Nicholas of Lyra's use of St. Thomas Aquinas' "Expositio super Iob ad litteram" in his Postilla on Job

Troy P Pflibsen, Marquette University

Abstract

Nicholas of Lyra himself acknowledged his consideration of St. Thomas Aquinas' commentary on Job . Scholars in the generations that immediately followed Lyra also noted this relationship. Today scholars still recognize that there is a strong connection. No scholar has yet to explore this relationship at great depth, documenting the nature and content of this connection. This dissertation addresses this deficit, testing and documenting the relationship in detail, using a close analysis of key chapters of Lyra's and Aquinas' commentaries on Job . The analysis has yielded a list of themes that emerge in both commentaries. Lyra adopted some from his predecessor; others were unique to Lyra and reflect his own insights as he read the text. The analysis has also yielded a list of techniques that Lyra used as he worked with the material presented by Aquinas. He did not ever incorporate any part of Aquinas' commentary verbatim. Of greatest significance, the analysis yielded significant evidence of Lyra's independence as a scholar. Aquinas was a key source of information and ideas for Lyra, but Lyra developed his own understanding of the book of Job as he read and studied the text. Aquinas' commentary on Job is a tool that Lyra often used, but it was not definitive for his effort.

This paper has been withdrawn.