This interdisciplinary collection sets the cultural transformation of early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England in the context of its inheritance from Late Antiquity and engagement with the wider Medieval world. Honoring the work of Jennifer O Reilly, this exciting volume brings together new research on a range of patristic and medieval texts and visual materials. It testifies to the imaginative ways in which scholars and artists in these islands assimilated and creatively re-interpreted the Christian and Mediterranean culture they encountered through the coming of Christianity.The book is divided into three sections. The first section, "Inheritance and Transmission," sets the scene with contributions examining the interplay of Classical and Christian "topoi" in Late Antique texts; continental commentators appropriation of patristic ideas both directly and through Irish and Anglo-Saxon intermediaries; the representation of Ireland in English and Continental sources. The second section, "Monasticism in the Age of Bede," focuses initially on Bede as heresiologist, exegete, martyrologist and historian, addressing issues that include the cult of saints, reform, and the representation of women. These themes are continued in the section s other papers; views of conception and birth, the cult of St Gregory the Great, and the understanding of scripture in Adomnan s Life of Columba. The third section, "Exegesis and the Language of Pictures," explores the visual representation of scriptural exegesis in Insular sculpture and illuminated manuscripts. A number of papers survey the iconography of secular portrait figures, damnation, the beard, and the representation of cherubim and seraphim. Others consider the meaning and symbolism of particular Insular artworks such as the Ruthwell cross, the Book of Kells and Boulogne MS 10."