Editing Bede (section)

====Sources====
Bede synthesised and transmitted the learning from his predecessors, as well as made careful, judicious innovation in knowledge (such as recalculating the age of the Earth—for which he was censured before surviving the heresy accusations and eventually having his views championed by Archbishop Ussher in the sixteenth century—see below) that had theological implications. In order to do this, he learned Greek and attempted to learn Hebrew. He spent time reading and rereading both the Old and the New Testaments. He mentions that he studied from a text of [[Jerome]]'s [[Vulgate]], which itself was from the Hebrew text.<ref name="CM_xxv" /><ref name="Theo" />

He also studied both the Latin and the Greek Fathers of the Church. In the monastic library at Jarrow were numerous books by theologians, including works by [[Basil of Caesarea]], [[John Cassian]], [[John Chrysostom]], [[Isidore of Seville]], [[Origen]], [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], Jerome, [[Pope Gregory I]], [[Ambrose of Milan]], [[Cassiodorus]] and [[Cyprian]].<ref name="CM_xxv" /><ref name="Theo" /> He used these, in conjunction with the Biblical texts themselves, to write his commentaries and other theological works.<ref name="Theo" />

He had a Latin translation by [[Evagrius of Antioch]] of [[Athanasius]]'s ''Life of Antony'' and a copy of [[Sulpicius Severus]]' ''Life of St Martin''.<ref name="CM_xxv" /> He also used lesser known writers, such as [[Fulgentius of Ruspe]], [[Julian of Eclanum]], [[Ticonius]] and [[Prosper of Aquitaine]]. Bede was the first to refer to Jerome, Augustine, Pope Gregory and Ambrose as the four Latin [[Fathers of the Church]].<ref name="Ward44">{{harvnb|Ward|1990|p=44}}</ref> It is clear from Bede's own comments that he felt his calling was to explain to his students and readers the theology and thoughts of the Church Fathers.<ref name="Mey827">{{harvnb|Meyvaert|1996|p=827}}</ref>

Bede sometimes included in his theological books an acknowledgement of the predecessors on whose works he drew. In two cases he left instructions that his marginal notes, which gave the details of his sources, should be preserved by the copyist, and he may have originally added marginal comments about his sources to others of his works. Where he does not specify, it is still possible to identify books to which he must have had access by quotations that he uses. A full catalogue of the library available to Bede in the monastery cannot be reconstructed, but it is possible to tell, for example, that Bede was very familiar with the works of Virgil.{{sfn|Laistner|1935|pp=237–262}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Laistner|1935|pp=263–266}} provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.}}

There is little evidence that he had access to any other of the pagan Latin writers—he quotes many of these writers, but the quotes are almost always found in the Latin grammars that were common in his day, one or more of which would certainly have been at the monastery. Another difficulty is that manuscripts of early writers were often incomplete: it is apparent that Bede had access to Pliny's ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Encyclopaedia]]'', for example, but it seems that the version he had was missing book xviii, since he did not quote from it in his ''De temporum ratione''.{{sfn|Laistner|1935|pp=237–262}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Laistner|1935|pp=263–266}} provides a list of works definitely or tentatively identified as in Bede's library.}}