The December 2018 issue of Revue Bénédictine, a leading journal of monastic and theological studies, features an article by Associate Professor of History John Eldevik: "A New Sermon on I Maccabees at Admont: Apocalyptic Thought, Biblical Exegesis, and Crusading in Twelfth-Century Bavaria."
In the article, Eldevik offers a commentary, analysis, and critical edition of an unpublished monastic sermon on the Book of Maccabees copied into the final leaves of a manuscript of Admont Abbey in Austria. In a close examination of the sermon's language and apocalyptic imagery, Eldevik connects its scriptural interpretations to debates surrounding the Crusades in the second half of the twelfth-century, suggesting that certain monastic commentators, while not openly opposing the Crusading project, nonetheless raised serious doubts about the way it was promoted and preached.
