Ambrose of Milan Combats the Crooked Interpreter": Forming Nicene Identity through Old Testament Exegesis"

Abstract

The aim of this project is to reanalyze prior notions about the immediacy of Ambrose’s conversion of Milan (and all of Italy) to his [pro-Nicene] theological position by considering an area of Ambrose’s works that has been largely ignored in the modern discussion on Ambrose’s place in religious controversies taking place in the fourth (4th) century C.E., namely the treatises and sermons on the Old Testament. In the context of the “Arian”-Nicene controversy, an intra-Christian dispute about whether or not Christ was really God, it considers how Ambrose used preaching, particularly on texts not ostensibly connected with the controversy, to strengthen his congregation’s communal identity, especially in the face of their initial ambivalence to doctrinal matters. The dissertation also examines assumptions made in prior scholarship about Ambrose’s initial hesitancy to publicly take a strong side for the Nicene position against “Arians,” his theological opponents who did not believe that Jesus was fully God. In the first part of the dissertation, I consider Ambrose’s use of binary rhetoric to exclude his theological opponents from the Milanese Christian community by associating them with “outsiders.” I consider how in the Apologia altera, De paradiso, De Abraham, De interpellatione Iob et Dauid, and De Cain et Abel, Ambrose identifies “Arians” with outsiders, especially Jews and pagan philosophers, so as to delegitimize their theological objections to the pro-Nicene position. In the Apologia altera and De paradiso, Ambrose makes use of the association of “Arians” with Jews to portray “Arian” claims of the lack of a scriptural basis of his own theology as arising from excessively literal exegesis. In the De Abraham and De interpellatione, Ambrose associates his theological opponents with pagan philosophers in order to reject their attempt to analyze Christian theology through the lens of philosophy. The De Cain et Abel presents an image of the world as divided between those with true faith, who are “true” Christians and their ancestors in the faith, and all unbelievers, whether they are pagans, Jews, or heretics. In the second part, I consider Ambrose’s positive construction of identity for those within the community, focusing on his interpretation of the Song of Songs, primarily in the Apologia altera and the De Isaac uel anima. Ambrose uses the Song of Songs as the key to understanding other events in the Old Testament through the lens of his particular understanding of theology. In the Apologia altera, Ambrose interprets David’s adultery with Bathsheba as a foreshadowing of events in Jesus’ life, taking those actions as evidence of his all-powerful condescension to the level of his Bride, the church. He presents these actions as undertaken as a response to the church’s great desire for Christ and out of his great desire for her. In presenting these events in this way, Ambrose responds to “Arian” claims that these actions demonstrate Christ’s non-divine weakness. Similarly, in the De Isaac, Ambrose interprets the love between Isaac and Rebecca as referring to the love of Christ for the individual believer’s soul in an interpretation that quickly turns into an exegesis of the Song of Songs. Ambrose thus presents his audience with an erotic image of the desire that should bind them and Christ together. In conducting this analysis, I show that in early Christianity exegesis was at least as useful in forming faith communities and appealing to non-elites as abstract, doctrinal treatises.