The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library) [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover]

Thomas Merton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Shambhala Library | Publication Date: November 16, 2004

In the fourth century, the wildernesses of Egypt and Palestine were inhabited by a strange breed of spiritual nonconformists: the first Christian hermits. Thomas Merton's affection for these "Desert Fathers" shines in this much-loved treasury of their acts and words of wisdom. His free translation from the Latin source Verba Senorium illuminates their radical lives with insight and humor and sets them in close relation to Zen recluses, Hindu renunciants, and all those who have ever fled conventional life in search of higher wisdom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Thomas Merton does not so much introduce the Fathers of the desert; he stands in their midst, as one of them."—Daniel Berrigan, author of Uncommon Prayer: A Book of Psalms

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) was a Trappist monk, spiritual director, political activist, social critic, and one of the most-read spiritual writers of the twentieth century. He is the author of many books, including The Seven Storey Mountain.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; Gift edition edition (November 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590300394
• ISBN-13: 978-1590300398
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.8 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, January 6, 2007

By 

J. Miller (LA, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

As adorable as it is, it's hard to report on it. Merton here captures nearly 150 snippets of life in the desert, stories from the early church hermits. It is entirely narrative, ranging from sentence-long to page-long vignettes about the lives of those who sought to know on the Lord. At first I though I would list the numbers of all the stories that I found significant or inspirational, but soon the list became so long that it was just a senseless string. My copy is now very dog-eared.

Given that, like the narratives of the Bible, there is a clear intention of teaching you something without a clear summary of what was taught, perhaps the best summary is a highlight of the themes that stand out.
Humility seems to be the key virtue of the desert. Removing one's self from the world and society is a way of preventing one's self from being distracted from vanity. All of the promises of earthly life draw one into considerations of personal gain rather than into an honest assessment of one's place before God. Even within the monastery, monks should avoid bragging about themselves or their sacrifices.

Secondarily, but not independently, is a flight from money. The monk is to give away his last two pence so as to be free from worry, savings, and distraction. They live on little food, mostly bread.

Lack of judgment of others is a key value. Repeatedly the stories that Merton has collected warn us that we have no basis on which to evaluate others. Beautifully, the stories lead us to evaluate ourselves without pointing fingers our way. Instead, the monk must excel in forgiveness.

It's not without humorous moments, though subtle. When a monk declares (proudly) that he does not need to work because he is so dedicated to prayer and study of God, the other monks don't call him down at dinner time.

As far as pragmatic application to my ministry, it is rare that I hear the call to humility and self-surrender. As I carry these stories around, they will shape the way I react to others.

I love this book.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wisdom well warmed, October 2, 2005

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

Thomas Merton was perhaps the best known monastic of the last century. That he was a Trappist perhaps puts him in the best contemporary context from which to understand the Desert Fathers - the kind of hermit/distance existence that they had does not really exist in the world today (true, there are a few who carry on the tradition in the deserts of Egypt and a few other places, but often even they advise against this becoming a trend in Christian practice again). The Trappists are among those for whom silence and solitude are intentional practices, much like the Desert Fathers.

Merton, a talented writer on matters spiritual, states in the Author's note that his intention was not to produce a new 'edition' by academic standards, or to do any piece of new research. Rather, Merton set out to produce an accessible collection of wisdom sayings that had been contained in the collection 'Verba Seniorum', a Latin text of stories and proverbs handed down from the Desert Fathers and those who knew and wrote about them.

In the fourth century, while Christianity was still struggling as a minority (sometimes a violently oppressed minority) in the Empire, there were those who saw that the greater threat to the new faith was not the imperial officials and their forces, but rather the attractions and lure of the cities. It was very easy to put forth the claim that the world was not a Christian one, and that one would have to renounce the world to live an authentically Christian life - the Desert Fathers tended to do this renunciation in rather dramatic fashion (and, to varying extent, this is what monastics continue to do to this day). This renunciation was true even with official tolerance and imperial imprimatur, for Christianity was still the decided minority.

Merton states that it is a mistake to think that the Desert Fathers were isolationist individuals, however - 'the very fact that they uttered these "words" of advice to one another is proof that they were eminently social.' They sought an equality amongst themselves under God, and were welcoming toward those who sought them for instruction and wisdom.

In this collection, the 'Verba Seniorum' are perhaps the most true to the actual words of the Desert Fathers that we can get. Most writing about them came from people who added literary flourishes and often hagiographic legendary material into the mix; these are much more simple. They are 'the plain, unpretentious reports that went from mouth to mouth in the Coptic tradition before being committed to writing in Syriac, Greek and Latin.'

Over and over again, the Desert Fathers stress love above all. Their love reaches out for tolerance toward others, even as they sometimes seem to be intolerant toward themselves. Perhaps their generosity toward others came from a recognition of the faults of their own and the hope that God will deal more generously with them as they strive to deal generously with others.

'One of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community. So then Abbot Bessarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner!'

This is a wonderful, heartfelt, wise collection. It is not organised according to any overarching theme or systematic theological paradigm, but rather like a collecton of 'quotable quotes', often seemingly random. I often take the book and open it at random, to see what insights I can gain from it that day.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom for all, December 19, 2005

By 

Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

No, this is not a book for a `Survivor' wannabe, nor is it a guide for those who dream of crossing the great deserts of the world. But it is a guide of sorts, or more a companion for our pathways in life. This is a new reprinting of a collection of sayings from the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century.

You might ask, "Who are the desert fathers and mothers, and what written in the fourth century could be of any use to us today?" and they would both be good questions. The desert fathers were people who felt Christianity was losing its way, so they decided to return to a simpler life and went to the desert to seek solitude and god. However to some extent their plan failed; soon people realized these men and women had wisdom and guidance if one could ask them. So some of them developed great followings.

This collection is unique among those I have seen. in that it does not sort the sayings by author, or by subject, but rather it is a random smattering that the reader can meander through in order, or randomly flip open and read whichever one they come across. Merton in his introduction states, "This collection of sayings from the Verba Seniorum is by no means intended as a piece of research scholarship--this book is designed entirely for the reader's interest and edification." I believe it lives up to that goal.

At just under 200 pages, this book is short and sweet. Some of the more obscure sayings have been omitted and what is left is a collection of thoughts, meditations and reflections that can help us examine our lives. A few examples of the wisdom are:

"XLVI
Abbot Pastor said: `If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad'."

And

"XLVII
He said, again: `Malice will never drive out malice. But if someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you may destroy his malice'."
For more, pick up the book and check it out.