1. EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM: STUDIES

 

William Harmless, Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $35.  The 4th- and 5th-century Desert Christians of Egypt captured the imagination of the ancient world, creating and inspiring various classics of Western spirituality.  This study introduces readers to key texts, such as the Lives of Antony and Pachomius and the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.  It also examines the pioneers of monastic theology, Evagrius Ponticus and John Cassian.  Geared to a wide audience.  It has opening chapters that survey the geography, politics, and religious world of Christian Egypt.  Interspersed in each chapter are a variety of maps, diagrams, and images to help readers sort through the key texts and the rich-textured world of early monasticism.  Readers are also given a taste of the path-breaking discoveries of and sharp debates among contemporary scholars.

 

John Binns, Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: the Monasteries of Palestine, 314-631, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $35.

Elizabeth Bolman, ed., Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony in Egypt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002) hardcover, $65.

David Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006) hardcover, $50.  NEW.

Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988) paperback, $16.

David Brakke, Athanasius and Asceticism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998) paperback, $23.

Peter Brown, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982) paperback, $25.  See especially the classic essay, “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity.”

Douglas Burton-Christie, The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism (New York: Oxford, 1993) paperback, $35.

Elizabeth A. Clark, The Origenist Controversy: The Cultural Construction of an Early Christian Debate (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) hardcover.

Derwas Chitty, The Desert A City (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1966).  A classic.

Andrew T. Crislip, From Monastery to Hospital: Christian Monasticism and the Transformation of Health Care in Late Antiquity (University of Michigan, 2005) hardcover, $70. NEW.

Marilyn Dunn, The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages (London: Blackwell, 2000) paperback, $32.

H. Evelyn-White, The Monasteries of Wadi ‘n Natrûn, Part Two: The History of the Monasteries of Nitria and of Scetis (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 1932).  Dated, but brilliant.

James E. Goehring, Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999) paperback, $25.

Graham E. Gould, The Desert Fathers on Monastic Community, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) hardcover.

Antoine Guillaumont, Aux origenes du monachisme chrétien: Pour une phénoménologie du monachisme, Spiritualité orientale 30 (Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1979).  Brilliant essays.

Antoine Guillaumont, Études sur la spiritualité de l’Orient chrétien, Spiritualité Orientale 66 (Bégrolles en Mauges, France: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1996).

William Harmless, “Remembering Poemen Remembering: The Desert Fathers & the Spirituality of Memory,” Church History 69 (2000) 483-518.

William Harmless & Raymond R. Fitzgerald, “The Sapphire Light of the Mind: The Skemmata of Evagrius Ponticus,” Theological Studies 62 (2001) 493-529.

Irénée Hausherr, Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East, CS 116, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990; original French edition, 1955).

Yizhar Hirschfeld, The Judean Monasteries in the Byzantine Period (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).

Augustine Holmes, A Life Pleasing to God: The Spirituality of the Rules of St. Basil, Cistercian Studies 189 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000) paperback, $20.

Cornelia B. Horn, Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine: The Career of Peter the Iberian, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) hardcover, $175.  NEW.

Juan María Laboa, ed., The Historical Atlas of Eastern and Western Christian Monasticism (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003) hardcover, $100. Great photos; weak text.

Joseph Patrich, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism: A Comparative Study in Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1995).

Samuel Rubenson, The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995) paperback, $19.  A controversial revisionist view.

Tomas Spidlik, The Spirituality of the Christian East: A Systematic Handbook, Cistercian Studies 79 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1986) paperback, $25.

Columba Stewart, “Monasticism,” in Philip E. Esler, The Early Christian World (New York: Routledge, 2000) 1:344-366.  A fine brief overview.

Columba Stewart, “Imageless Prayer and the Theological Vision of Evagrius Ponticus,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 (2001) 173-204.

Benedicta Ward, “Traditions of Spiritual Guidance: Spiritual Direction in the Desert Fathers,” Signs and Wonders: Saints, Miracles, and Prayers from the 4th Century to the 14th (London: Variorum Reprints, 1992).

Vincent L. Wimbush and Richard Valantasis, ed., Asceticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) paperback, $35.

 

 2. EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM: TEXTS

 

Athanasius, The Life of Anthony, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist Press, 1980) paperback, $19.  This was one of the great religious best-sellers of ancient world and popularized the desert ideal throughout the ancient world.  This work would shape all later lives of the saints.

 

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection [Apophthegmata Patrum] trans. Benedicta Ward, Cistercian Studies 59 (Kalamazoo, WI: Cistercian Publications, 1984) paperback, $13.  This is the so-called Apophthegmata Patrum (“Sayings of the Fathers”), fascinating anecdotes about and one-liners from the simple, unlearned, and often eccentric leaders of the early desert movement.  The Apophthegmata has come down to us in two basic forms: the Alphabetical Collection and the Systematic Collection.  The Alphabetical gathers the various stories and sayings under the names of prominent monks and arranges these according to the Greek alphabet.  This version contains some 1,000 sayings or brief narratives, grouped under the names of over 130 “abbas.”

 

The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks [=Verba Seniorum of Pelagius and John] Penguin Classics, trans. Benedicta Ward (London: Penguin Books: 2003) paperback, $15.  In addition to the Alphabetical Collection (above), there is also the so-called Systematic Collection.  It contains many of the same sayings and stories, but gathers them under 21 different headings or themes: for instance, “quiet” (hesychia), “compunction,” “discernment,” “unceasing prayer,” “hospitality,” “humility,” “great seers.”  In the mid-6^th century, an early version of this Systematic Collection was translated from Greek into Latin by two Roman clerics, the deacon Pelagius and the subdeacon John (who perhaps became the later Popes Pelagius and John).  This edition would deeply touch the spirituality of Western monasticism.

 

Armand Veilleux, ed., Pachomian Koinonia: the Lives, Rules, and Other Writings of Saint Pachomius, Cistercian Studies 45-47 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1980-1982) paperback, $15 per volume.  Pachomius has often been described as the “inventor” of the monastery.  This brilliant edition includes translations of both the Greek and Coptic Life of Pachomius, as well as documents from Pachomius himself and his early successors, Theodore and Horsiesius.  This collection, translating sources from Greek, Sahidic Coptic, Bohairic Coptic, Latin, is a staggering scholarly achievement.

 

Robert E. Sinkewicz, Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) NEW in paperback, $45.  Evagrius was a friend of the Cappadocians Fathers and would become the first great theoretician of the spiritual life.  He stressed the centrality of wordless, imageless prayer, and his writings display a fondness for brief, oracular sayings.  Within a year of his death, his friends and disciples—Palladius, Cassian, Rufinus—would be persecuted as “Origenists” and run out of Egypt.  Evagrius was condemned 150 years later, and his works circulated anonymously.  The first attempt by a single translator to make the bulk of Evagrius’ writings available to the English-speaking public.

 

Richard Valantasis, ed., Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) paperback, $27.

Vincent L. Wimbush, ed., Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), hardcover, $50.  Translations of valuable, but hard-to-find sources.

 

 3. JOHN CASSIAN: TEXTS & STUDIES

 

Columba Stewart, Cassian the Monk (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback, $25.  Cassian probably did more than anyone else to translate the desert experience for the West.  Following his teacher, Evagrius Ponticus, he stressed wordless prayer and the mystical journey of the soul.  St. Benedict, in his Rule, would make Cassian’s memoirs required reading in all his monasteries.  This is a superb in-depth of Cassian’s spirituality.

 

John Cassian, The Conferences, trans. Boniface Ramsey, Ancient Christian Writers 57 (New York: Paulist Press, 1997) hardcover, $45.  These are Cassian’s (somewhat fictionalized) reminiscences of his interviews with the Desert Fathers—written some 20 years after leaving Egypt for southern France.  The first complete translation in a century.  A good translation by Colm Luibheid of about 1/3 of the Conferences is also available in the Classics of Western Spirituality series.

 

John Cassian, The Institutes, trans. Boniface Ramsey, Ancient Christian Writers 58 (New York: Paulist Press, 2000) hardcover, $35.  Cassian’s summary of the guiding principles of Eastern (and mostly Egyptian) monasticism.  This includes a long section on what would become the “Seven Deadly Sins”—an analysis Cassian derives from Evagrius.  This new translation is the first one in over a century.

 

A.M.C. Casiday, Tradition and Theology in St. John Cassian, Oxford Early Christian Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) hardcover, $99.  NEW.

Conrad Leyser, Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great, Oxford Historical Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover, $70.

Conrad Leyser, “Semi-Pelagianism,” in Allan Fitzgerald, ed., Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999) 761-766.

Columba Stewart, “The Monastic Journey According to John Cassian,” Word and Spirit 19 (1993) 29-40; reprinted in Everett Ferguson, Forms of Devotion: Conversion, Worship, Spirituality, and Asceticism (New York: Garland, 1999) 311-322.

Aldabert de Vogüé, Histoire littéraire du mouvement monastique dans l’antiquité (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1991-1997) 4 vol. to date.

Rebecca Harden Weaver, Divine Grace and Human Agency: A Study of the Semi-Pelagian Controversy, Patristic Monograph Series 15 (Macon GA: Mercer University Press, 1996) paperback, $18.

 

 4. BENEDICT & MEDIEVAL MONASTICISM: TEXTS & STUDIES

 

RB 1980: the Rule of Benedict (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1980) paperback, $20.  Benedict’s Rule has served as the basis for Western monasticism for 1500 years.  A work of spiritual and practical genius, notable for its humanity and its moderation (obvious when compared with its sources).  This is the best translation and has the Latin text on facing pages. 

 

C.H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life Western Europe in the Middle Ages, 3rd edition (New York: Longman, 2000) paperback, $30.  A very good survey of the monastic movement from the Desert Fathers to the end of the Middle Ages.  It is broader than the title implies since he includes chapters on the Franciscans and Dominicans.  A vast area covered with clarity and precision. 

 

Janet Burton, Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain, 1000-1300, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994) paperback, $26.

Noreen Hunt, Cluny Under Saint Hugh, 1049-1109 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968).

Terrence G. Kardong, Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998) hardcover, $50.

David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England: A History of its Development from the Time of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 940-1216 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1949).  A classic, but dated.

Jean Leclerq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God (New York: Fordham University Press, 1961) paperback, $20. A classic. Differentiates monastic from scholastic theology.

John Nightingale, Monasteries and Patrons in the Gorze Reform: Lotharingia, c. 850-1000, Oxford Historical Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) hardcover.

Columba Stewart, Prayer and Community: The Benedictine Tradition, Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998) paperback, $15.

Bruce L. Venarde, Women’s Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999) paperback, $20.

Adalbert de Vogüé, The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary, Cistercian Studies 54, trans. John Baptist Hasbrouck (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1983).

Adalbert de Vogüé, Community and Abbot in the Rule of Saint Benedict, 2 vol. (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979, 1988).

 

 5. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX & THE CISTERCIANS: STUDIES

 

Étienne Gilson, The Mystical Theology of St. Bernard, Cistercian Studies 120 (reprint of 1940 edition: Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1992).  Bernard of Clairvaux (1190-1253) was the leader of the reform of Citeaux—what eventually became the Cistercian Order.  He was also one of the great analysts of the degrees of mystical love, a polemical opponent of Peter Abelard, and a respectful, but harsh critic of papal overreaching.  While dated, this classic study does a great job of illuminating the cornerstone of Bernard’s mysticism: that the human person possesses an inner nobility, a dignity that comes from being made in the image and likeness of God.

 

Bernard McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism: 500 to 1200 A.D. (New York: Crossroad, 1994) paperback, $25.  McGinn is the leading contemporary historian of Christian spirituality, and this second volume of his multi-volume history of mysticism has won wide acclaim.  He devotes nearly 200 pages to Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, and other key Cistercian mystics.

 

Constance Hoffman Berman, The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe, Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000) hardcover, $60.  An important revisionist account of the founding of the Cistercian.  She skillfully debunks the tendency of older scholars to attribute the rapid growth of the Cistercians to the singular achievement of Bernard.  She illustrates the complex way older monasteries became affiliated with the Cistercians.

 

Adriaan H. Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux: Between Cult and History (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997) paperback, $30.

Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California, 1982) paperback, $19.  Essays on Cistercian spirituality.

Michael Casey, Athirst for God: Spiritual Desire in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermons on the Song of Songs, Cistercian Studies 77 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1988).

Anselme Dimier, Stones Laid Before the Lord: Architecture and Monastic Life, Cistercian Studies 152 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1999) paperback, $16.

G.R. Evans, Bernard of Clairvaux, Great Medieval Thinkers Series (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $25.

James France, Medieval Images of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Studies 210(Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2006) hardcover, $50.  NEW.

Terryl N. Kinder, Cistercian Europe: Architecture of Contemplation, Cistercian Studies 191 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2001) hardcover, $70.

Terryl N. Kinder, The Architecture of Silence: The Cistercian Abbeys of France (Henry Abrams, 2000) hardcover, $60.

Jean Leclerq, Bernard of Clairvaux and the Cistercian Spirit, Cistercian Studies 16, trans. Claire Lavoie  (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1976).

Louis J. Lekai, The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1977).

John R. Sommerfledt, The Spiritual Teachings of Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian Studies 125  (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1991).  Part-anthology, part-commentary.

John R. Sommerfledt, ed., Bernardus Magister: Papers Presented at the Nonacentenary Celebration of the Birth of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1992).

Esther de Waal, The Way of Simplicity: The Cistercian Tradition, Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998) paperback, $14.

 

 6. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX & THE CISTERCIANS: TEXTS

 

The critical edition of the Latin text of Bernard’s writings is the 8-volume Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. J. Leclerq, C.H. Talbot, and H. Rocahis (Rome, 1957-1977), usually abbreviated “SBO.”  Much of it is now available in the Sources chrétiennes series, which includes the Latin with a French translation on facing pages. Cistercian Publications has published translations of Bernard’s writings as well as those of his Cistercian friends and followers.

 

Bernard of Clairvaux, Selected Works, Classics of Western Spirituality, trans. G.R. Evans (New York: Paulist Press, 1987) paperback, $22.  The great leader of the reform of Citeaux (the Cistercians); one of the great analysts of the degrees of mystical love; also the polemical opponent of Abelard and a respectful, but harsh critic of papal overreaching.  This is a good selection of his works.

 

Bernard of Clairvaux, Five Books of Consideration: Advice to a Pope, Cistercian Fathers 37, trans. John D. Anderson & Elizabeth T. Keenan (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976).

Bernard of Clairvaux, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cistercian Fathers 18A, trans. Marie-Bernard Said (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979 / 1993).

Bernard of Clairvaux, Apologia to Abbot William: Cistercians and Cluniacs, Cistercian Fathers 1A, trans. Michael Casey  (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1970).

Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 4 vol., Cistercian Fathers Series, trans. Kilian Walsh (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1980) $12 per volume.

Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God, Cistercian Fathers 13B, trans. Emero Stiegman (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1996) paperback, $14.

Bernard of Clairvaux, On Baptism and the Office of Bishops, trans. Pauline Matarasso, Cistercian Fathers series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press / Cistercian Publication, 2005) paperback, $25. 

Bernard of Clairvaux, The Parables and the Sentences, CF 55, trans. Michael Casey & Francis R. Swietek (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2000) paperback, $20.

Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Advent and the Christmas Season, trans. Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Beckett, Conrad Greenia, Cistercian Fathers series (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press / Cistercian Publications, 2008) hardcover, $35.  NEW.

William of St. Thierry, The Golden Epistle: A Letter to the Brethren at Mont Dieu, Cistercian Fathers 12, Cistercian (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1973).

Dennis Martin, ed., Carthusian Spirituality: The Writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1997) .

Pauline Matarusso, ed., The Cistercian World: Monastic Writings of the 12th Century (New York: Penguin Books, 1993) paperback, $16.

 

 

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