THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Antioch (c. 376), the legendary material of which is derived from Egyptian monastic tradition; the Vita Malchi monachi captivi (c. 391), probably based on an earlier work, although it purports to be derived from the oral communications of the aged ascetic Malchus originally made to him in the desert of Chalcis; and the Vita Hilarionis, of the same date, containing more trustworthy historical matter than the other two, and based partly on the biography of Epiphanius and partly on oral tradition. The so-called Martyrologium sancti Hieronymi is spurious; it was apparently composed by a western monk toward the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century, with reference to an expression of Jerome's in the opening chapter of the Vita Malchi, where he speaks of intending to write a history of the saints and martyrs from the apostolic times. But the most important of Jerome's historical works is the book De viris illustribus, written at Bethlehem in 392, the title and arrangement of which are borrowed from Suetonius. It contains short biographical and literary notes on 135 Christian authors, from St. Peter down to Jerome himself. For the first seventy-eight Eusebius (Hist, eccl., i.-viii.) is the main source; in the second section, beginning with Arnobius and Lactantius, he includes a good deal of independent information, especially as to western writers.
Practically all of Jerome's productions in the field of dogma have a more or less violently polemical character, and are directed 3. Dog- against assailants of the orthodox docmatic and trines. Even the translation of the Polemical, treatise of Didymus on the Holy Spirit into Latin (begun in Rome 384, completed at Bethlehem) shows an apologetic tendency against the Arians and Pneumatomachi. The same is true of his version of Origen's De principiis (c. 399), intended to supersede the inaccurate translation by Rufinus. The more strictly polemical writings cover every period of his life. During the sojourns at Antioch and Constantinople he was mainly occupied with the Arian controversy, and especially with the schisms centering around Meletius and Lucifer. Two letters to Pope Damasus (xv. and xvi.) complain of the conduct of both parties at Antioch, the Meletians and Paulinians, who had tried to draw him into their controversy over the application of the terms ousia and hypostasis to the trinity. At the same time or a little later (379) he composed his Liber contra Luciferianos, in which he cleverly uses the dialogue form to combat the tenets of that faction, particularly their rejection of baptism by heretics. In Rome (c. 383) he wrote a passionate counterblast against the teaching of Helvidius, in defense of the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, and of the superiority of the single over the married state. An opponent of a somewhat similar nature was Jovinianus, with whom he came into conflict in 392 (Adversus Jovinianum, and the defense of this work addressed to his friend Pammachius, numbered xlviii. in the letters). Once more he defended the ordinary catholic practises of piety and his own ascetic ethics in 406 against the Spanish presbyter Vigilantius, who opposed the cultus of martyrs
and relics, the vow of poverty, and clerical celibacy. Meanwhile the controversy with John of Jerusalem and Rufinus concerning the orthodoxy of Origen occurred. To this period belong some of his most passionate and most comprehensive polemical works — the Contra Joannem Hierosolymitanum (398 or 399); the two closely-connected Apologiae contra Rufinum (402); and the " last word " written a few months later, the Liber tertius seu ultima responsio adversus scripta Rufini. For further details see Origenistic Controversies. The last of his polemical works is the skilfully-composed Dialogus contra Pelagianos (415).
Jerome's letters, both by the great variety of their subjects and by their qualities of style, form the most interesting portion of his 4. Letters, literary remains. Whether he is discussing problems of scholarship, or reasoning on cases of conscience, comforting the afflicted, or saying pleasant things to his friends, scourging the vices and corruptions of the time, exhorting to the ascetic life and renunciation of the world, or breaking a lance with his theological opponents, he gives a vivid picture not only of his own mind, but of the age and its peculiar characteristics. The letters most frequently reprinted or referred to are of a hortatory nature, such as xiv., Ad Heliodorum de laude vitae solitariae; xxii., Ad Eustochium de custodia virginitatis; lii., Ad Nepotianum de vita clericorum et monachorum, a sort of epitome of pastoral theology from the ascetic standpoint; liii., Ad Paulinum de studio scripturarum; lvii., to the same, De institutione monachi; lxx., Ad Magnum de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis; and cvii., Ad Laetam de institutione filiae.
III. Theological Position: Jerome undoubtedly ranks as the most learned of the western Fathers. He surpasses the others especially in 1. His his knowledge of Hebrew, gained by Excellences hard study, and not unskilfully used. and It is true that he was perfectly con- Defects, scious of his advantages, and not entirely free from the temptation to despise or belittle his literary rivals, especially Ambrose. His own scholarship is by no means without its weak points. His acquaintance with Greek and Latin literature, both pagan and Christian, is great, but by no means without its gaps and its traces of superficial reading; and his knowledge of Hebrew offers innumerable points of attack to modern criticism. As a general rule it is not so much by absolute knowledge that he shines as by an almost poetical elegance, an incisive wit, a singular skill in adapting recognized or proverbial phrases to his purpose, and a successful aiming at rhetorical effect. His weaknesses are most noticeable in dogmatic subjects. He was so little of a dogmatic theologian that he contributed only indirectly to the development of doctrine. The same may be said of his contribution to moral theology, in which he showed less an interest in abstract ethical speculation than a morbid ascetic zeal and passionate enthusiasm for the monastic ideal.
It was this attitude that made Luther judge him so severely. In fact, Evangelical readers are generally little inclined to accept his writings as authori-