ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether the exegetical preoccupation of the author changed over the course of his revisions, to what extent, if it did in fact occur, this change was motivated by the intended audience of his writings, and what these shifts in context and intention reveal about Ambrosiaster's approach and attitude towards biblical commentary. Ambrosiaster's way of commenting on the Scriptures is certainly not allegorical, but neither is it Antiochene, nor strictly literal. Ambrosiaster, in his desire to be universal, makes sure to relate the Scriptures to a personal experience, to something to which his audience can relate. Ambrosiaster uses the Old and New Testament to explain institutions of the fourth-century church, but also to illustrate the catechesis of the Christian. It is well known that Ambrosiaster's Questions on the Old and New Testament were transmitted in the manuscript tradition in two different collections that Souter thought could both be linked to the author.
