Michelle P. Brown’s book on the Venerable Bede sets out to reappraise the early medieval monk’s contributions in areas such as theology, medieval science, and cultural production, to name but some. Her central premise is that Bede’s capacity to integrate so many diverse topics amounts to his pursuit of a “theory of everything,” which, in modern terms, equates to a theoretical framework that can explain “all known physical phenomena throughout the universe or multiverse” (8). The volume is published in Reaktion’s Medieval Lives series, and, therefore, ostensibly follows a biographical model beginning with Bede’s childhood and background (chapter 1) and concluding with Bede’s death and legacy (chapter 9). However, the intervening chapters are rather more thematic than directly biographical, covering Bede’s life as monk and priest (chapter 2), Bede as scholar and scientist (chapter 3), Bede’s poetry and writing in English (chapter 4), Bede as theologian and church father (chapter 5), Bede as historian and reformer (chapter 6), Bede’s work as a scribe (chapter 7), and Bede’s relationship with the community of Lindisfarne (chapter 8). Unfortunately, this thematic structure somewhat belies the integration of Bede’s thought, which is the underlying argument of the book, and leads to much repetition. For example, every time there is any reference to translating scripture into English (particularly, Bede’s deathbed translation of John’s Gospel) the reader is reminded that the early medieval Church was tolerant of vernacular languages whereas figures like “Wycliffe and Tyndale,” in the late medieval and early modern ages, were condemned for publishing the Scriptures in English (132, 145, 155, 182; chapters 4–6).

The greatest strength of this book is Brown’s exemplary knowledge of the period. In assessing Bede’s breadth, depth, and reach, Brown’s similar qualities are readily apparent. Her range of reference in manuscript culture, material remains, and textual sources provides an important contextual background for Bede’s endeavors. At times, the background information can overwhelm the main subject: for example, in lengthy digressions concerning the conversion efforts of the Roman and Irish missionaries among the English. However, the nonspecialist target audience for this volume will presumably benefit from such descriptions. The extended quotations from primary sources (for example, three-and-a-half pages devoted to Bede’s account of the Synod of Whitby in Ecclesiastical History 3:25 [64–8], or three pages quoting from Augustine of Canterbury’s encounter with British bishops in Ecclesiastical History 2:2 [71–4], among others) are also undoubtedly intended for the general reader.

Bede studies in the academy have been thriving for decades now, and our collective understanding of the Northumbrian monk has developed in several respects from the pious churchman of earlier generations: for example, compare Charles Plummer’s nineteenth-century image of Bede (introduction to Venerabilis Baedae Opera Historica, ed. C. Plummer [1896], lxii–lxix) with that of the “New Bede” proposed by Scott DeGregorio in light of scholarly developments in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries (“Introduction: the New Bede,” in Innovation and Tradition in the Writings of the Venerable Bede, ed. S. DeGregorio [2006] 1–10). Brown successfully synthesizes much of recent Bedan scholarship, thereby introducing these developments to a potential new audience, and she breaks new ground in her analysis of Bede’s role as scribe, particularly as scribe of Scripture (chapter 7). Here, her knowledge of Insular manuscript culture takes center stage. Brown analyzes scribal styles in a selection of manuscripts associated with the Wearmouth–Jarrow community, specifically: the Codex Amiatinus, the enormous single-volume Bible that was created by the Wearmouth–Jarrow community under the direction of Abbot Ceolfrith, which left Britain with Ceolfrith in 716, bound for Rome as a gift for the pope; the St Cuthbert Gospel (British Library Add. MS 89000), a small so-called pocket Gospel, containing the Gospel of John, potentially from the Wearmouth–Jarrow scriptorium, which was placed in Saint Cuthbert's tomb at Lindisfarne; the Codex Laudianus (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Laud Gr. 35), a sixth-century Greek and Latin copy of Acts of the Apostles believed to have been at Wearmouth–Jarrow, with the addition of a Latin creed that may have been added in the Northumbrian monastery (f. 226v); and pages from a Gospel-book believed to originate from the Wearmouth–Jarrow scriptorium (Durham Cathedral MS A.II.16). She is unconvinced by suggestions that Bede might have been the scribe of the creed added to the Codex Laudianus or of the gospel pages of Durham A.II.16, but she suggests that he was “probably” one of the seven scribes who wrote Amiatinus and makes a case for one hand in particular being his, though concedes that “the evidence is circumstantial” (203, 208). She also notes that “this hand resembles that of the St Cuthbert Gospel” but cautions that Bede might have been too junior to have been entrusted with such an important task when that manuscript was created (207).

The volume is beautifully produced and enhanced by the color illustrations interspersed throughout: 50 illustrations in total, with 45 in color. At such an affordable price, it can be recommended to all those interested in Bede, within or without the academy.