Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary - Hardcover

by Terrence G. Kardong (Author)

Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary is the first line-by-line exegesis of the entire Rule of Benedict written originally in English. This full commentary - predominately a literary and historical criticism - is based on and includes a new translation and is accompanied by essays on Benedict's spiritual doctrine.

A monk who has striven to live according to the Rule of Benedict for thirty-five years, Father Kardong relates it to modern monastic life while examining the sources (Cassian, Augustine, and Basil) Benedict used to establish his Rule. Overviews - summaries of notes, source criticism, or structural criticism - follow some chapters, and a large bibliography of the current scholarship and source references are also included. Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary also includes the Latin text of the Regula Benedicti. This reference work is invaluable to libraries and to those who are called to interpret the Rule. It will be opened again and again. Indexed.

Back Jacket

Through the ages many commentaries have been written on the Rule of Benedict. Usually these books were the practical reflections of a busy abbot, and they tended to concentrate on a few favorite chapters and verses of the Rule. Now, however, scholars are applying literary and historical criticism to studies of the Rule with impressive results. For the past fifteen years, Fr. Terrence Kardong, O.S.B., has written monographs on important parts of the Rule. Now in Benedict's Rule he has completed a line-by-line exegesis of the entire Rule - the first such in the English language. This commentary is based on a new translation, and it is accompanied by essays on Benedict's spiritual doctrine. The Latin texts of the Rule, as published in RB 1980 (The Liturgical Press, 1981), are included. The book also has a massive bibliography of current scholarship on the Rule.