"Wading Lambs and Swimming Elephants"

The Bible for the Laity and Theologians in Late Medieval and Early Modern Era

The book’s title alludes to Gregory the Great’s famous metaphor in his Moralia in Job: The Bible is like a stream, broad and deep, shallow enough for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough for the elephant to swim. Gregory’s intention was to show that the Bible contains several levels of instruction, so that it is fully accessible to both the lettered and the unlettered.

This powerful metaphor has been applied and re-applied in various Christian traditions, and has been given expression in many and various ways. In this book, it is understood as a reference to the diverse biblical genres, vernacular and scholarly, as well as literary and pictorial, illustrating the wide reception of the Bible throughout history, both among the educated and uneducated. The articles included in this volume deal with diverse aspects of the history of the Church and theology, literary history, art history, and book history, but above all give testimony to the broad reception of the Bible in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era.

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