In these 40 sermons on the Gospel, Gregory the Great can be seen as both pastor and preacher. He pays attention to the historical details of Scripture, seeks out its moral application to daily Christian life, and through it reflects on the hidden reality of God. He believed that the Christian study of the Scripture entailed a personal engagement with mystery and openness to transformation, as an attempt to achieve individual perception of the divine while one is still bound by earthly and bodily ties.

At the dividing line between Antiquity and the Middle Ages, scholar-diplomat-pastor-writer-pope Gregory the Great drew on his profound knowledge of Scripture and his personal experience to preach the Gospel. These forty homilies show the practical concerns Gregory faced as well as the theological expectations he had of his flock.

From the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, Bede's authority as a scriptural exegete was second only to that of the Doctors of the Latin Church. His influence was enormous. Yet modern readers associate this remarkable scholar-monk only with his History of the English Church and Nation and ignore the works he saw as his chief accomplishment. - Back cover of book 1.

Includes the text of the Epistle to the Romans (Revised standard version), and translations (from the Greek and Latin) of patristic commentaries on the Epistle.