This is a study of the use of the image of the temple in the writings of the most significant theologian of pre-Conquest England, the Venerable Bede. Using the whole of the surviving corpus of Bede's writings, Dr O'Brien examines Bede as a historian and considers his exegetical methods.
The authors views on the dates of Bedes various writings are set out in a table in the prefatory matter, which serves the purpose of making OBriens understanding of the chronology transparent for the reader. The book has been edited well and it is very readable. The author has absorbed an impressive amount of secondary material, including several under-appreciated publications by scholars such as Giovanni Caputa and Georges Tugène.
