Ian Christopher Levy concludes the opening chapter of Holy Scripture and the Quest for Authority at the End of the Middle Ages by asking: “Can anyone provide the church with the verus sensus scripturae; and if so, how can this be known with absolute certainty?” (53). This same complex and difficult question was at the center of many theological debates throughout the late Middle Ages. The six chapters that follow in Levy's book set about offering various responses regarding the authority of Scripture, with special attention to the scriptural theologies of John Wyclif and Jan Hus. Such attention is a valiant effort to redeem Wyclif and Hus in light of their understanding of Holy Scripture, its authority, and its verus sensus.

As such an effort in redemption, Levy's arguments swim against the scholarly current of Wyclifite and Hussite studies, making this work valuable to anyone interested in these figures, their opponents, and the scriptural or exegetical projects of all involved. For a more general audience, however, both those in and those beyond the classroom, the most valuable part of Levy's study is his opening chapter. Here, with deft ability, Levy marshals the many elements of a long and complicated medieval discussion about Scripture. He touches on everything from the regula fidei, the tradition, and the Church to papal authority, Scholastic magistri, mendicant friars, canon lawyers, and, of course, the many ways we hear these various voices rise in harmony or sink into discord. The effect is rather dizzying, but it goes a long way in allowing the reader to understand, and almost experience, the difficulties faced by the medieval church and the medieval theologian when it came to questions of authority and scriptural exegesis.

That said, Levy's book may not be best placed in the hands of novices. To understand the difficulty of the task undertaken by Levy and the elegance with which he undertakes it, one must first have a firm grasp of what is involved. For example, one must understand how the regula fidei, and therefore tradition, shaped Scripture in the early church; or, for a second example, what the “literal sense” of Scripture is, and what it is not. One cannot do everything in a single study, and Levy's book understandably begins supposing that such technical things are already understood by his readers. Thus, this book is better suited for advanced students and upper-level theology courses. It belongs to those conversant in the subtleties and intricacies involved in seeking and discovering the verus sensus scripturae. But, most of all, it is a book for the theologian who understands the timeless beauty of such seeking, and, therefore, that he or she is always but a student advancing toward what is most true.