L'apologie de Jérôme contre Rufin

In the three books of his Contra Rufinum, a work dating back to his mature period (401-402), Jerome (ca 347-420) fought against his erstwhile friend turned rival, Rufinus: the two Latin monks, one settled in Bethlehem, the other in Jerusalem, had come to confront each other on such issues as the timeliness and ways (translation, commentary...) of transmitting an Oriental heritage to the West, Greek (in particular the works of Origen [ca. 185-ca. 253], whose Peri Archôn they both translated in competition) as well as Jewish (the biblical hebraica veritas which Jerome championed). They were also at variance on the appreciation of profane culture (the Latin classics). Jerome's Contra Rufinum is a masterpiece by a brilliant polemist and an important document as to a knowledge of the actors and the vicissitudes of a controversy which mobilised many Christians, Eastern and Western alike, on the eve of the sacking of Rome by the Barbarians.
This commentary seeks to analyse the treatise in all its facets (historical and theological, philological and rhetorical), and to elucidate its connections with the different traditions (classical, biblical, patristic) to which it belongs. The Contra Rufinum thus turns out to be a remarkable vantage point from which to illuminate the entire corpus of an author whose work, spread over nearly half a century, was immensely influential during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Pierre Lardet (CNRS) has specialized in Renaissance studies and published articles on Julius Caesar Scaliger, on the Italian and French translatio of Aristotle's Rhetoric, and on Jean Bodin's Methodus. He is also editor and translator of the Contra Rufinum for the Corpus Christianorum and the Sources Chrétiennes,

"...un outil de travail précieux." - Marie-Anne Vannier, in: Rev. d. Sc. Rel., 1994
"On ne peut qu'approuver la conception que se fait P.L. du commentaire qu'il nous donne ici..." - L.W., in: Revue Bénédictine, 1994
"...un commentaire monumental...une mine indispensable..." - P. Maraval, in: Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses, 1994
"...a painstakingly detailed treatment of the fine points of Jerome's Apology" - Elizabeth Clarke, in: Theological Studies, 1994
"...très bonne traduction..." - Y.-M. Duval, in: Recherches de Sciences Religieuses, 1994
"On ne sait s'il faut admirer davantage l'érudition, la finesse ou l'esprit pratique qui se déploie également dans une présentation sobre et rigoureuse." - Yves-Marie Duval, in: Revue des Etudes Latines
"...maintenant nous pouvons disposer d'un commentaire d'une grande importance, qui sans aucun doute contribuera beaucoup aux études hiéronymiennes. Nous complimentons M. Lardet qui [...] maintenant a achevé heureusement son 'triptyque'." - J.J. Thierry, in: Mnemosyne, 1995
"Voici à présent un commentaire anlytique suivi, qui, comme les deux premiers livres, impressionne par l'encyclopédisme de son érudition et l'opiniâtre méticulosité dans la présentation scientifique et la fabrication du livre." - Paul-Augustin Deproost, in: Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique, 1995