Brian O. Murdoch

Who is Brian O. Murdoch?

Brian O. Murdoch is Emeritus professor of German at the University of Stirling, Scotland. He is best known for his work on the Medieval popular Bible, a term which he coined.

Murdoch's earliest work is concerned with the Altdeutsche Genesis and other German Adam Books, later exploring the same theme in other vernaculars. In several hundred published works he established the centrality of the "popular" understanding of the "protoplasts" in far wider areas of medieval thought than had hitherto been appreciated. He demonstrated that an awareness of Adam motifs allows an entirely new reading of some of the classics of medieval literature, most notably Hartmann's Gregorius. The broader impact of these studies has been to raise awareness of vernacular Bible traditions in many aspects of Medieval Studies.

Murdoch is also known for his work on Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front.