Ship of Fools: book recommendations on the eremitical life

Thread: book recommendations on the eremitical life Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Pomona (# 17175) on :

I have just finished Sara Maitland's A Book Of Silence. I've also read Maggie Ross' The Fire Of Your Life, and Thomas Merton. Other books to be recommended on the solitary/eremitical religious life?

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

You have read The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton? Except I don't think he was a solitary -- as I recall Merton was a Benedictine.
The novel I know best about the cloistered life is In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden.

Posted by Dafyd (# 5549) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
You have read The Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton? Except I don't think he was a solitary -- as I recall Merton was a Benedictine.

As I understand it, Merton wanted to be a bit more solitary than his abbot would fully allow him to be.

I understand that Seven Storey Mountain is not quite as good as Merton's later books. Or at least that Merton became interested in the relations between contemplation and social justice or in interfaith relations only later on. (The first Merton I read was Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, which I think had a big effect on my thinking.)

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

Do read Nicholas Buxton Tantalus and the Pelican.

Both an autobiographical account of his journey from atheism to Christianity via Buddhism and an account of the origins of monasticism.

He was a participant in some reality TV show called The Monastery,

I picked up the book in Ripon Cathedral's shop and found myself calling out "Good man" at the introduction.

He's spent time at the Carthusian monastery at Parkminster. Carthusians are monks who are effectively hermits.

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

For a very different tradition try Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer by Catherine De Hueck Doherty.

Jengie

Posted by Hilda of Whitby (# 7341) on :

John Michael Talbot (folk rock musician turned Franciscan and founder of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, an integrated monastic community comprised of celibate brothers and sisters, single people and married people) has written several books about monastic life, including eremetic:

Hermitage: its heritage and challenge for the future

Meditations from solitude

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

Regarding Thomas Merton:
'The Seven Story Mountain' is the first of his books about his life as a Trappist, at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. He said a a lot of things in it that he probably later wished he hadn't!
'The Sign of Jonas' is his journal of his first years there, covering his solemn profession, his ordination to the priesthood and other major events in his life. Throughout this work he wrestles with the notion of either leaving to become a Carthusian (thus more solitary) or persuading the abbot to allow him a hermitage (which was finally granted). 'Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander' is a much later journal.
After his death the community published his complete(?) journals in IIRC 5 volumes.
His 'Selected Poems,' published in 1959 by New Directions, is a superb collection, with many of the poems reflecting on the monastic life.

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Carthusians are monks who are effectively hermits.

Yes. There are books of Carthusian spiritual writings. They're usually (always?) published anonymously, as being by "A Carthusian". Also, check out the film Into Great Silence, which is an extraordinarily beautiful film about their strange, hard life.

For the classical eremitic life, you can't do better than any of the collections of the lives and sayings of the Desert Mothers and Fathers.

Posted by Fineline (# 12143) on :

Hear Our Silence, by John Skinner, is an interesting read. He asked to stay with the Carthusians, so he could write about them, and they let him live as one of them, which they don't usually do.

There is also Verena Schiller's A Simplified Life: A Contemporary Hermit's Experience of Solitude and Silence - she writes about her experience as an Anglican hermit.

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Though I have not read it you might look at The Song of the Lark which talks of the founding of the Society of Our Lady of the Isles as part Carthusian, part Celtic Episcopalian Religious Order.

Jengie

Posted by Thyme (# 12360) on :

You could look at Ravensbread and subscribe to the magazine and investigate the various resources there.

Also, Fellowship of Solitaries

Eve Bakers books are very good although out of print now, you might be able to get a copy on Amazon.

'Solitude and Communion - Prayers on the Hermit Life' pubd by SLG press and still available.

'The Hermitage Within' by A Monk. pubd by Darton Longman & Todd, and available on Amazon. This monk is a Cistercian.

Sr Rachel Overton a solitary based in the Peterborough Diocese. Also there is a YouTube (which I haven't listened to) of her giving a talk here

Posted by Thyme (# 12360) on :

Ugh, Duh, ' Papers on the Hermit Life' not Prayers on the Hermit Life' [Hot and Hormonal]

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :

For an outsider's view, Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time to Keep Silence" is worth a read.

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

A classic that repays further reading is Athanasius' "Life of Antony."

Posted by Pomona (# 17175) on :

Thank you all!

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
For an outsider's view, Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time to Keep Silence" is worth a read.

Oh, that is such a beautiful book!

And now I'm perturbed because I can't find my copy.

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