John Climacus: The Ladder of Divine Ascent (The Classics of Western Spirituality)

Rating:
Summary: Fulfilling work... wonting translation.
Review: While no objections can be made to this work itself (the 'Ladder' is one of the greater spiritual texts in human history), it is this particular translation of the text that must be criticised. This edition is wonting in the original tone of the Greek, little of which has been preserved in its English rendition.

Perhaps more upsetting is the 'insertion' into the translation of much Western religious sentiment that is not apparent in Maximus' original Greek. This is fundamentally an Eastern text from an early period, and its translation 'into' a modern Western framework does a great injustice both to the text and to the reader.

Only one star for this volume: those who are considering reading the 'Ladder' would do themselves much better to find one of the various other translations available, such as that by the Transfiguration Monastery, or HMC Press (the latter available hereon Amazon.com).