Moralia in Job (Morals on the Book of Job), Vol. I
- Language:
- English
- Translation:
- James Bliss
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~310,000 words · 1,461 passages
Cite this work
- APAGregory I. (n.d.). Moralia in Job (Morals on the Book of Job), Vol. I (James Bliss, Trans.). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/gregory-i/moralia-in-job-morals-on-the-book-of-job-vol-i
- MLAGregory I. Moralia in Job (Morals on the Book of Job), Vol. I. Translated by James Bliss. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/gregory-i/moralia-in-job-morals-on-the-book-of-job-vol-i.
- ChicagoGregory I. Moralia in Job (Morals on the Book of Job), Vol. I. Translated by James Bliss. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/gregory-i/moralia-in-job-morals-on-the-book-of-job-vol-i.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Gregory the Great's commentary on the book of Job, read at once as history, as an allegory of Christ and the Church, and as a moral lesson for the one reading it.
Context and history
It grew out of talks given to his monks while he was papal envoy at Constantinople, around 579-585, and Gregory revised it afterwards. The third reading, the moral one, had the widest consequences: much of the vocabulary in which the Middle Ages spoke of vices and virtues comes from here. It is a long work meant to be returned to, not read straight through.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Thus the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, in that both the Hebrews found out the God Whom they worshipped but as yet knew Him not, and the Gentile world received the food of the Law, which it had none of. That therefore which is spoken above in the designation of the sheep and of the camels, is here repeated below in the oxen and the asses. 24. Now even before the coming of the Redeemer Judaea possessed oxen, in that she sent out labourers to preach, to Mat.23, whom it is said by the voice of Truth, Woe unto you, Scribes ^^' and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compjass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. These were weighed down with the heavy yoke of the I^aw, because they were burthened with the ordinances of the external letter, to Mat.ii, whom it is spoken by the voice of Truth, Come unto Me, all * .So the Fathers explain the name Jeriisalcvi. Their subjection denotes that 0/ Jen and Gentile to Christ. 45