Domandare, rispondere, interpretare, riassumere: trasmettere l'esegesi biblica nel Medioevo

«I will be brief», writes Theodoret (ca 393-458), the last Antiochene exegete, «to entice even the lazy reader». The entry into the Middle Ages coincides with the end of the exegetical works of great breadth, to the advantage of easy-to-read syllogs and manuals: as in the circumstances of the passage from the scroll to the codex, it was not a transfer (of works or knowledge), but a funnel. From the 6th c. onwards we assist to a reorganization of the forms of fruition of the notions of biblical exegesis: exegetical chains begin to spread, i.e. florilegiums of selected excerpta from the vast works of ecclesiastical writers of previous centuries, destined to become the most popular genre of biblical exegesis in High Middle Age; the exegetical production of well-known authors like Origen (ca 183-254), a true innovator of the approach to the biblical text, is significantly pruned, summarized, and reworked for ease of use, consultation, and transmission; compilers of which little more than the name is known put the key-points of late antique biblical interpretation in the form of didactic manuals, often structured by questions and answers, so as to provide new tools to the early medieval Christian school system. At the origin of these new (or renewed) forms, there is a convergence of various factors: the vacillation of the imperial school system, the establishment of a Christian (doctrinal and cultural tout court) canon following the controversies of the cc. 4th-6th, and the coexistence with the influential classical heritage. In this panorama, biblical exegesis constituted the pivot around which to build a new cultural and literary education, as well as religious: hence the need for accessible tools (anthologies, syntheses, non-specialized texts, or structured so as to reproduce teaching practice). The Middle Ages therefore recorded a reduction, or simplification, of the vertical transmission of biblical exegesis, sacrificing its depth to broaden its horizontal diffusion.