John P. BEQUETTE. Bede the Theologian: History, Rhetoric, and Spirituality.  Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2022. pp. 179. ISBN 978-0-8132-3500-4. Reviewed by Patrick M. GARRY, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069.

   In Bede the Theologian, Professor Bequette explores the teachings of writings of this influential eighth-century scholar.  Later named a doctor of the Church, Bede lived and studied in an English monastery, where he wrote his most famous work Ecclesiastical History of the English People.  Pope Benedict VI in 2009 praised Bede for stressing the two essential tasks of religious teachers and scholars: to explore the wonders of God’s word, and to teach the dogmatic truths of Catholicism.

Professor Bequette examines an array of important theological themes in Bede’s writings. Among these themes are Bede’s view of time and history and Christian spirituality. Bede held a more optimistic and Christocentric vision of history than did, for instance, Augustine.  This view reflected a confidence that God, through Christ, illuminated each age of history.  Essentially, Bede took a theological view of history, which harmonized both the temporal and eternal orders.

Bede’s spirituality is illuminated first through an excellent discussion of the historical and monastic background of Bede’s writings.  Bequette shows how monastic life and the structures of monastic learning influenced Bede.  As Bequette explains: “Bede’s monastic community furnished him with a rich biblical culture in which to do his work, much of which was devoted to making this culture accessible to others.” (p 24)  Within the mission of the monastery, Bede sought to consolidate the English church and bring it into full conformity with the larger Catholic Church, all the while seeking to transmit the faith to both his fellow monks and the English people.

Out of the rigors and routines of monastic life grew Bede’s spirituality, which pervaded the entirety of Bede’s writings.  According to Bequette, Bede devoted himself so completely to scholarship because, in his mind, scholarship was spirituality.  For Bede, scholarship was “the manner in which he realized the active dimension of the Christian life,” which was to evangelize the larger world. (p. 137)  In exploring Bede’s spirituality, which he describes as generally fitting within a city-of-God motif, Bequette provides an interesting discussion of the four characteristics of Christian spirituality. 

Bede’s spirituality centered upon the Church as the path to salvation.  For this reason, Bede urged the English church toward a closer communion with the Church of Rome, since salvation was not possible outside this communion.  Bede sought to present a vision of humanity’s final end, so that the larger society could be moved closer to that final meeting with God.  For this reason, Bede pursued the goal of full evangelization of English society.  But in the process of this evangelization, Bede saw the Church as the exclusive locus of God’s saving work.  As Bequette explains: “Bede’s spirituality is characterized by a wisdom in which the Church…not only brings the city of God to completion in heaven but transforms the surrounding pagan culture into a manifestation of the kingdom of God.” (p. 154) 

Bequette’s fine book reveals a Bede the theologian writing in continuity with the Christian tradition, and yet making original contributions to that tradition – contributions aimed at both the monastery and the culture at large. Bede’s emphasis on the apostolic mission of the Church as the sole path to salvation, as well as his evangelization of a larger culture, may very well serve as a model for modern Christian theologians.