Analysis Of Stephen Langton And A Sermon

...AND A SCHOLAR

During his lifetime it was said of Stephen Langton that he was “a theologian known above all others of his time, who wrote many theological commentaries and books worthy of the consideration of later generations”. Today there are about 120 manuscripts containing commentaries on the Bible he authored. Commentaries are commonly used today by students of the Bible to explain difficult passages, to assist in the preparation of sermons or to gather insights that a great scholar of the past might bring out to assist in a deeper understanding. During medieval times commentaries had the very same function. Preachers then may have used commentaries to a greater degree because there were fewer copies of the Bible, and because the

Just as sermons of this period of history included a “literal” explanation of Scripture, then a “moral” explanation, these two types of commentaries are available. Langton’s commentaries are also available as combination, or “full” commentaries. Historians who have studied this situation agree that the “full type” was produced first, and then the other types were created later. This would make the commentaries more quickly available (thus less expensive), and it would provide a more specialized assistance to the preachers. The commentaries were produced during Stephen’s years in Paris, about 1180 to 1206, so over the centuries there are commentaries that exist in partial form, but not full or full and not partial. At any rate, the fact that so much effort was extended to produce these commentaries and the fact that the manuscripts are spread over most of Europe indicates that Langton’s commentaries were in high demand over an extended period of

There is a heavy dependence on the words of Scripture itself with careful consideration of context. The commentaries show an effort to make the understanding clear by the use of illustrations, many of which are from the life experiences of the people he is targeting--the students at the University of Paris. Certain “current event” references are made by way of illustration such as the Crusades. From Judges 3:15 Stephen said that King Eglon represents greed and those that send him gifts by the hand of their leader remind Langton “of those who serve the church with an eye to their own profit.” His commentary on the book of Genesis addresses the question “was the moon created full?” since the heavenly bodies were created on day four of creation. Because of the medieval emphasis on and belief in the significance of numbers, the popular belief was that the moon was in its tenth day phase “in eternity”, so creation would begin on phase day eleven, and the moon would have been created on its phase day fourteen. Langton assured in his commentary that the moon was created in full phase day one dismissing popular