The Cistercian World: Monastic Writings of the Twelfth Century (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: monastic reform
Review: This book introduces the reader, through the exploration of multiple primary sources,to the twelfth century rise of the Cistercians. It provides a wonderfull look into the mind of these dynamic individuals who attempted to escape from the increasingly complex world of twelfth-century Western Europe and create an internal relationship with God through the external bond of mutual friendship.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Delightful
Review: This is a brilliant and much needed book. It contains short (several page) extracts from all the great Cistercian writers (Bernard, Aelred, Gueric), which Pauline Matarasso has beautifully translated.

The book has two great strengths.

1. The best bits of these great authors have been chosen so that the reader receives a taste of their wisdom without being drownwed in thick theological tomes.

2. The subject matter is fascinating, ranging from monastery tales, even at the time of St Bernard, throught contemporary biographies of great men like Aelred of Reivaulx, to a beautiful description of Clairvaux.

This book was a joy and I thoroughly recommend it.