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Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert Paperback – November 19, 2004

by Dr. Rowan Williams (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars 8 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Lion Books (November 19, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0745951708
  • ISBN-13: 978-0745951706
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.4 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsLike never before...
By Kate on December 27, 2013
Format: Hardcover
I think Rowan Williams is such an elegant writer, it's just a pleasure to read whatever he writes. When he writes about spiritual things (rather than theology, e.g.) it's a treat to read.
Many of us have fuzzy ideas, at best, about the Desert Christians or have read dry treatises about them. They seem far away, long ago, and forbidding.
Williams brings out their more human, even humorous side, at the same time punching home the strong spiritual teachings they offered the world.
I feel closer to those folk than ever before, and have a wider view of their idiosyncrasies as well as the overall genius of the breed.

FYI, this book was based upon a seminar Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a while back for the World Community for Christian Meditation. He was talking to real people in real time, and although this book reads as if it were written for publication, a bit of his charm and ease with people comes through. Enjoyable, entertaining and educational. And uplifting.
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5.0 out of 5 starsBeautiful
By The Good Crone on August 7, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is an elegant writer with a surprisingly deep personal understanding of the contemplative life, and an obvious love of the desert elders. This book is so wonderful, it would be among the top 10 I'd take to a desert island!
If you are just curious about the desert fathers as they are popularly called, or if you have a lot of book larnin' about them, or if you already live a desert existence and understand them profoundly, you'll find this book delightful.
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat wisdom from the desert...and the Orthodox church.
By Phil Aud on January 6, 2016
Format: Paperback
Silence and Honey Cakes is Rowan Williams wonderful little book – based on his lectures to The World Community of Christian Meditation – which explores the wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers. It is one of the most compelling books on Christian community that I have read. One of the great aspects of this book is it’s presentation of holiness. By looking at the writings and lives of the desert monastics, Williams presents the call to be saints as ‘non-heroic.’ I immediately thought of a book title I had once seen (but have not read) called “The easy burden of pleasing God” (Patty Kirk). While the desert dwellers did not live easy lives, we begin to understand that the locus of their wisdom was not in the big moments, but the simple and mundane moments of each day. So it can be for us.

Throughout the book Williams put teeth on the always important question of ‘how does one love their neighbor?’ We learn that it is by becoming honest, first and foremost, with ourselves. Only when we do that can we learn how to deal with the weaknesses in others. There is no room left to judge such weaknesses, explains Williams, if we have learned to rightly judge ourselves. This ties in with the theme of “fleeing.” Williams writes that “there is all the difference in the world between running from responsibility and ‘fleeing’ for the sake of truth or honesty – that is, for the sake of responsibility…what you are ultimately ‘running’ from is just this, your compulsions…of anxious comparison, status-seeking and chatter” (pp. 78,79). He ‘fleeing’ is rooted in one of his final chapters on ‘staying.’

Aside from drawing wisdom from the desert monastics, Williams also gleans from the Orthodox church.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsProfound!
By mdc.inoz on October 17, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Anyone reading this little gem will appreciate the depth of thinking of the author and his genuine understanding of the subject on which he writes with such conviction - The Desert Tradition. This is a thoughtful book, a delight to read, instructional and optimistic. Thoroughly recommended.
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