A letter from Peter Abelard ()

Translated letter:

There are three places in the Old Testament which experts consider the most difficult to understand in Sacred Scripture: the beginning of Genesis according to the history of divine works, the Canticles, and the prophecy of Ezechiel, especially the first vision of the animals and wheels and the last of the building set on the mountain. Wherefore among the Jews they say the exposition of those writers, because of their extreme difficulty, was committed to none but mature minds. So Origen recalls in his first homily on the Canticles saying: "They say and it is observed among Jews that unless one has reached a complete and mature age, one is not permitted to hold this book in his hands; but we hear that among all the writings which are given by the doctors to boys, four are kept by them, reserved for last, that is, the beginning of Genesis in which the creation of the world is described, the beginning of the prophet Ezechiel in which cherubim are discussed, the end also which contains the building of the temple, and this book of the Canticles." And in the prologue to his exposition of Ezechiel, Jerome says: "I shall approach the prophet Ezechiel, to whose difficulty the tradition of the Jews attests. For among them, unless one has attained the age of priestly ministry, that is thirty years, he is not permitted to read the beginning of Genesis, nor the Canticles, nor the beginning and end of this volume, so that he may approach the full time of human nature and mystical understanding with completed learning." Beseeching you ask, and asking you beseech, sister Heloise, once dear in the world, now most dear in Christ, that I undertake this exposition the more studiously as its understanding is held to be more difficult and explain it spiritually to you and your spritual daughters. So asking I ask you, since you compel me by asking me for it, to obtain the ability for me by praying to God. And since, as it is said, one begins from the head, your prayers will help me all the more at the beginning of Genesis, as its difficulty is greater than the rest; the paucity of commentaries testifies to that. For though many have produced many mystical or moral interpretations of Genesis, among us only the sharp mind of most blessed Augustine has attemped to expound this history. That he recognized it as difficult is clear where he says that he puts it forth as opinion rather than assertion of meaning, or more considering doubts than defining certainties, as if following Aristotle: "perhaps," he says, "it is difficult to declare confidently about these things unless they are often investigated, but to doubt about individual things will not be useless." The aforesaid doctor says in the second of his retractions that he would retract his twelve books on Genesis: "in which work more things are sought than found and of those that are found, even fewer are confirmed, and the rest are still to be sought." But since the words of this work seem obscure to you so that its exposition needs to be explained again, you press for our opinion in expounding the said beginning of Genesis. Since you know the insistence of your prayers made me undertake this exposition, if you see me deficient in it, expect that apostolic excuse from me: "I am become a fool, you have compelled me" [2Cor.12:11].

Original letter:

Tria sunt in veteri testamento loca quae ad intelligendum difficiliora esse Sacrae Scripturae periti censuerunt. Principium scilicet Geneseos, secundum ipsam divinae operationis historiam, et Canticum canticorum, et prophetiam Ezechiel in prima praecipue visione de animalibus et rotis, et in extrema de aedificio in monte constituto. Unde apud Hebraeos institutum esse aiunt praedictorum scriptorum expositionem prae nimia difficultate sui nonnisi maturis sensibus seniorum committendam esse; sicut et Origenes meminit prima in Cantico canticorum homelia, dicens: "Aiunt et observari apud Hebraeos quod nisi quis ad aetatem perfectam maturamque pervenerit, librum hunc in manibus tenere non permittitur: sed illud ab eis accepimus custodiri, apud eos omnes scripturas a doctoribus tradi pueris, ad ultimum quatuor libros reservari, id est, principium Genesis quo mundi creatura describitur, et Ezechiel prophetae principia in quibus de cherubim refertur, finem quoque in quo templi aedificatio continetur, et hunc Cantici canticorum librum." Hinc et illud Hieronymi in prologo expositionis suae in Ezechielem: "Aggrediar Ezechiel prophetam, cujus difficultatem Hebraeorum probat traditio. Nam nisi quis apud eos aetatem sacerdotalis ministerii, id est trigesimum annum impleverit, nec principium Geneseos, nec Canticum canticorum, nec hujus voluminis exordium et finem legere permittitur, ut ad perfectam scientiam, et mysticos intellectus plenum humanae naturae tempus accedat." Supplicando itaque postulas, et postulando supplicas, soror Heloissa, in saeculo quondam cara, nunc in Christo carissima, quatenus expositionem horum tanto studiosius intendam, quanto difficiliorem esse constat intelligentiam, et spiritaliter hoc tibi et filiabus tuis spiritalibus persolvam. Unde et rogantes vos rogo, ut quia me rogando ad hoc compellitis, orando Deum mihi efficaciam impetretis; et quoniam, ut dici solet, et capite inchoandum est, tanto me amplius in exordio Geneseos vestrae orationes adjuvent, quanto ejus difficultatem caeteris constat esse majorem; sicut expositionum raritas ipsa testatur. Quum enim multi multas mysticas vel morales in Genesim confecerint explanationes, solius apud nos beatissimi Augustini perspicax ingenium historiam hic aggressus est exponere. Quam adeo difficilem recognovit, ut, quae ibi dixerit, ex opinione potius quam ex assertione sententiae protulerit; vel quaerendo magis tanquam dubia, quam diffiniendo tanquam certa, quasi Aristotelicum illud attendens consilium: "Fortasse," inquit, "difficile sit de hujusmodi rebus confidenter declarare, nisi saepe pertractata sunt: dubitare autem de singulis non erit inutile." Praedictus itaque doctor in secundo retractationum suarum, libros XII suos de Genesi ad litteram retractaturus ait: "In quo opere plura quaesita sunt quam inventa, et eorum quae inventa sunt, pauciora firmata, caetera vero ita posita, velut adhuc requirenda sint." Sed quoniam hujus quoque operis dicta adeo vobis obscura videntur, ut ipsa rursus expositio exponenda esse censeatur, nostram etiam opinionem in exponendo praedicto Genesis exordio efflagitatis. Quam nunc quidem expositionem ita me vestrarum instantia precum aggredi cognoscatis, ut ubi me deficere videritis, illam a me apostolicam excusationem expectetis: "Factus sum insipiens, vos me coegistis."

Historical context:

Abelard notes the difficulty of the text Heloise has asked him to expound. He writes at her request, but he intends a larger audience as well, saying his purpose is to make mankind [homo] understand the obedience it owes God, who created it in his image (Cousin, 628).

Printed source:

Opera Petri Abaelardi ed. V. Cousin, 2v (Paris: A Durand, 1849, 1859), preface to Expositio in Hexameron, 1.626-27; also in PL178, c731-32