Customer Review from Amazon:
This book is an OK introduction, but otherwise disappointing. There are many other books out there much better. Helen Waddell did translate these writings from the Latin. The problem is that save for the first selection from St. Jerome (originally written in Latin) all of the selections are translations from the Latin but the Latin translations from which Waddell translates are translations of other authors from the original Greek.
Still, if you have not been exposed at all to the thoughts and beliefs of our early Christian monks it may be a good brief introduction. You will get a look into how these early monastic thought and lived their lives. Of course in any translation of the Desert Fathers you will find words of wisdom that you will benefit from.
About the book:
By the fourth century A.D., devout Christians -- men and women alike -- had begun to retreat from cities and villages to the deserts of North Africa and Asia Minor, where they sought liberation from their corrupt society and the confining shell of the social self. "The Desert Fathers" is the perfect introduction to the stories and sayings of these heroic pioneers of the contemplative tradition. Selected and translated by Helen Waddell, "The Desert Fathers" opens a window onto early Christianity while presenting us with touching human models of faith, humility, and compassion.
Author(s): Helen Waddell
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Year: 1957
Language: English
Pages: 220
Cover
Contents
Introduction
The Life of St. Paul the First Hermit
History of the Monks of Egypt
The Sayings of the Fathers
1. Of the Perfecting of the Fathers
2. Of Quiet
3. Of Compunction
4. Of Self-Restraint
5. Of Fornication
6. That a monk ought not to possess anything
7. Of Patience and Fortitude
8. That nothing ought to be done for show
9. That one ought not to judge any man
10. Of Discretion
11. That one ought to live soberly
12. That one ought to pray without ceasing, and soberly
13. That one should show hospitality and mercy with cheerfulness
14. Of Obedience
15. Of Humility
16. Of Patience
17. Of Love
18. Of Contemplation
[Book 19 missing]
20. Of the Excellent Way of Life of Divers Holy Men
21. Divers Sayings
The Sayings of the Fathers
The Sayings of the Fathers
Of Accidie: Of Mortification
Fragments from the Paradisus of Palladius
The Patrum Spirituale of John Moschus
The Life of St. Pelagia the Harlot
The Life of St. Mary the Harlot
Notes
