PINEDA, JUAN de. — Spanish exegete, born in 1558 at Seville, died there in 1637. A Jesuit from 1572, even before his ordination he lectured on Aristotle at Granada and then at Seville.
As a priest, he expounded Aquinas for two years at Seville, then became professor of exegesis in the colleges of Seville and Cordova and in the Imperial College of Madrid. Possessed of extraordinary erudition for his time, he knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac well. He was appointed by the Spanish Inquisition, together with others, to compile the Index expurgatorius of prohibited books (in 1612 and again in 1632); in 1628 he was appointed general reviewer of all the libraries and bookshops of Spain. He died rector of the college of Seville. He should not be confused with the theologian of the same name, who was not a Jesuit and died at Medina del Campo in 1587. P. is one of the greatest luminaries of the golden age of Baroque exegesis. His commentaries, though very widely circulated, possess qualities admired by everyone, including Protestants: with outstanding erudition, he gathers the interpretations of earlier exegesis and examines them calmly and critically; he then explains the text according to the rules of philology; he is inexhaustible in comparing the sacred text with what he knew of the customs and life of antiquity; he sets forth the theological and moral conclusions, especially in excursuses scattered throughout the commentary; nor does he neglect other questions, such as those of textual criticism.
His works, lucid in form and furnished with extensive indexes, enjoyed immense success. The best is Commentarii in librum Iob (2 vols., Madrid 1597–1601, etc.). Other works: Praelectio sacra in Cantica Canticorum (Seville 1602); Commentarii in Ecclesiasten (2 vols., there 1612); Ad suos in Salomonem commentarios Salomon praevius, sive de rebus Salomonis regis (Lyons 1619); he also wrote sermons in Spanish, especially on the Immaculate Conception.