks a return to the older tradition of patristic exegesis (Augustine and Origen in particular); on the other hand, there is no doubt that his speculative interpretation of linguistic and semantic structures is visibly influenced by the speculative grammar of his contemporary Thomas of Erfurt and the philosophy of language of other scholastic thinkers. The fact that Eckhart focuses on a few isolated passages of the Bible indicates that he no longer equals the scientific character of true knowledge with linear deduction from supreme principles. Rather, knowledge has the form of an an-archic or pan-archic network, where any given word can be taken as a starting point to gradually accede to the whole truth of the biblical text. Eckharts exegetical approach announces, therefore, a profound change of paradigm in scholastic thought, insofar as it is characterized by a renewed attention towards the positivity of Holy Scripture and the contingent linguistic structures that mediate all human knowledge.

The project had a twofold scope: on the one hand, it intended to locate Meister Eckharts Latin Bible Commentaries in the context of contemporary medieval theology and philosophy; on the other hand, it attempted to analyse their rather unusual internal structure. Eckharts exegetical works are particular in that they are part of a comprehensive philosophical- theological project and have to be interpreted accordingly. Unlike most other scholastics of his time, Eckhart does not offer continuous commentaries on the different books of the Bible but dwells on a comparatively small number of short passages or even isolated verses. Numerous Eckhart specialists have therefore concluded that Eckhart, rather than interpreting the Biblical text as such, merely uses it as a pretext for systematic philosophical or theological reflections. Contrary to this widespread interpretation, our project was able to prove that Eckharts Bible commentaries have a consistent internal structure and aim at the interpretation of Holy Writ itself. Eckhart focuses on those passages from which the principles of interpretation of the whole Scripture can be deduced. Two types of Bible verses are particularly important in this respect: the first group deal with the question concerning the relationship between linguistic signs and signified reality. They reflect the fundamental question of how the biblical text as text has to be dealt with and in how many different ways it can refer to extra-textual reality. The second group of Bible verses deal with the fundamental structure of reality itself, i.e. the principles and laws that are immanent to nature and to human reason. According to Eckhart, the Bible has always to be interpreted in accordance with these intellectual principles. The rules for the correct interpretation of the Bible are, therefore, not externally imposed on the text but already contained in it. With regard to the Biblical books that Eckhart comments on, it is quite noticeable that his two commentaries on Genesis as well as his interpretations of the Book of Wisdom and of Jesus Sirach deal primarily with the principles of reality as such. His commentary of Exodus, by contrast, puts the focus on the relationship between knowledge, language, and significance, especially with regard to those Biblical verses that refer to Gods self-revelation. His commentary on the Gospel of John merges these two aspects in the person of Christ: Insofar as he is the Logos, he is the fundamental principle underlying the whole of creation. At the same time, Christs numerous I am - propositions contained in this Gospel articulate the structure of intellectual self- consciousness that forms the basis of every interpretation of Scripture. Therefore, Eckharts commentaries on Holy Scripture are, in fact, meta-commentaries that reflect on the principles of rational exegesis that can be derived from the Biblical text itself.