THL303: Introduction to Church History: Monastics & Barbarians

This well-written, well-researched reference source brings together monastic life with particular attention to three traditions: Buddhist, Eastern Christian, and Western Christian.

People who engage in the search for the Absolute are faced with the same obstacles and try to surmount them in similar ways. It is not surprising, therefore, to see that problems, which seem to us typically modern and Christian (or even Roman Catholic) such as obedience, celibacy, the leadership of communities, rules about speech and silence, withdrawal from and openness to the outside world, existed thousands of years ago in Egyptian, Hebrew, Hindu and Buddhist contexts. This volume presents the history of monasticism in Asia and the Middle East, with as much as possible of its spirituality, in counterpoint to the historical framework of the founders of Christian monasticism.

In this book, William Harmless provides an accessible introduction to early Christian monastic literature from Egypt and beyond. He introduces the reader to the major figures and literary texts, as well as offering an up-to-date survey of current questions and scholarship in the field. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of chronologies, maps, outlines, illustrations, and bibliographies. The book will not only serve as a text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on early Christianity, the Desert Fathers, and Christian asceticism, but it should stimulate further research by making the fruits of recent scholarship more readily and widely available.

Two monastic elders - the "Great Old Man" Barsanuphius, and the "Other Old Man" John - flourished in the southern region around Gaza in the early part of the sixth century. Maintaining strict seclusion, they spoke to others only through letters by way of Abba Seridos, the abbot of their monastic, desert community. These letters of the two Old Men were written to hermits, to monks in the community, to those in the choir, to priests, and to lay persons. Some were intended for advanced instruction, while others were intended for novices according to the capacity of the inquirer. So one must not perceive as a general rule words spoken to souls at different spiritual levels. Still, these questions and answers evoke the image of the Christian tradition being passed from elder to disciple, and the contemporary reader will be able to appreciate the method and possibly be inspired to imitate the message.

The growing scholarly attention in recent years to the religious world of late antiquity has focused new attention on the quest for holiness by the strange, compelling, often obscure early Christian monks known as the desert fathers. Yet until now, little attention has been given to one of the most vital dimensions of their spirituality: their astute, penetrating interpretation of Scripture. Rooted in solitude, cultivated in an atmosphere of silence, oriented toward the practical appropriation of the sacred texts, the desert fathers' hermeneutic profoundly shaped every aspect of their lives and became a significant part of their legacy. This book explores the setting within which the early monastic movement emerged, the interpretive process at the center of the desert fathers' quest for holiness, and the intricate patterns of meaning woven into their words and their lives.

The Barbarians Speak re-creates the story of Europe's indigenous people who were nearly stricken from historical memory even as they adopted and transformed aspects of Roman culture. The Celts and Germans inhabiting temperate Europe before the arrival of the Romans left no written record of their lives and were often dismissed as "barbarians" by the Romans who conquered them. A more accurate, sophisticated picture of the indigenous people emerges, however, from the archaeological remains of the Iron Age. Here Peter Wells brings together information that has belonged to the realm of specialists and enables the general reader to share in the excitement of rediscovering a "lost people." In so doing, he is the first to marshal material evidence in a broad-scale examination of the response by the Celts and Germans to the Roman presence in their lands.

In a work of splendid scholarship that reflects both a firm mastery of difficult sources and a keen intuition, one of Britain's foremost medievalists tells the story of the Christianization of Europe. It is a very large story, for conversion encompassed much more than religious belief. With it came enormous cultural change: Latin literacy and books, Roman notions of law and property, and the concept of town life, as well as new tastes in food, drink, and dress. Whether from faith or by force, from self-interest or by revelation, conversion had an immense impact that is with us even today. It is Richard Fletcher's achievement in this superb work that he makes that impact both felt and understood.

Ireland's patron saint has long been shrouded in legend: he drove the snakes out of Ireland; he triumphed over Druids and their supernatural powers; he used a shamrock to explain the Christian mystery of the Trinity. But his true story is more fascinating than the myths. We have no surviving image of Patrick, but we do have two letters that he wrote about himself and his beliefs--letters that tell us more about the heart and soul of this man than we know about almost any of his contemporaries. Combining Patrick's own heartfelt account of his life as he revealed it himself with the turbulent history of the British Isles in the last years of the Roman Empire, St. Patrick of Ireland brilliantly brings to life the real Patrick, shorn of legend, and shows how he helped to change Irish history and culture.

The mission of St Augustine of Canterbury and the subsequent conversion of the pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity had dramatic political, social and cultural implications as well as religious ones. The arrival of St Augustine in 597AD redefined England's relations with the continent on one hand and with the Celtic lands on the other; it led to new social mores; it added a new dimension to the political organization of the land; and it imported new forms of culture, notably book production and manuscript illumination. The story of this momentous process is told here in a series of interlinked chapters, written by experts in the field who shed light on a crucial period in the early development of England and its church.

St Boniface, the early 8th-century English cleric who became known as "Apostle to the Germans" was an important agent in the conversion of the North German tribes from paganism to Christianity. This text provides translations of his letters.

This work looks back over the life and work of Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica and analyzes their ecclesiastical and cultural mission. They were the ones to bring the alphabet to the Slavs.