Epilogue

Abstract

The aim of the Epilogue is to show that the First Chapters had a broader and longer-lasting influence than has been appreciated up until now, and to illuminate the role they played in the history of exegesis. These Chapters, at least for several centuries, got to serve the purposes their creators must have envisioned for them, as informative guides to the reading and interpretation of Scripture. In early sixth-century Alexandria they are found in the commentaries and teaching ministry of Olympiodorus of Alexandria, for whom they served both as hermeneutical tool and as an organizing principle for the exposition of Scripture. With greater attention now given to these ancient articulations of Holy Scripture, perhaps their role in its study and exposition has not yet come to an end.