Early Christian Lives

Bys: Athanasius, Jerome, Severus, Sulpicius

Book Overview

Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius records Antony's extreme seclusion in the Egyptian desert, despite temptation by the devil and visits from his followers. Jerome also shows those who fled persecution or withdrew from society to pursue lives of chastity and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140435263
• ISBN13: 9780140435269
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Monastic Saints

This book is a translation of the biographies of six early monastic saints of Christianity. The particular lives - Antony, Paul of Thebes, Hilarion, Malchus, Martin of Tours and Benedict - are chosen as representatives of particular monastic styles from the early hermits to the monastic community, as generally envisioned today. The choice is also driven by the fact that the lives were written in Latin, which is the interest of Latin scholar and translator, Carolinne White. In her introduction, she discusses the issues of proper translation, the types of monasticism, the milieu of their lives, and the styles of the authors, the likes of Sts. Athanasius and Jerome, Sulpicius Severus and Gregory the Great. To put things in context, she also provides a brief introduction to each biography. For the Christian, however, the value of the book is the witness to the lives themselves. They are inspirational, if not almost unbelievable; so far are God's work through them so different than our own modern experience and subconsciously accepted empiricism. These are struggles with visible demons, not only seen by them, but also seen or felt by those around them. These are struggles with pagans and with heretics who mean to torture and kill them. These are struggles with the envious, who want a prophetic relationship with God without making the sacrifice. And these are struggles with good Christians, who fall and are helped by them.