ABSTRACT

Modern research on Jerome emerged from traditions that were not, or at least not primarily, concerned with the study of history but the generation and preservation of memory.1 These traditions, as has been illustrated in recent years by a growing number of publications,2 are immensely rich and colourful, and well worth being studied in their own right. That they are in need of critical examination regarding their usefulness for historical study has long been recognized. What is sometimes still overlooked is the fact that modern research itself needs to be examined as to what extent it may have retained agendas which it inherited from these traditions as elements of cultural memory.3 Not that it were at all possible, or even desirable, to “purge” all such influence from modern research, which is, after all, itself very much part of a valued cultural tradition. But an increasing awareness of the forces shaping this tradition and an ability critically to reflect on the processes involved

1 In this paper I revisit (and expand on) some of the ground covered in J. Lössl, “Konfessionelle Theologie und humanistisches Erbe. Zur Hieronymusbriefedition des Petrus Canisius,” in R. Berndt ed., Petrus Canisius SJ (1521-1597). Humanist und Europäer (Berlin, 2000) 121-53; and J. Lössl, “Hieronymus-Ein Kirchenvater?,” in J. Arnold et al. eds, Väter der Kirche. Ekklesiales Denken von den Anfängen bis in die Neuzeit. Festgabe für Hermann Josef Sieben SJ zum 70. Geburtstag (Paderborn, 2004) 431-64.