The Prefaces

Jerome composed a total of eight prefaces for his four Pauline commentaries: one for each of the three books of the Galatians and Ephesians commentaries, and one each for the Titus and Philemon commentaries. In half of these prefaces he includes personal content which has nothing to do with the epistle under comment. This chapter argues that he deployed these four prefaces to work toward a number of goals at once—cultivate literary patrons in Rome, defend his opus Paulinum against anticipated criticism, and displace Marius Victorinus and install himself as the Latin West’s first legitimate commentator on Paul.