Customer Reviews

The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400-1200 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature)

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This interesting but challenging book examines the disciplined mental habits of Christian monks in the period from late antiquity to the early middle ages. Christian monastic traditions evolved in a world quite alien to modern sensibilities. The monasteries themselves were isolated and insular. Daily life was austere and focused on paying homage to God through meditative prayer. Over time, the monks developed a meditative technology that included memory skills, emotional control, and creative expression. These practices are what Professor Carruthers means by The Craft of Thought, and she does an admirable job of helping moderns appreciate the accomplishments of these diligent and inventive ancients.

The book argues that monastic practices were rhetorical devices that lead their followers step by step to a point where they were able to meditate in ways that illuminated the canonical teachings of their faith. Her point that cultural practices can serve rhetorical functions is well illustrated in the book.

The monks were highly disciplined. They developed specialized memory techniques and applied them to learning scriptures. They were skillful in creating and recalling visual images. Meditation put these skills and others in play. First the monk established facilitating conditions - prostrating oneself while weeping, for example - then he recalled scriptures and used them to devise new visions to better capture the glory of God.

The book was a difficult read for me because of my weak background in medieval studies. Professor Carruthers wrote primarily for her colleagues in this area, and so she omitted contextual and historical background information. I also found the organization of her chapters somewhat loose so that the various bits and pieces did not always come together for me. However, overall I was pleased with the book. It gave me a learned scholar's insights into the cognitive techniques of medieval monastic life.