Wisdom of the Desert

Rating:
Summary: A good example of a path that others before us have taken...
Review: ...in search of spiritual peace.

The metaphor of going to the desert in order to pray more profoundly is something that I can relate to. With these monks, it wasn't just a metaphor.

The late Thomas Merton, at the least, was a great writer. He wrote introductions to other books, on Gandhi and books on Zen and Christianity. And really, his introductions were more insightful than the contents that he introduced.

If the example of these monks can inspire us to practice praying in a deeper way in our daily lives, even if we never go near a desert, then this book will have served its purpose well.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for What it sets out to do
Review: As another reviewer notes, Merton's selections are not as comprehensive as Helen Waddell's, and his introduction does not provide nearly as detailed an account of the historical and literary context of the desert fathers' sayings. This is not Merton's purpose. He is trying to give us a sense of the spiritual essence of the fathers, and he does it brilliantly. Although he is not as elegant a writer as Waddell, nor as learned, he has a much deeper intuitive understanding of the fathers' search for God and their love for each other. His selections emphasize the importance of this love and downplay the fanatical asceticism that many people associate with the fathers. Throughout his introduction, he emphasizes that love is far more important in the Christian life than either mysticism or asceticism. Thus, although a sympathetic reader may not learn terribly much about the history of the desert fathers from Merton, she will begin to understand "the wisdom of the desert".

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for What it sets out to do
Review: As another reviewer notes, Merton's selections are not as comprehensive as Helen Waddell's, and his introduction does not provide nearly as detailed an account of the historical and literary context of the desert fathers' sayings. This is not Merton's purpose. He is trying to give us a sense of the spiritual essence of the fathers, and he does it brilliantly. Although he is not as elegant a writer as Waddell, nor as learned, he has a much deeper intuitive understanding of the fathers' search for God and their love for each other. His selections emphasize the importance of this love and downplay the fanatical asceticism that many people associate with the fathers. Throughout his introduction, he emphasizes that love is far more important in the Christian life than either mysticism or asceticism. Thus, although a sympathetic reader may not learn terribly much about the history of the desert fathers from Merton, she will begin to understand "the wisdom of the desert".

Rating:
Summary: lost a star due to $- per-page...
Review: but, this book was a very pleasant surprise; perhaps because I had no conception / or misconceptions, of the subject. After all, 'everyone' knows that monk-hermits have absolutely no contact with anyone, ever- right??

Wrong!! the first of many myths shot down.

I was looking for spiritual advice. What was constantly hammered [seemed to me ] was : don't criticise anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances- at least over a number of consecutive 'vignettes'.

Rating:
Summary: A Drop of the Water of Wisdom
Review: This small book (81 pages, including a 24 page introduction) is a collection of short sayings and stories out of the early Christian desert tradition predating monasticism. Taken from a classical collection called Verba Seniorium, in Migne's Latin Patrology, Merton selects a somewhat arbitrary group of personal "greatest hits", and adds an essay-introduction on the importance of the Desert Fathers as representing "a discovery of man, at the term of an inner and spiritual journey that is far more crucial and infinitely more important than a journey to the moon" (introduction, page 11).

Thus launched, the sayings spill out in no particular order or chapters, without name or context to read against. As an introduction to the desert tradition, this book may provide a small opening to test interest. Other collections, however, (The Desert Fathers, translated/introduced by H. Waddell; The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated/introduced by Benedicta Ward) are better grounded historically, and give a far wider rnage of material than does this personal gathering of favorites. This book sheds little light on either Father Merton or desert fathers.

Rating:
Summary: A Drop of the Water of Wisdom
Review: This small book (81 pages, including a 24 page introduction) is a collection of short sayings and stories out of the early Christian desert tradition predating monasticism. Taken from a classical collection called Verba Seniorium, in Migne's Latin Patrology, Merton selects a somewhat arbitrary group of personal "greatest hits", and adds an essay-introduction on the importance of the Desert Fathers as representing "a discovery of man, at the term of an inner and spiritual journey that is far more crucial and infinitely more important than a journey to the moon" (introduction, page 11).

Thus launched, the sayings spill out in no particular order or chapters, without name or context to read against. As an introduction to the desert tradition, this book may provide a small opening to test interest. Other collections, however, (The Desert Fathers, translated/introduced by H. Waddell; The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated/introduced by Benedicta Ward) are better grounded historically, and give a far wider rnage of material than does this personal gathering of favorites. This book sheds little light on either Father Merton or desert fathers.