In this study, I lay the foundations for a conversation between the modern academic
study of the Bible and early medieval monastic reading strategies. After illuminating the
similarities and differences between these two distinct reading cultures, I place
interpretations from four modern academic interpreters of Matthew‘s gospel and an early
medieval monastic abbot together to make initial steps towards what the modern project can
learn from the early medieval. Since the rise of the scientific study of the Scriptures,
premodern interpretive methods have been regarded with a certain amount of suspicion by
the academic community—sometimes justly, sometimes less so. In order to achieve a higher
level of clarity, I explore both modern academic and early medieval monastic exegesis as
products of distinct micro-cultures. Coming from this perspective, I hope to avoid
judgments and preconceptions that prevent the early medieval project from being seen on its
own terms and will focus on the monastic liturgy as the central locus of this culture‘s
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exegetical efforts. Once this foundation has been laid, I place the sermons of Ælfric of
Eynsham, a 10th/11th century English Benedictine abbot into conversation with the works of four major modern Matthean commentaries to assess his suitability as a conversation partner.