Religious communities and monasticism Books

Book SynopsisAround the year 500 St Benedict wrote a short guide for a small community who wanted to live together the balanced life of body, mind and spirit. The Rule of St Benedict became not only the foundational guide for monastic life in the West, but remains a potent spiritual resource that speaks authentically to countless individuals today. Fr Laurence Freeman OSB has described the text as the most important document for Christian living after the Bible. In this reflective commentary, Esther de Waal recognises the profoundly scriptural emphasis of St Benedict’s writings. She shows how his Rule may be read personally and prayerfully by people such as herself seeking practical encouragement and support in their following of Christ.Trade Review‘Esther de Waal reminds us that St Benedict was, in fact, a lay person. So the value of this book is that Esther is a lay person writing for lay people about what is the core of Benedictine spirituality. I believe she has done something very important for all of us.’ -- Cardinal Basil Hume‘Through the writings of Esther de Waal over the years, many people have been led into the heart and mind of St Benedict... This new edition brings out the overall shape of Benedict’s Rule with refreshing clarity. Monks, nuns and laity will all enjoy the insights of this thoughtful commentary.’ -- Christopher Jamison

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Book SynopsisIn this collection Mary, the mother of Jesus, goes for a contemplative skate on a frozen pond where 'praises piggyback until her soul topples over', and John the Baptist tries to explain his purpose to a very perplexed Senator and chairman of the board. These are personal and universal, imaginative and biblically rooted reflections.

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Book SynopsisCarmelite spirituality is a way of life that spells Freedom. Rooted in the experience of the desert mothers and fathers who sought God in solitude, it can accommodate many temperaments and approaches. The primary focus is on Finding the way of prayer that will bring you closest to God. This warm and engaging book introduces six great Carmelite Figures and their individual ways of prayer. Let Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, Brother Lawrence, Therese of Lisieux and others help you discover the pathway to authentic spiritual growth.

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Book SynopsisA new edition of this contemporary spirtitual classic in which the ancient and gentle wisdom of the Rule of St Benedict is explored in realtion to the demands of modern living and the importance of balance between prayer, work and study.

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Book SynopsisMany people today are looking to the ancient discipline of following a rule of life to strengthen their sense of living in Christ. In 49 short chapters this wise and gentle rule from the Society of St John the Evangelist provides practical guidance.

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive manual is aimed especially at oblates and associates of Benedictine communities, those who regularly spend retreats or quiet days in Benedictine centres and all those who want to order their life to be more in tune with Benedictine spirituality. The book contains: the text of the Rule of St Benedict; an introduction to the essentials of Benedictine spirituality; a simple daily office and other Benedictine prayers; a "who's who" introducing us to 100 Benedictine saints and followers; a guide to living the Rule in the world and community and a tour of the Benedictine family worldwide. Many notable authors have contributed to this volume which is designed to last a lifetime. They include Esther de Waal, Columba Stewart, Kathleen Norris and Patrick Barry.

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Book SynopsisThe world, the Church and our personal lives are full of conflict - opposing demands pull us in all directions. This book presents the wisdom of Benedict, which shows how ambiguity and uncertainty can be transformative and healing.Trade Review'If you don't have this book, get it - it is full of wisdom and depth.' Nirvard Kinsella, Prior of Rosecrea Abbey, in Hallel magazine -- Nirvard Kinsella * Hallel Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThe Rule of St Benedict, just 9000 words long and written 1500 years ago, has proved to be one of the most timeless, influential and lasting of all texts. Its realism about human character, its extraordinary practical wisdom and its original recipe for creating a work/life balance have made it famous way beyond the monastic communities whose lives it has shaped for centuries. Today many secular people are finding that the Rule makes sense of their lives too. This book simply consists of the Rule in a modern language and an introduction to the seven basic elements of Benedictine spirituality.Trade Review'New readers will find this style accessible and discover that we can still learn much from St Benedict's grasp of the human psyche. Those familiar with earlier translations will be grateful for the freshness of the language found here.' -- Esther De Waal * TLS *'A useful Book for Readers leading study groups.' -- Christine McMullen * The Reader *

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Book SynopsisMuch of today's fascination with and attraction to the Rule of St. Benedict can be attributed to John Main, a Benedictine monk, who first saw that this rule of life for monastic communities could be relevant for Christian living in the secular world. He founded a community of lay people who shared his vision and from this small beginning has grown. The World Community for Christian Meditation which today is active in numerous countries around the world and has thousands of members and associates. Its work, and its emphasis on meditation, derives directly from the Benedictine focus on prayer and lectio divina or holy reading. Right up to the end of his life in 1982, John Main wrote a series of remarkable letters of spiritual direction to WCCM's growing family. Two collections have previously been published and are now out of print and the complete letters are now published in this single volume. Together they constitute a volume of remarkable spiritual wisdom and insight, as fresh and relevant for today as when they were first written.

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Book SynopsisIn 2003, a story shook the Anglican world in general and Anglican monastic life in particular. On August 8th, seven members of The Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican order of Christian brothers living a simple and prayerful life and known for their peace work throughout the South Pacific and beyond, were brutally murdered as a result of ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands. They had been taken hostage five months earlier. The Melanesian Brotherhood is the largest Anglican religious community in the world with over 300 brothers and more than 300 novices and has received a United Nations award for its peace work. From 1990-2005, Richard Carter, a British priest, was tutor, chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood, eventually becoming a brother himself. This extraordinary, powerful and moving book is based on his diaries from that agonizing time for the Community. It tells the harrowing story of the loss of seven good, young and holy lives and the aftermath of those deaths. It tells the story of individuals and a community trying to make sense of faith in the face of fierce conflict and tragedy. It recounts the challenge of living out the Christian faith when confronted by great fear and loss. It is thus a story for everyman. Rowan Williams writes a preface.Trade Review'This is a brave and intimate account of war, tragedy and redemption in the South Pacific. With In Search of the Lost, Richard Carter bears witness to a nation's descent into chaos and violence, but he also charts its salvation through the sacrifices of a heroic community of Christian monks. Carter documents the colliding violence and beauty of his island world with disarming honesty and grace. Infused with prayer and rich with detail, this occasionally devastating story is a testament to the power of faith to lead individuals and nations back to the light.' -- Charles Montgomery'This wonderful book brings to life the vision of the Melanesian Brotherhood, the struggle to make sense of the sacrifice and trauma of these last years, trauma for the Brothers and for the whole community of the Solomons, the overflowing joy of their witness and their freedom to communicate across cultures with confidence and vigour.' -- Rowan Williams'Richard Carter's account of the martyrdom of the seven members of the Melanesian Brotherhood is deeply moving. His account of how the brothers lived through and beyond this tragedy is profoundly honest, never flinching in his description of the pain and the moments of uncertainty. It is the story of the triumph of hope over despair and of God's creative grace over destruction. This creativity is evident in the marvellous way in which the parables of Jesus come alive, re-enacted by the Brothers as part of their preaching. We are also carried through the darkness and beyond by poetry and song. This book will make you weep and laugh, and strengthen your faith.' -- Timothy Radcliffe OP'This moving and powerful account documents the challenge of how to make sense of and live out the Christian faith when there is conflict, fear, trauma and tragic loss and sacrifice - a journey which in some form every Christian has to make.' * Fairacres Chronicle *'A riveting true-life tale of inter-ethnic violence and of the Christian peacemakers who intervened and paid the ultimate price ... At every stage of the Revd Carter's narrative - whether of internal tensions, external threats, tragedy and trauma, through to a resurrection of faith and strengthened mission - it is evident that the Brotherhood's journey is a walk with Christ.' -- Paul Winter

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Book SynopsisThis essential companion for all pilgrims and visitors covers all the principal sites on the island of Iona - one of world's most visited holy places. Every Wednesday, there is a pilgrimage around the island and this guide follows its route, stopping at all the principal sites to reflect on the island's history rooted in Celtic spirituality, and to pray for the needs of the world.

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Book SynopsisWe take it for granted that aspects of monastic life can sustain our daily lives in the world, but we owe this understanding to John Main, a Benedictine monk who pioneered the idea that the desert tradition of meditative or contemplative prayer, which had largely been forgotten in the West, was for all Christians. At his monastery in London, he started teaching this way of prayer to lay groups and a network of meditation groups came into being, quickly spreading throughout the world and renewing a sense of the Church as a fellowship rooted in prayer and contemplative action. Bestselling books soon grew out of his talks. This simple, practical guide to 'pure prayer' teaches that by ceasing to struggle to find words and images by which we all too easily try to control God, we give God freedom to be himself in our hearts and we begin to pray with 'the mind of Christ', as St Paul teaches. In a nervous world saturated with image and endless self-commentary, this is a nourishing, life-giving stream of hope and refreshment.

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Book SynopsisEsther de Waal draws on the ancient traditions of Celtic and monastic spirituality to explore thresholds between people, between cultures, between the human and the divine. Ancient spiritual wisdom teaches that thresholds are sacred places and Esther encourages readers to become more receptive to their surroundings and to learn to pause, reflect and meet God at the places of encounter and change in our lives.

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Book SynopsisContains biographies of three great Mahayana masters, sixty-five Chinese nuns from the fourth to sixth centuries, and an account of the life and travels in South Asia of the fifth-century Chinese monk, Faxian.

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Book SynopsisThis extraordinary story takes the reader from the rice fields of Vietnam to the peaceful surrounding of Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in Plum Village where Sister Dang Nghiem took refuge. There she gained a deep understanding of the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness forged in the fire of her own life experience. Ordained as a nun by Thich Nhat Hanh, who gave her the name "Dang Nghiem," (adornment with nondiscrimination) Healing shows how the insights gained by her personal experiences now enable Sister Dang Nghiem to become a support and resource for others. With humor, insight, and an irrepressible sense of joy, Sister Dang Nghiem story demonstrates how one woman’s unique path can provide clarity and guidance for everyone.Foreword by Thich Nhat Hanh

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Book SynopsisA study of the involvement of the Cistercian Order in the events surrounding the outbreak of heresy - particularly that of the Cathars and the resulting Albigensian Crusade - in southern France. Led by the example of Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian monks turned their attention to the world outside the monastery walls in response to the threat posed by heretical Christians, in particular the Cathars. The white monks, withother intellectuals, turned to pen, pulpit and popular preaching to counteract heresy, some accepting posts as bishops and papal legates, helping and even directing the Albigensian crusade, and contributing to the formulation ofprocedures for inquisition. Kienzle examines this important but little-studied aspect of Cistercian history to discover how and why the Order undertook endeavours that drew the monks outside their monastic vocation. The analysis of texts about the preaching campaigns and their contexts illuminate the ways in which medieval monastic authors perceived heresy, preached, and wrote against it. Professor BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE teaches at Harvard Divinity School.Trade ReviewLearned and thoughtful. HISTORY * A particularly helpful introduction to a group of key issues in twelfth-century history still inadequately recognised. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsAppendix to introduction: deconstructing - close reading, rhetorical criticism, and historiography of persecution and heresy. The Lord's vineyard in the 12th century; monastic spirituality and literature - the domestic vineyard; Bernard of Clairvaux, the 1143/44 sermons and the 1145 preaching mission - from the domestic to the Lord's vineyard; Henry of Clairvaux, the 1178 and 1181 missions, and the campaign against the Waldensians - driving the foxes from the vineyard; Innocent III's papacy and the Crusade years, 1198-1229 - weeding the vineyard; Helinand of Froidmont and the events of 1229 - planting virtues in the vineyard.

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Book SynopsisTraces the part of the rooting system which derives from the founding of the Iona Community in Scotland in the 1930's as an aid to understanding in terms of historical roots, distinctive features and experiences of struggle the significance of these communities.

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Book SynopsisThis new edition of Norman Shanks' book (previously published by Hodder & Stoughton) is an outstanding introduction and guide to the spirituality, concerns and activities of the Iona Community, by a former Leader of the Community. A new chapter has been added to bring the book up to date. What is it that interests so many people in the work of the Iona Community and draws thousands of visitors each year to the tiny island of Iona? Apart from its magical beauty and sense of timelessness, one reason is to imbibe the spirituality of the Community. Norman Shanks shows how the Community, in its work on Iona and elsewhere, has developed an integrated vision which is rooted in everyday living. It is committed to peace-making and action on social issues; the breaking down of barriers between those of different faiths and styles of faith; and the development of new, relevant ways to worship. The Community's understanding of spirituality underpins its guest programme at the Abbey and MacLeod Centre on Iona and at Camas adventure centre on Mull, in which over a hundred guests take part each week. It also informs the work of the Community's members and staff throughout Britain and beyond. For those who want to apply an integrated, engaged and inclusive approach to spirituality in their own lives, this book is an inspiring and relevant resource.

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Book SynopsisKathy Galloway offers a series of reflections on living by the Rule of the Iona Community, exploring its history, inner life and public witness. They arise from her conviction that 'the Rule is, for us, a source of freedom and, in its outworking, contains something of our prophetic edge. It is not so much that I keep the Rule, as that the Rule keep

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Book SynopsisFirst full-scale survey and examination of liturgical practice and its fundamental changes over four centuries. At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily "hours of prayer" or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the "monastic revival" in the tenth century. Going beyond both the hagiographic "Benedictine" assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine "Roman" monasticliturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and Æthelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the "Benedictine Reform". Jesse D. Billett is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto.Trade ReviewMagisterial . . . This excellently written book should be in your library, or even on your shelf, because it has so much detail in its pages that you may find yourself referring back to it often. It is, in short, a very well-written book with succinct and clear conclusions filled with erudite and scholarly analysis, but still accessible to those of us who know less about liturgy. * JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY *The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England has earned itself a place of honor alongside Pfaff's The Liturgy in Medieval England and The Liturgical Books of Anglo Saxon England on the liturgical bookshelf. Students of the English liturgy will be starting from Billett's new narrative for years to come. * WORSHIP *Jesse Billett has produced a truly magisterial work on the development of the Divine Office throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. * SPECULUM *Billett has achieved a major piece of scholarship, and it should be circulated as widely as possible. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *This is a book not only for specialists in liturgical history but also for anyone interested in the varieties of Anglo-Saxon religious life. Because Billett writes so accessibly about even the most technical aspects of his subject, the results of his important research should reach a wide audience. * CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW *The author uses extensive documentation to craft a narrative that steers away from some of the traditional simplification that assumed all monks, from Augustine of Canterbury on, were Benedictine and thus the liturgical prayer was also. * AMERICAN MONASTIC NEWSLETTER *Table of ContentsTowards a 'New Narrative' of the History of the Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England The Divine Office in the Latin West in the Early Middle Ages The Divine Office in England from the Augustinian Mission to the First Viking Invasions, 597 - c.835 The Divine Office in England from the first Viking age to the abbacy of Dunstan at Glastonbury, c.835 - c.940 The Divine Office and the Tenth-Century English Benedictine Reform A Methodology for the Study of Anglo-Saxon Chant Books for the Office Two Witnesses to the Chant of the Secular Office in England in the Tenth Century A Fragment of a Tenth-Century English Benedictine 'Breviary' A Fragment of a Tenth-Century English Benedictine Chant Book Conclusion: Ways of Making a Benedictine Office Appendices Bibliography Index of Manuscripts Index of Liturgical Forms

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Book SynopsisEdition of documents from a Gilbertine "double house" of monks and nuns reveals much about religious life at the time. Alvingham Priory (founded in 1155), situated just to the north-east of Louth in Lincolnshire, was one of the famous Gilbertine houses of the county: double houses of monks and nuns following the rule of St Gilbert of Sempringham.Its cartulary, created circa 1264, contains over 1,300 entries. Most are copies of charters granting lands, property, rents and privileges, but it also includes genealogies of benefactors, valuations of the priory's property, memoranda and accounts of disputes. Many documents record the names of those who entered the community as nuns or canons, or who were associating themselves with it by requests for confraternity or burial, throwing light on the way inwhich local families interacted with the priory and with each other. Meanwhile, the details of lands granted to the priory provide information about local land-holders, field- and place-names, farming practices and the various activities which supported the religious community. Although its holdings were scattered across north-east Lincolnshire, from Conesby to Boston and from Lincoln to Saltfleetby, much of the priory's property was located in the low-lying lands east of Louth, and its charters demonstrate the importance of the area's waterways, bridges, ditches and banks, not just as geographical boundaries but as resources to be exploited, maintained and, importantly, to be shared in a harmonious way by the local community, religious and lay. The documents are presented here with introduction and notes. Jill Redford gained her PhD at the University of York and is assistant archivist tothe Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York.Trade ReviewUndoubtedly valuable.and a prime example of very thorough and competent work. * SEHEPUNKTE *Table of ContentsPreface Bibliography Introduction Editorial Method The Cartulary Glossary Appdenices Index

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Book SynopsisA discussion of the Sangha, or spiritual community, one of the three highest ideals of Buddhism. Sangharakshita presents the ideal Sangha as a free association between developing individuals. As Sangha is about friendships, he includes discussion of the individual's relationship with others.

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Book SynopsisA Gazetteer Guide to the churches and Commanderies of the Knights of St John as they were at the moment of Suppression in 1540.

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Book SynopsisDrawing upon a surprising wealth of evidence found in surviving manuscripts, this book restores friars to their rightful place in the history of English health care. Friars are often overlooked in the picture of health care in late medieval England. Physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, barbers, midwives - these are the people we think of immediately as agents of healing; whilst we identify university teachers as authorities on medical writings. Yet from their first appearance in England in the 1220s to the dispersal of the friaries in the 1530s, four orders of friars were active as healers of every type. Their care extended beyond the circle of their own brethren: patients included royalty, nobles and bishops, and they also provided charitable aid and relief to the poor. They wrote about medicine too. Bartholomew the Englishman and Roger Bacon were arguably the most influential authors, alongside the Dominican Henry Daniel. Nor should we forget the anonymous Franciscan compilers of the Tabula medicine, a handbook of cures, which, amongst other items, contains case histories of friars practising medicine. Even after the Reformation, these texts continued to circulate and find new readers amongst practitioners and householders. This book restores friars to their rightful place in the history of English health care, exploring the complex, productive entanglement between care of the soul and healing of the body, in both theoretical and practical terms. Drawing upon the surprising wealth of evidence found in the surviving manuscripts, it brings to light individuals such as William Holme (c. 1400), and his patient the duke of York (d. 1402), who suffered from swollen legs. Holme also wrote about medicinal simples and gave instructions for dealing with eye and voice problems experienced by his brother Franciscans. Friars from the thirteenth century onwards wrote their medicine differently, reflecting their religious vocation as preachers and confessors.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Friars Practising Medicine 2. William Holme, medicus 3. Writing Medicine Differently 4. The Medical Culture of Friars 5. Souls and Bodies 6. Creeping into Homes 7. The Legacy of Friars' Medicine Conclusion Appendix 1: Friar practitioners Appendix 2: Friars as medical authors and compilers Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA Thousand Fates explores the afterlife of medieval monasticism in England and Wales. A thousand years of monasticism came to an abrupt end in the mid-sixteenth century with the Dissolution of the Monasteries. At its peak two hundred years earlier, many people chose the contemplative life, while the rich sought salvation through the foundation or embellishment of religious houses. Much of the nation’s wealth was locked into these complexes through elaborate rebuilding, gifts of precious objects and flourishing libraries of rare books. Then in just four years all of the eight hundred plus houses were closed and ten thousand people dispersed, with the monastic fortune liquidated and passed to the crown. Today we are left with echoes of a time dominated by an enclosed elite, their homes repurposed or derelict or obliterated. Some of these foundations still thrive as churches, schools, homes or tourist attractions. Others have left little physical trace, the casual viewer ignorant of their existence. A Thousand Fates is not an account of why the monasteries closed or what happened to the people displaced. Instead it focuses on the monastic buildings and their numerous fates and brings life to their stories.

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Book SynopsisMother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun, won the Nobel Prize in 1979 for her work caring for the poor, sick, and dying. A pictorial history book celebrates her life and achievements, featuring unpublished photos and highlighting her global impact through nearly 740 homes dedicated to her causes.

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Book SynopsisOver the last few decades, a number of works have appeared which have increased our knowledge and appreciation of the pre-modern Icelandic genre of fornaldarsögur (often translated into English as legendary sagas, heroic sagas or the sagas of ancient times). This new work builds upon the preceding research but takes as a case study a short, late version of the genre. By looking at a peripheral narrative - one which many would exclude and ignore when considering the genre - new perspectives on many of the questions, which researchers put to this genre, can be provided. Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra turns out to be a story, which has served many functions for multiple audiences. By tracing the complete history of this work, from its origins, through multiple manuscript witnesses, its use in Scandinavian intellectual history in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and through to the many poetic reworkings produced in Iceland up to the twentieth century, a comprehensive picture is produced which allows us to see how a short story can have a much fuller life than is immediately apparent if we look at it merely as a brief saga alongside its more extensive and polished generic siblings.

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Book SynopsisThe book presents a Cistersian Experience in Medieval Denmark.

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