The Syrophoenician Woman in Patristic Exegesis

Abstract

Increasing interest has been devoted to the pericope of the Syrophoenician woman (Mk 7,24-30) in recent years, thanks to the variety of methods and approaches introduced in biblical studies. This article carries out a complementary and hitherto pending enquiry on the patristic exegesis of this text, from Tertullian to John of Damascus, comprising the first two commentaries on Mark appeared in Latin. Amid the richness of early Christian exegesis, the study displays a series of convergences according to the perspective that the interpretation assumes: the encounter as such (salvation-history), Jesus (Christological), the woman (paradigmatic), or the bread and the crumbs (allegorical).