Customer Reviews

Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus (Oxford Early Christian Studies)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Given the current exchange rates and the limited demand for this book, the price is not surprising or extreme. Production quality, contrary to complaints below, is high. For serious scholarly, monastic or ecclesiastical readers, this is priceless content (with good, concise introductions) in a form that will last and be useful for a lifetime. You're getting "Foundations of the Monastic Life," the letters to Eulogios "On Thoughts" and "On the Vices," "On 8 Thoughts," the Praktikos, "To Monks in Monasteries and Exhortation to a Virgin," "On Thoughts," the chapters on prayer, 'Reflections', 2 exhortations to monks, 3 sets of maxims, and the "33 Ordered Chapters" (more maxims). Also included are ample explanatory notes and comments (included with the appendices), and appendix of variant readings, and an edited Greek text of Eulogios (on thoughts and their confession) from Mt Athos MS . The translations are fluent and formal. A great achievement.

Scholars of Origenism, early monasticism, and Eastern spirituality will find this book an invaluable source for Evagrius' writings. Sinkewicz provides extensive annotation to the texts, allowing the reader to easily cross-reference repeated themes and ideas wherever they occur in Evagrius' thought. What this book is missing--and perhaps Sinkewicz should undertake this next--is a complete English translation of the Kephalaia Gnostica and Evagrius' collection of letters, most notably his letter to Melania.

I don't want to spend a lot of space writing a review, but let me just say that this book is the Bible of Evagrian studies and the most comprehensive English translation of Evagrius around. There are many of his works yet untranslated into English, but this book is a great foundation for study of Evagrius Ponticus. Sinkewicz presents an introduction to every work of Evagrius he translates, and those in themselves are quite valuable. Part of the reason I felt the need to write a review is to counteract the one star review that used this as a forum to rip on the price of Oxford publishing. As you can see, all the other reviews are five star, and for good reason. This is an EXCELLENT text, and if you are interested in doing research on Evagrius, it is well worth the paperback price.

This is undoubtedly an important book. Evagrius Ponticus is a fascinating writer and anything by him is well worth careful study. But why the outrageous price? Oxford University Press used to have an excellent reputation. Their books were well-printed on quality paper and were issued in sewn cloth bindings. Today we are instead being given poorly printed books on inferior paper with cheap glued spines in paper-covered boards. We are, in other words, being given third-rate products at obscenely inflated prices.

The aim seems to be to restrict access to serious works by making them accessible only to those affiliated with institutions which presumably have the funds to purchase such grotesquely overpriced books.

This is not publication as a public service. It doesn't even seem to be publication for profit. It smacks more of publication as contributing to the growing corporatization of knowledge. What OUP seems to be thinking is: "Well, OK, let's publish this, but let's price it so that only institutions can afford to buy it."

In the new world that is coming, books will exist only in libraries. Only specialists will have access to these libraries, and then only to the specific areas devoted to their specialism. OUP's pricing policy clearly heralds such a world. Hence the single star.