ABSTRACT
Claudel's attitude to exegesis and his practice of it, according to his lights is so fundamental to his work that it merits in any study of the theological bearings of his poetry a chapter at least of its own. It seems logical to start with Claude's apologia for the spiritual exegesis of Scripture his preferred way of approaching the biblical text before giving a taste of his interpretation of particular books within Canon. Claude's order of fact is itself complex since it embraces historical facts and doctrinal facts in a single category. It brings together the factual truth claims of the historical books of the Bible granted that redemption was not accomplished in the imagination but in time and in reality of fact. The order of command is simpler to deal with. It consists of the moral precepts of the biblical revelation, of which the Ten Words of Exodus and the Sermon on the Mount are the most obvious examples.
