Abstract

Many scholars in the last generation have studied the role of the Bible in the intellectual history of medieval Western Europe and the development of particular scholarly activities based on the study of the Bible in this period. It is now a commonplace that the Bible, a legacy of Judaism, was an important factor in the emergence of Western civilization, having an influence no less than that of the classical legacy. Moreover, the diversity of topics included in the Bible was a source of inspiration in many fields of medieval activity, not only for theologians, canonists and political thinkers, but also for teachers, artists, historians and men of letters. This inspiration may be observed throughout the Middle Ages and may permit us to speak of the existence of a “biblical mind” in the medieval world, manifested both in the ecclesiastical realm and in secular society