Research areas
John J. Gallagher is an Honorary Lecturer. Dr Gallagher completed a PhD on textual criticism and exegesis of the early medieval Bible in the School, which was awarded the Samuel Rutherford Prize. Before coming to St Andrews, John studied for a BA in English at University College Dublin and the Sorbonne, an MA in Old English and Old Norse at the University of Nottingham, and a Diploma in Icelandic at the University of Iceland, Reykjavík. John also holds a Certificate in University Teaching and Learning. At St Andrews, John has taught widely in the School of English, in the School of Divinity, and in the School of Modern Languages in the Department of Comparative Literature. John held a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the School of English, Drama, and Film at University College Dublin. He was also Postdoctoral Researcher in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. John’s teaching and research interests span Old and Middle English, Old Norse, Latin, Old Saxon, and Gothic literatures, languages, and intellectual cultures.
John has written articles on scientific knowledge in biblical commentaries, encyclopaedic notes, sacred history, textual criticism, the thought of the Church Fathers, the Old English Martyrology, and Anglo-Latin poetry. His book projects include a multi-volume edition of the Old English Bible, a monograph entited Textual Variation and Biblical Authority in Early Medieval England, and a co-edited collection on Easter in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
John is the Assistant Editor of the Fontes Anglo-Saxonici database, the most comprehensive register of sources for Old English and Anglo-Latin literature and which is hosted by St Andrews. John has been a Visiting Researcher at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. John is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a Member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and a member of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, the Oxford Medieval Commentary Network, and the Oxford Psalms Network.
Research Interests
Biblical exegesis and textual-criticism; translation and literary adaptation; source criticism; religious poetry; cosmology and eschatology; computus and the calendar; medieval hermeneutics; liturgy; homiletics; classical reception; digital humanities.
Teaching Activity
John has taught widely on modules spanning medieval, renaissance, and modern literature, as well as on various modules in Divinity and also in Comparative Literature.
Public Engagement
John has lectured on medieval topics and delivered manuscript workshops with the University of St Andrews Open Association. He has also taught on a number of summer school programmes with the International Education Institute at the University of St Andrews.
Selected publications
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Biblical-textual criticism in Bede's commentary on Genesis
Gallagher, J., 27 Jun 2023, Bede the scholar. Darby, P. & MacCarron, M. (eds.). Manchester: University of Manchester Press, p. 198-222 25 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Rewriting the psalter: classical poetics and late Antique stylistics in Bede’s metrical psalms
Gallagher, J., 2023, (Accepted/In press) The Anglo-Latin poetic tradition: sources, transmission, and reception. Curran, C. M. (ed.). Arc Humanities PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Bede's changing eschatological identity
Gallagher, J., 2022, (Accepted/In press) Proceedings of the First Conference on Medieval Eschatology at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Sanmartin et al., I. (ed.). Sociedad Española de Estudios MedievalesResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Liturgy and learning: the encyclopaedic function of the Old English Martyrology
Gallagher, J., 10 Mar 2022, In: Religions. 13, 3, 23 p., 236.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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"Streams of wholesome learning": the waters of Genesis in early Anglo-Saxon exegesis
Gallagher, J. J., 1 Jan 2021, Meanings of water in early medieval England. Anlezark, D. & Twomey, C. (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, p. 167–190 24 p. (Studies in the early Middle Ages; vol. 47).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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History, Eschatology, and the Development of the Six Ages of the World: Part I, from Antiquity to Tyconius
Gallagher, J., 31 May 2021, In: Augustinianum. 61, 1, p. 181–206 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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History, Eschatology, and the Development of the Six Ages of the World: Part II, from Tyconius to Bede
Gallagher, J., Dec 2021, In: Augustinianum. 61, 2, p. 361-380 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Textual variance and biblical authority in early medieval England
Gallagher, J., 2021, (In preparation)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Open access
The Six Ages of the World and Biblical Genealogy in Anglo-Saxon Encyclopaedic Notes
Gallagher, J. J., Sept 2021, In: Neophilologus. 105, 3, p. 437–455Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Encyclopaedic Notes in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 320
Gallagher, J. J., 2020, Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age. Henley, G., Treharne, E. & Albritton, B. (eds.). Abingdon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 100-111 (Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter