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Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism

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Harmless's book offers the benefits of both an introduction to the Desert Fathers and a reflection on their work and lives. The material is divided up into small pieces and readers can skip directly to the particular parts they wish to use or begin at the front and go all the way through the volume. There is a very large set of notes and bibliography, so the book can be used as a source to find other work in the area and can be the starting point for many projects in the study of ancient Christianity. The only reasons this is not an ideal book to support an introductory course on the Desert Fathers are that it is mostly secondary (Harmless' thoughts and analysis) and that it is too expensive. This is the perfect companion to a serious reading of the ocean of texts from the early desert and no one who is seriously interested in this subject will want to delay in reading it. This will be a classic work and should be on the shelf of every religious library.

Evolution of Monastic Vocation:
In the fourth century, the deserts of Egypt became the nerve center of a radical new movement, what we now call monasticism. Groups of Christians-from illiterate peasants to learned intellectuals-moved out to the wastelands beyond the Nile Valley and, in the famous words of Saint Athanasius, made the desert a city. At the height of Christian asceticism in the Middle East, thousands of monks lived in monastic centers in Egypt, Nitria, Kellia, and Sketes in the West Delta, and Pachomian coenobitic communities in Upper Egypt. Later on the monastic practice moved into Palestine, and the Syrian deserts. Some lived in isolated caves, in real seclusion, rarely meeting other humans as did Abba Paul the first hermit.
Basing his work on multiple sources, James Goehring, an eminent expert on the evolution of monasticism in Egypt, and a pioneer scholars of early Christianity, has resiliently influenced a new direction in understanding the evolution of monasticism. He carefully examines the whole multiple sources, papyrological documents , traditional literary sources, and archaeological finds, into a clear narrative that infusing the history of Egyptian monasticism with revived energy.

Coenobitic Monasticism:
Goehring convincingly dismantles some previously regarded scholarship on early Egyptian monasticism, and situates Pachomian monasticism in the midst of the economic and social life of its time. The diversity of Egyptian monasticism, in theology and lifestyle is here demonstrated. Philip Rousseau's careful reading of the available texts reveals that Pachomius's pioneering enterprise has been consistently misread in light of later monastic practices. Rousseau not only provides a fuller and more accurate portrait of this great teacher and spiritual director but also gives a new perspective on the development of monasticism. In a new preface Rousseau reviews the scholarly developments that have modified his views and emphases since the book was published. The result is to make Pachomius an even less assured pioneer, who have been more involved in the village and urban society of his time than previously thought.

Early Monastic Literature:
Monastic forged techniques of prayer and asceticism, of discipleship and spiritual direction, to serve the core issue of Monastic Schema, the elder prescription for the means a novice needs for his salvation, that have remained central to monastic vocation ever since. Seeking to map the soul's long journey to God and plot out the subtle vagaries of the human heart, they created and inspired texts that became classics of Western spirituality. In so doing, they captured the imagination of the world. These Desert Fathers were also brilliant storytellers, some of Christianity's finest, including Athanasius' Life of Antony, the Lives of Pachomius, and Apophthegmata Patrum, Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Such corpus includes fascinating snippets from papyri and from little-known Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic texts. Interspersed in each chapter are illustrations, maps, and diagrams that help readers sort through the key texts and the richly-textured world of early monasticism. Geared to a wide audience and written in clear, jargon-free prose, Desert Christians offers the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to early monasticism. Various collections exist of aphorisms and anecdotes illustrative of the spiritual life, of ascetic and monastic principle, and of Christian ethics, attributed to the more prominent hermits and monks who peopled the Egyptian deserts in the fourth century.

Desert Hagiography:
Long neglected sources of early saints' lives, that were once dismissed as religious fantasy or worthless hagiography, have become one of the most exciting areas of research, recently recognized as potential treasure fields, rich with information to help reconstruct the social milieu and intellectual history of a remote era that was once considered a creation of mythical fables, but recently regarded as a fascinating source for a break through, a cultural change, of interest not only to religious specialists but to many research workers and scholars.
Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen were instrumental in popularizing 'Desert Wisdom,' the source spirituality of those desert dwellers. Christians who seeks God through prayer is continuing a tradition that began with the desert fathers and mothers, narrating few hundred sayings of those pioneers, though simple peasants whose spiritual progress was marked by poverty, patience, humility, inner peace, self-control, and genuine hospitality.

This Marvelous Study:
Fr William Harmless, S.J., who does not count the cost, should be commented for his scholarly toil and enlightening exploration of the roots of monastic tradition analyzing the hagiographic stories of the Desert Fathers. Fr Harmless is also a gifted storytellers like his Desert Fathers, apparent in the preface, telling us of his book scope, " to explore the art of stillness and prayer."
The author reveals his serious scholarship early on in his acknowledgements for John Bamberger, Norman Russell, Armand Veilleux, Benedicta Ward, and Tim Vivian, Boniface Ramsey, and pioneering essays from my favorite 'coptic Church Review. He does not fail to acknowledge Derwas Chitty, even if he rightly disagrees with him on the emphasis on the mother of all monastics: Coptic Egypt.
While the book examines most of the best works of hagiographa, he extensively explores two of the best students and advocates of Early Egyptian monasticism: Evagrius ponticus, and John Cassian. their mystical theology of the desert schema. In his very accessible work, Fr Harmless raised the bar of the art in the most comprehensive study of almost half a thousand page. It is right to borrow few of his own praise for Chitty that properly apply to him, "... not only possessed an astounding command of the texts, the languages, and the historical and geographical minutiae, but had, ... pioneered the debate on any number of fronts."

Words to Live by: Journeys in Ancient And Modern Egyptian Monasticism (Coleccion Semillas)
The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism

In this book, the author provides an accessible introduction to early Christian monastic literature from Egypt and beyond. He introduces the reader to the major figures and literary texts, as well as offering an up-to-date survey of current questions and scholarship in the field. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of chronologies, maps, outlines, illustrations, and bibliographies. The book will not only serve as a text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on early Christianity, the Desert Fathers, and Christian asceticism, but it should stimulate further research by making the fruits of recent scholarship more readily and widely available.

William Harmless provides an excellent and thorough survey of the desert fathers who founded monasticism in the fourth and fifth centuries in Egypt. He has an evident mastery of the language of the desert and the historical events that influenced the solitary communities therein. Any person interested in monasticism or Egypt's great heritage as the source of monasticism would be well advised to read this book.

However, there are some arguments and assumptions in the book that I personally do not accept. For example, Professor Harmless argues that "Life of Antony" was written as a fantastic tale by Saint Athanasius and that Saint Antony did not really establish monasticism. My own survey of the desert fathers leads me to completely opposite conclusions. I can only wonder whether Professor Harmless has an agenda in denying Egypt the honor of being the birthplace of monasticism.

Apart from these areas in which Professor Harmless, the work is an invaluable reference for facts and texts concerning the Egyptian desert fathers.

I have only read into this book about 100 pages or so, and I can tell you this is a thick, dense read. However, it is worth it and Harmless makes seamless transitions between subjects and is an overall excellent writer. Anyone who is willing to dedicate the time to this book should definitely put other books aside to take a gander at this one. It will be worth your while.

"Harmless states as his purpose: to introduce readers to the literature by and about the desert Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries..., serves as a resource for more advanced students because of its breadth and level of detail." R. Krawiec, J. Christian Spirituality



Early Monastic Lives:
Monastics forged techniques of prayer and asceticism, of discipleship and spiritual direction, that have remained central to Christianity ever since. Seeking to map the soul's long journey to God and plot out the subtle vagaries of the human heart, they created and inspired texts that became classics of Western spirituality. In so doing, they captured the imagination of the ancient world. These Desert Fathers were insightful wisdom teachers and brilliant hagiographers, some of early Christianity's finest was contained in Athanasius' Life of Antony, the Lives of Pachomius, and Apophthegmata Patrum, Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

Wisdom of the Desert Fathers:
The study of Christian monasticism in the fourth century and beyond is important not only for appreciating the history, theology, and spirituality of this early era, but since these central Christian institutions, Coenobitic and Hermitic Monasticism, that endured in East and West evolved within the Egyptian deserts. Despite this centrality, however, there has not been but few studies of the literature that survived from the formative period of monasticism. William Harmless's Desert Christians is a thorough assessment integrating and updating recent books written to fill this void.

Early monastic literature:
"Early monastic literature is a "treasure trove not just for the spiritual life, but also for psychology, which finds here the expression in a different vocabulary of what it has laboriously worked out only in this century" wrote Anselm Gruen. Others monastic experts who examined the literature of early Christian monasticism, have recommended it deserves slow and deliberate meditation, on the lips, and in the heart.
Fr. Harmless explored new translation and analysis of Athanasius', 'Life of Anthony,' a host of ancient biographies of Pachom(ius) career and his koinonia, a careful study of Shenoute of Atripe with a discourse on the significance of his role in leading monastic opposition to the Council of Chalcedon. He surveys and evaluates a wide range from investigations of the later literature and history of the important Upper Egyptian communal movement of Pachomius to the possibility of their ownership of the Gnostic library of Chenoboskion, near Nag Hammadi.

Apophthegmata Patrum:
Such corpus includes fascinating snippets from papyri and from little-known Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopic texts. Interspersed in each chapter are illustrations, maps, and diagrams that help readers sort through the key texts and the richly-textured world of early monasticism. Geared to a wide audience and written in clear, jargon-free prose, Desert Christians offers the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to early monasticism.
Various collections exist of aphorisms and anecdotes illustrative of the spiritual life, of ascetic and monastic principle, and of Christian ethics, attributed to the more prominent hermits and monks who peopled the Egyptian deserts in the fourth century.

Book Evaluation:
- "Harmless has written a densely packed volume which, although it does achieve 'introductory' status by its accessibility, nevertheless also serves as a resource for more advanced students because of its breadth and level of detail." Rebecca Krawiec
- "It has detailed background chapters and reading lists, well-constructed glossaries of names and places, and (as scattered appendices) translations of sources not widely available. It is also well written." Philip Rousseau