Synopses & Reviews
Prayer and Thought in Monastic Tradition presents a chronological picture of the development of monastic thought and prayer from the early English Church (Bede, Adomnan) through to the 17th Century and William Law's religious community at King's Cliffe. Essays interactwith different facets of monastic life, assessing the development and contribution of figures such as Boniface, the Venerable Bede, Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux. The varying modes and outputs of the monastic life of prayer are considered, with focus on the use of different literary techniques in the creation of monastic documents, the interaction between monksand the laity, the creation of prayers and the purpose and structure of prayer in different contexts. The volume also discusses the nature of translation of classic monastic works, and the difficulties the translator faces. The highly distinguished contributors include; G.R. Evans, Sarah Foot, Henry Mayr-Harting, Brian McGuire, Henry Wansbrough and Rowan Williams.
About the Author
Santha Bhattcharji is Senior Tutor at St Benet's Hall, and a member of the English Faculty at the University of Oxford, UK.
Rowan Williams (Baron Williams of Oystermouth) is Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, UK. He was formerly Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, UK, and was Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 - 2012.
Dominic Mattos is a publisher and writer, and studied Theology at the University of Oxford, UK.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Introduction -
Santha Bhattacharji1. Re-thinking the History of Monasticism East and West: A Modest
tour dhorizon -
Columba Stewart, O.S.B.2. Not by Bread Alone: St Brendan meets Paul, the Irish Spiritual Hermit -
Eamonn OCarragain3. Theology and the Paschal Controversy: Bedes Case Against the British Church -
Rowan Williams4. Bedes view of the place of the Eucharist in Anglo-Saxon Life: the evidence of the
Histroia ecclesiasticus gentis Anglorum -
Thomas OLoughlin5. Women, Prayer and Preaching in the Early English Church -
Sarah Foot6. What Was Supposed to be Going on in the Minds of Monks When they Prayed the Psalter in Carolingian times? -
Henry Mayr-Harting 7. ‘The brother who may wish to pray by himself: Sense of Self in Carolingian Prayers of Private Devotion -
Renie Choy8. St Boniface Monk and Missioner -
Henry Wansbrough O.S.B.9. Turning the World Upside-Down: St Peter Damians Theology of the Spiritual Life -
Gordon Mursell10. John of Fécamp and Anselm of Bec: A New Language of Prayer -
Brian McGuire11. ‘Minds Wandering and ‘Monastic stability in the Early Monastic Letters of Anselm of Bec -
G.R. Evans12. Between Dialectic and the Sacred Scripture: Anselm of Canterbury and the Bible -
Giles Gasper13. Miracles and the Crusading Mind: Monastic Meditations on Jerusalems Conquest -
Jay Rubenstein14. Reading Saints Lives in the Light of John of Fordes Life of Wulfric of Haselbury -
Pauline Matarasso15. The Eye of Reason - The Eye of Love: ‘Divine Learning and Affective Prayer in the thought of William of St Thierry -
E Rozanne Elder16. Concerning Academic Translation and the Latin of Conrad of Eberbach -
Paul Savage 17. ‘Desire for the Eternal Country: the Laity and the Wider World of Monastic Prayer in Medieval England -
Brian Golding18. Universities: Friend or Foe? -
Alexander Murray19. Late Medieval Mysticism: visionary writing as a mode of thought -
Santha Bhattacharji 20. John Wesley and William Law: the founding of two contrasting religious communities in the Eighteenth Century -
Ralph Waller21. The Beloved: the Messianic Figure in the Song of Songs -
Sister Edmée S.L.G.22. Sr Benedicta Ward in a few words: Nun, Scholar, Teacher -
Dominic Mattos Select Bibliography of Works by Sr Benedicta Ward S.L.G. M.A. D. Phil
Indexes