Robert Grosseteste - On the Six Days of Creation: A Translation of the Hexaemeron (Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi) [Paperback]

C.F.J. Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0197262082 | ISBN-13: 978-0197262085

This is a new translation of Grosseteste's masterful commentary on the Biblical account of the Creation. Presenting a rich look at the unity of the medieval outlook, the Hexaemeron combines the learning of East and West in a distinctively English way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Christopher Martin's recent translation is a most useful way of entering a rather daunting text...his work is most valuable."--Isis

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Latin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press for the British Academy (September 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0197262082
• ISBN-13: 978-0197262085
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,428,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who would give Robert Grosseste less thasn five stars?, October 5, 2011

By 

Jeri Massi "keen on the grace of God" (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robert Grosseteste - On the Six Days of Creation: A Translation of the Hexaemeron (Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi) (Paperback)

Unity, unity, unity: that's what Grosseteste shows us with painstaking care: how the account of the six days of creation demonstrates the Trinity, the eternality of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the reality of the "real" world as opposed to this "accidental" world, the imminence of heaven.

This is not a book for lightweights. You should have some familiarity with the pre-Copernican model of the cosmos before you attempt Grosseteste, and you should be familiar with his times and with the prevailing theology and religious mindset of his age.

Modern religious Creationism is a joke, really. Evangelicals and Christian Fundamentalists believe in an atheistic universe, and they simply overlay Creation onto it. But Grossteste gives us a truly Christian, complex, and very unified view of Creation. And he's not really saying that the Genesis account is or is not literally true. The point he makes is that the narrative of Creation in Genesis is telling us about the entire world, the entire work of Jesus Christ, the entire wisdom of God. There is a breadth and scope of his understanding of the Genesis account that really does highlight the nincompoopery of Christian Fundamentalism, and yet compels the reader to embrace the truth of Creation as God's act, really, of salvation.

I write this from a religious point of view, not a historical point of view. I don't think Grosseteste should be limited to consideration for his historic value, but rather I think his greatest value remains in exactly what he says (if you can follow him). For Grosseteste lifts up God and Christ and the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, I have at last found a truly Creationist writer, and I like him. OK, the spheres thing is dated, but still, his work is brilliant and rejuvenating to people of faith. Again, this glowing review applies only if you can follow him, and I am guessing that most Evangelicals and just about all Christian Fundamentalists cannot. Thank Jerry Falwell or Bob Jones Sr or Jack Hyles for your horrible education.