The Profound Insights of Desert Dwellers: New Directions from an Ancient Tradition

Frances E. Vanwormer: Anyone on a retreat would enjoy these especially if u are used to abundance of inspirations in literature and"enough" is a concept u are working on

United States on Sep 07, 2023

Debra J. Thomas: The media could not be loaded.  I bought the book used. It doesn’t look it at all! Happy customer!

United States on May 26, 2023

Amazon Customer: Merton!

United Kingdom on Aug 07, 2022

Caleb Stober: I found this to be a quick, refreshing read that served to highlight certain key virtues in the Christian faith, namely charity and humility. There are others of course but those in particular stood out to me in the way they are taught and demonstrated herein. I cannot say I think all of this flows from God, but certainly wisdom from men changed by God resides in this book.

United States on Sep 15, 2020

James E. Laurence: This is truly a book for our time, a collection of sayings from Christians who, as Merton describes them, "believed that to let oneself drift along, passively accepting the tenets of values of what they knew as society, purely and simply a disaster. The fact that the Emperor was now Christian and that the 'world' was coming to know the Cross as a sign of temporal power only strengthened them in their resolve." We can learn, from those who have gone before us, how to be in the world but not of the world.

Most of us are not called to be hermits, or even to the monastic life, but we are called to solitude and prayer. "Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything," Abbot Moses said, and we can all do that. We can all learn the value of humility, of living in a nonjudgmental way ("My sins are running out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I come to judge the sins of another!"), of avoiding he who "always argues every time he talks."

I return to this book often, and each time I find something new to ponder. "What can we gain by sailing to the moon," Merton asks in the introduction, "if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from...

United States on Jul 01, 2020

Ron: its utterances of guys in the desert of scete, egypt. so, they had time to be true. most of it is very usable. some of it puts you in your place

Canada on May 15, 2019

margaret m deeny: Don't want to be public

United Kingdom on Mar 09, 2016

Sarah Duckworth: Very good thank you.

United Kingdom on Sep 14, 2015

Dave Bullard: I found this a very concise and informative book, which has led me to much deep reflection and subsequent understanding

United Kingdom on Jul 08, 2013

Kevin T. Briggs: I know it is not neccesarily a Thomas Merton composition, but this is my favorite Thomas Merton book. Merton's love and reverence for the desert fathers shines on every page, and the wisdom he presents is as close to the truly universal as anything offered in Christianity.

The sayings Merton chooses express the inner-experience very well. These desert fathers were not men who looked outside of themselves for a savior, or for something from some other world. They looked inside of themselves for a savior, and understood it was something that can be discovered and realized in our world. It is so interesting to read these sayings, which were written prior to anything formal like the Council of Nicea. In our time, it is easy to forget that we have one, mainstream, version of Christianity, whether it be Catholic, Protestan, or even the more isolated sects like Mormonism. However, Christianity in its current state is a development. The sayings of these desert fathers proves that. They existed before modernity, but they exemplify what modern Christianity sees as an ideal. They lived it. These sayings are a primary source.

If you want to be inspired, tihs is a wonderful book....

United States on Jul 18, 2012