De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae

Last updated

Incunabulum of De mirabilibus published at Utrecht in 1473 or 1474 by the printers Nicolaes Ketelaer [fr] and Gerard de Leempt. Utrecht incunable of De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae.jpg
Incunabulum of De mirabilibus published at Utrecht in 1473 or 1474 by the printers Nicolaes Ketelaer  [ fr ] and Gerard de Leempt.

De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae (English: On the Miraculous Things in Sacred Scripture) is a Latin treatise written around 655 by an anonymous Irish writer and philosopher known as Augustinus Hibernicus or the Irish Augustine.

The author's nickname is in reference to the philosopher Augustine of Hippo. This pseudo-Augustine was born in Ireland sometime in the first half of the seventh century and is noted especially for his natural philosophy.

Around the year 655 he wrote a treatise called De mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae. It has long been regarded as an exceptional work, in that it demonstrates a strictly scientific approach in the matter of making direct observations of nature and subjecting them to a strictly logical interpretation.

His treatise seeks to explain each miracle in the Scriptures as an extreme case of phenomena, yet still within the laws of nature. Augustine also gives a list of the terrestrial mammals of Ireland, and solves the problem of how they reached Ireland after the flood of Noah by proposing a solution – hundreds of years ahead of its time – that the island had been cut off from continental Europe by marine erosion.

Further reading


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wycliffe</span> English theologian (c. 1331 – 1384)

John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became an influential dissident within the Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy, who had bolstered their powerful role in England, and advocated radical poverty of the clergy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sign</span> Entity whose presence indicates the probable existence of something else

A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or medical symptoms a sign of disease. A conventional sign signifies by agreement, as a full stop signifies the end of a sentence; similarly the words and expressions of a language, as well as bodily gestures, can be regarded as signs, expressing particular meanings. The physical objects most commonly referred to as signs generally inform or instruct using written text, symbols, pictures or a combination of these.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August Hermann Francke</span> German clergyman and theologian

August Hermann Francke was a German Lutheran clergyman, theologian, philanthropist, and Biblical scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gataker</span> English clergyman and theologian

Thomas Gataker was an English clergyman and theologian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesus and the woman taken in adultery</span> Passage from the Gospel of John

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is a most likely pseudepigraphical passage (pericope) found in John 7:53–8:11 of the New Testament.

De duodecim abusivis saeculi, also titled simply De duodecim abusivis, is a Hiberno-Latin treatise on social and political morality written by an anonymous Irish author between 630 and 700, or between 630 and 650. During the Middle Ages, the work was very popular throughout Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh of Saint Victor</span> German-French canon regular and theologian

Hugh of Saint Victor was a Saxon canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology.

On the Universe is a theological and scientific treatise included in the Corpus Aristotelicum but usually regarded as spurious. It was likely published between the 3rd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. The work discusses cosmological, geological, and meteorological subjects, alongside a consideration of the role an independent god plays in maintaining the universe.

Biblical literalism or biblicism is a term used differently by different authors concerning biblical interpretation. It can equate to the dictionary definition of literalism: "adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense", where literal means "in accordance with, involving, or being the primary or strict meaning of the word or words; not figurative or metaphorical".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Bochart</span> French Protestant biblical scholar (1599–1667)

Samuel Bochart was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet. His two-volume Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan exerted a profound influence on seventeenth-century Biblical exegesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegorical interpretations of Genesis</span> Readings of the biblical Book of Genesis that treat elements of the narrative as symbols or types

Allegorical interpretations of Genesis are readings of the biblical Book of Genesis that treat elements of the narrative as symbols or types, rather than viewing them literally as recording historical events. Either way, Judaism and most sects of Christianity treat Genesis as canonical scripture, and believers generally regard it as having spiritual significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Vatable</span> 16th-century French scholar

François Vatable was a French humanist scholar, a hellenist and hebraist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catena (biblical commentary)</span> Commentary composed entirely of excerpts from earlier commentaries

A catena is a form of biblical commentary, verse by verse, made up entirely of excerpts from earlier Biblical commentators, each introduced with the name of the author, and with such minor adjustments of words to allow the whole to form a continuous commentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Hyperius</span> Protestant theologian and reformer (1511-1564)

Andreas Gerhard Hyperius (1511–1564), real name Andreas Gheeraerdts, was a Protestant theologian and Protestant reformer. He was Flemish, born at Ypres, which is signified by the name 'Hyperius'.

Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common ideas it maintains is monism, the doctrine that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

Báetán moccu Chormaic, abbot of Clonmacnoise, died 1 March 664.

Manchán of Min Droichit was an Irish scholar and Abbot.

Daniel Callus (1888–1965) was a Maltese historian and philosopher. His main interest was in the history of Medieval philosophy.

Censorship of the Bible includes restrictions and prohibition of possessing, reading, or using the Bible in general or any particular editions or translations of it.

Pseudo-Zeno is the conventional name for the anonymous sixth- or seventh-century Christian author of a Greek philosophical treatise known only in an Armenian translation of the Hellenizing School. It survives in at least four late manuscripts, one of which attributes it to Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. This attribution was sometimes accepted and the work identified with Zeno's lost treatise On Nature. In fact, the work is untitled, anonymous and belongs mainly to the Aristotelian tradition. The style, however, is extremely obscure.