The text made available by this edition is not widely known, particularly amongst those unfamiliar with early Christian exegetical literature. Its neglect is not a sign of insignificance, however. Adrian's Introduction is a milestone in the development of biblical exegesis. Writing somewhere between the late fourth and mid-fifth century, Adrian stands at the zenith of Greek Christian exegetical literature on the Old Testament. A particular concentration of these works emerged from authors in the Antiochene region. From this vantage point Adrian draws together material on scriptural interpretation in the form of a didactic guide, a synthetic handbook. No other Greek work like it survives from this period. It will be of interest to scholars not only in the field of patristic exegesis but also of biblical studies and linguistics more broadly.
In the Introduction, Adrian addresses three broad issues emerging from the interpretation of the Greek Bible. The Septuagint is his focus, and the Psalms feature most prominently. But he frequently draws insightful connections to New Testament texts. The sections of his handbook are arranged in the following schema: (i) peculiarities of message; (ii) peculiarities of diction; (iii) peculiarities of syntax; and (iv) an appendix of further interpretative principles based on genre. The Sitz im leben of the text is unclear, but Martens convincingly locates it in a didactic environment (chapter iv).
Adrian's primary method is cataloguing. He brings together multiple scriptural passages so as to view the linguistic habits of the Bible – the concern to determine or demonstrate the ‘customs’ of the Greek Bible was a commonplace in Adrian's day both in Christian and pagan scholarship. For instance, when he comes to the issue of the Bible describing God with human senses, he can adduce as many as eleven biblical texts (i, 2, 2). When the Septuagint says that God ‘smelt the odour’ (Genesis viii.21) of Noah's sacrifice, it uses the same mode of speech as when God ‘touches the bones’ of Job (ii.5). But the cataloguing activity is also synoptic. Next to his texts on the senses are other difficult ways of describing divine activity: through bodily parts like the hand, human attitudes like anger, through human occupations like a craftsman, and others. Adrian creates a scriptural panorama for each. We thereby gain a fascinating window into how, specifically, the Greek Bible was obscure to its readers.
Figure and metaphor were not its only obscurities. There are subtler matters of diction. Particularly for the Psalms, section ii of Adrian's Introduction produces a list of glosses which provide ambiguous expressions with definitive content. So, when Psalm lxi.12 [lxii.11] and lxxxviii.36 [lxxxix.35] use the term ‘once’, for Adrian the Septuagint means ‘unchangeably’. In section iii, on syntax, again David the Psalmist is examined for all his Greek peculiarities: tautology, inversion, particles, ellipsis and others. It is not that Adrian was ignorant of the Septuagint's translated character. Like some of his previous Antiochenes, he nevertheless believed that the Greek Bible must be explained in itself, as an independent literary object.
Section iv, an appendix of tropes and genre-specific interpretation principles, is a goldmine for the question of what defines an Antiochene approach to biblical interpretation. Amongst other literary figures, he distinguishes between personification, representation and allegory (iv.73.11–13, pp. 248–58). For some it may be tempting to jump straight to the section on allegory. But the other sections are noteworthy. Fascinating expositions of the Greek Bible as a literary product are on display here. Section iii.73.12, for instance, explains that the famous confrontation between God and the devil concerning Job (i.6–11) is a representation, or ‘schematisation’ for the purpose of showing that God remained the true cosmic authority despite Satan's malice. In his notes, Martens uncovers how other Antiochenes had recourse to concepts in pagan tragedy for explaining this biblical text.
Some comments regarding the format of Martens's edition may be made at this point. In 1970 Robert Devreesse discovered that the text survives in two recensions. Irreconcilable at many points, Martens rightly decided to edit them in parallel columns. It makes for difficult reading. The careful reader often has three separate but contiguous components to handle: Recension 1 and its translation, Recension 2 and its translation, and Martens's accompanying commentary in the form of footnotes.
While dense, the method is justified. Considering an example from section iv, mentioned above, the discussion of allegory in Recension 1 totals six lines (73, 13). But the corresponding discussion of allegory in Recension 2 totals some 60 lines. And its content is invaluable. For Adrian allegory is an exchange of terminology, a regular literary feature of the Greek Bible. The literary function of allegory is restricted to the verbal level alone. In the Antiochene tradition, then, allegory is most properly a literary device employed by the Septuagint itself. It does not concern change of subject. This definition provides a useful vantage point on the misleading hermeneutical distinction between Antiochene ‘literal’ interpretation and its historical dichotomy with Alexandrian ‘allegorical’ interpretation. Much scholarship, amongst which Martens is a leading figure, has been devoted to this topic. Now, the opportunity is ripe for refining our understanding of what made these two exegetical approaches distinct, and what these approaches have to do with the diverse understandings of how classical literary terms were employed to describe linguistic habits of the Septuagint.
Like the section on allegory, the reception and definition of many other key literary terms in Greek Christian authors are now available to the wider scholarly community. They deserve to be studied and incorporated into our histories of exegesis. In this final aspect Martens has paved the way again, namely in his commentary.
In the subtitle of the book, Martens describes Adrian's Introduction as an Antiochene product. To substantiate this, he systematically parallels Adrian's comments with those of other Antiochene authors. Theodore of Mopsuestia, particularly his Commentary on the Psalms, is a cardinal source. At many points Adrian and Theodore have the same or similar comments. But the latter by no means explains all the phenomena that we see at play in the Introduction. Martens convinces. Given the systematic, consistent, precise nature of the parallels, one must conclude that whatever his precise geographical and ecclesial context, Adrian is working within the Antiochene tradition.
Despite the brevity of the Introduction, Martens has presented much material for the reader to consider its context. In this he has rendered a valuable service to the field. Intriguing lines for future research are now beckoning: Martens does not offer parallels to authors beyond the fold of the Antiochenes. What other Christian authors employ similar methods? How do the systematic parallels with Theodore's commentary on the Psalms shape the notion of an ‘Antiochene school’? What previous authors offer the same or similar catalogues, both at the macro level of section or concept division as well as the micro level of individual trope?
For the modern reader, even if Adrian's Introduction is not widely known, his methods are by now familiar. Above all, we have in this text a primer on how to read a language. The language is that of the Greek Bible, a source of the theology of the Early Church. The manifold ways in which this source has been used to understand the self, human language, the divine and the world is a complex narrative. Thanks to Martens, we have another chapter in our hands.
