Quote in context
Jerome on Scripture and Christ
Jerome · Commentary on Isaiah, prologue
“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
— Jerome
Plain English
Jerome is defending serious study of Scripture. To know Christ, Christians must know the books that bear witness to him.
Why it matters
The line still anchors Christian arguments for biblical literacy and careful exegesis.
Who said it
Jerome
c. 347 – 420 · Born in Stridon · Palestine
Jerome translated the Bible into Latin and gave the Western church a single text to argue about for the next thousand years. The Vulgate is his — and 'translating' undersells it. He learned Hebrew at a time when no Christian did, went to Bethlehem, and worked from the original texts rather than the Septuagint. He was prickly, vicious in argument, and impossible to live with. But every time the West read scripture from 400 to 1500, they were reading Jerome.
Book of the day
Five Theological Orations
Gregory of NazianzusA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. Dense but decisive sermons on the Trinity from the theologian of Constantinople.
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