St. Isaac the Syrian: Mystical Writings [Paperback]

Isaac the Syrian (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Eastern Orthodox Books (August 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899810624
• ISBN-13: 978-0899810621
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,017,230 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mystical translsation?, January 10, 2000

By 

Michael J. Lomax (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. Isaac the Syrian: Mystical Writings (Paperback)

After reading through about 20 pages of this book I am confused. The old-fashioned language suggests that this is a reprint from somewhere, but this is not acknowledged, which is uncomforting, as with this sort of text you like to know your source. I don't know how good St Isaac's original Syriac was, but the translation is not up to modern-day standards (I speak as a professional translator) and at times you have to be a pretty professional linguist and theologian to make head or tail of it. Once you hack through the undergrowth, there are some nuggets, as St Isaac is recognised as a great spiritual writer. It is certainly and thankfully outside of the "spiritual consumerism" category, and by the same token, perhaps not a book to be read without some feeling for the spiritual context in which St Isaac wrote.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excerpts of AJ Wensinck's Edition, June 23, 2006

By 

Bruce Palmatier "mad baggins" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: St. Isaac the Syrian: Mystical Writings (Paperback)

This 1977 reprint represents excerpts of AJ Wensinck's 1923 edition of "Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Nineveh" -- although this is unacknowledged.

The "Six Treatises on the Behavior of Excellence" are also available in a more modern translation published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, called "St. Isaac of Nineveh on Ascetical Life."

This Eastern Orthodox Books publication of "Mystical Writings" also includes chapters 9, 45, 46, 50, 60, and 61 of Wensinck's edition, which is out of print and hard to find.