While it was perhaps the work of his predecessors, especially John Chrysostom, that discouraged Theodoret of Cyrus from commenting on the Gospels, he was not deterred by "the world's luminaries," as he styles his predecessors in Antioch, from writing a Commentary on the Letters of Paul. He was content, as he says, "like some kind of mosquito, to buzz about the apostolic meadows along with those famous bees." Yet his Commentary is not only characterized by his distinctive gifts of moderation and conciseness, but also betrays the theological currents and controversies of those years leading up to the council of Chalcedon in 451. Revealing a fine affinity with Paul's thought, Theodoret succeeds in his aim of "demonstrating the profundity of the apostle's wisdom and stripping away the veils of the writing." Now that the work appears in English, it would be to the benefit of modern commentators to sample Theodoret's approach to Paul, even if the theological positions of the Antiochene school lead the bishop to wrestle with some of his subject's cherished convictions.
Volume 1 contains the commentaries on Romans, 1-2 Corinthians.
Volume 2 contains the commentaries on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon.
Robert Charles Hill has made available in English many of the biblical commentaries of the Antiochene Fathers. His translation of Theodoret's Commentary on the Psalms appears in the Fathers of the Church series, while the Australian Catholic University's series of Early Christian Studies includes Hill's translation of Theodoret's Commentary on the Song of Songs.
