The New Testament Text of Saint Ambrose

St Ambrose of Milan (AD 34097) has always been considered one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church. He was a great ecclesiastical statesman a successful bishop and administrator and a prolific writer. His works contain numerous quotations from the New Testament; by examining them it is possible to learn something of the text available to him. The introduction deals with the syntax and vocabulary of Ambrose giving examples of ''Europeanizes'' and ''African-isms''. A list of Grcisms is also given and there are notes on some select quotations from the New Testament. The examination shows that Ambrose''s quotations generally reach a high standard of accuracy showing agreement either with the Greek reading or a variant or with some Latin MS. authority. The Ambrosias text is sometimes in agreement with Old Latin texts while at other times it shows assimilation to a Vulgate text. It is interesting to note that Ambrose is an important witness to certain readings that are peculiar to the Codex Bezae.