This book challenges standard accounts of early Christian exegesis of the Bible. Professor Young sets the interpretation of the Bible in the context of the Graeco-Roman world - the dissemination of books and learning, the way texts were received and read, the function of literature in shaping not only a culture but a moral universe. For the earliest Christians, the adoption of the Jewish scriptures constituted a supersessionary claim in relation to Hellenism as well as Judaism. Yet the debt owed to the practice of exegesis in the grammatical and rhetorical schools is of overriding significance. Methods were philological and deductive, and the usual analysis according to 'literal', 'typological' and 'allegorical' is inadequate to describe questions of reference and issues of religious language. The biblical texts shaped a 'totalizing discourse' which by the fifth century was giving identity, morality and meaning to a new Christian culture.

"This is a deep and wise book that will interest and challenge any student of the history of exegesis." Thomas A. Smith, Religious Studies Review

"...this is an impressive and important book." John Behr, ST. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly

"Those who follow and admire the work of Frances Young will welcome this new work on patrisic exegesis. This book...offers a comprehensive analysis of the pervasive presence of the Bible in emerging Christian culture. ...worth reading..." John J. O'Keefe, Journal of Early Christian Studies

"Biblical Exegesis impresses the reader with its sheer breadth....It is Young's study of the Antiochene tradition and the breadth and richness of her work which makes Biblical Exegesis a truly important book." Michael Murrin, The Journal of Religion

"This demanding and rewarding book explicates the enormous impact of biblical exegesis on early Christian culture. One should not approach that exegesis without it." Church History