Teacher in Faith and Virtue: Lanfranc of Bec’s Commentary on Saint Paul

This book examines the manuscripts and text of Lanfranc’s commentary on St. Paul to reconsider Lanfranc’s influence upon educated culture of the eleventh century. Lanfranc’s assimilation of patristic sources and his adaptation of rhetorical methods to biblical exegesis demonstrate his personal theological development as well as expectations he established for his students. Specifically, the commentary indicates a monastic curriculum that was both creative, by combining classical methods and theological inquiry, and conservative, by restricting these methods to the precepts of Ciceronian rhetoric and condemning other masters’ methods. Lanfranc’s commentary contributes to a broader discussion of the methods under consideration in the schools of northern France in the eleventh century and the possible competition among masters and their conflicting curricula.