The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism

by Douglas Burton-Christie

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 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.

Genres: History, Christian, Spirituality

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 1992

Reviews

[Phil Wyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written easy reader considering the depth of scholarship in this book. It tracks the manner in which the desert fathers (and mothers) related to the scriptures. This book adds a level to historical hermeneutic studies that it would be wise to add to any seminary's repertoire.

[Adam]

When I found this book among the massive corpus of academic work oriented toward Patristics and the Early Christian Church, I was thrilled. I've long been fascinated by the early Christian monks of the desert, but have often wondered (and personally needed to know) what their attachment to/identification with Scripture was. Spirituality is rootless without a primary text or strong source to root it, and Christian spirituality needs the Bible in order to orient and stabilize it. I've forced myself to not dive into this before I'm done with the 4-5 books I'm currently reading, but I anticipate it eagerly.

Douglas Burton-Christie graduated from the Graduate Theological Union with a Ph.D. in Christian spirituality, and currently teaches as an Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1933668.html


Sternly academic book attempting to get inside the heads of the Desert Fathers (and Mothers) to establish what they really thought they were doing with their lives and what their understanding of the scriptures had to do with it.