SOURCE: "St. Jerome as an Exegete" in A Monument to Saint Jerome: Essays on Some Aspects of His Life, Works, and Influence, edited by Francis X. Murphy, Sheed & Ward, 1952, pp. 37-81.

In the following essay, Hartmann discusses and critically evaluates Jerome's method as a scriptural interpreter, especially as evidenced in his commentaries.

For many reasons the writings of St. Jerome have won just fame for their author. He is renowned as a master of Latin prose, a vigorous controversialist, an ardent advocate of Christian asceticism, and as a source of much useful historical information. But it is especially as a Scripture scholar that Jerome has won immortal laurels, and earned for himself not only the title of "Doctor of the Church" but that of Doctor Maximus sacris Scripturis explanandis—its greatest doctor in interpreting Sacred Scripture. This honor has been conferred upon him primarily because of his great...