Overview

This is an informative and engaging book about monasticism, its history, practice, and relevance to contemporary life, combining personal insights with sound scholarship. Buxton begins with a focus on the early days of Christian monasticism and the transmission of this tradition to Western Europe, concentrating on particular themes or figures of interest and seeking to draw parallels with the present-day. He then explores the central features of monastic life, such as silence and humility, drawing on personal experience as well as foundational literature. Part three examines the contemporary relevance of monasticism, suggesting that the core Benedictine principles of stability, conversion, and obedience offer a framework for an alternative way of being that may enable our everyday lives to be enriched and even transformed.

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9781847061119

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Reviews

2I can warmly commend the book as 'spiritual reading' in itself, as it is thoughtful, interesting, researched, well-written, original and accessible. I had a sudden desire to place a welcoming copy of this particular book in each unit of guest accomodation here at Fairacres! As an introduction to monastic history, it is also a good book for a novitiate library I hope some readers will feel moved to obtain the book and that they will find it helpful, as I have done. It would be a good boom to take away for retreat reading! Fairacres Chronicle, summer 2009--, Face The Nation

Mention in Church Times, February 2009 As a reader might imagine, this book can be compelling. Buxton's trajectory is dramatic, and he writes about it with clarity and candor. He's well-read and well-versed in the early monastic heavy hitters, quoting the abbas, Evagrius, and Benedict extensively and easily. - American Benedictine Review 2I can warmly commend the book as 'spiritual reading' in itself, as it is thoughtful, interesting, researched, well-written, original and accessible. I had a sudden desire to place a welcoming copy of this particular book in each unit of guest accomodation here at Fairacres! As an introduction to monastic history, it is also a good book for a novitiate library I hope some readers will feel moved to obtain the book and that they will find it helpful, as I have done. It would be a good boom to take away for retreat reading! Fairacres Chronicle, summer 2009--Sanford Lakoff Face The Nation Sensitive and perceptive...Stretching out to what is of ultimate value is tantalising; a book about it must inevitably be incomplete, leaving us wanting more. Good books do that. --Sanford Lakoff Church Times ... one of the things that gives Tantalus and the Pelican its interest is its account of a spiritual development so characteristic of our times... This is a carefully crafted and intelligent book, weaving together a number of themes... Buxton now possesses a language in which to articulate some of his deepest insights into monasticism and to argue not simply for its value but for its necessity... He writes with sensitivity, understanding and a kind of yearning about its appeal. - Gillian Leslie, The Tablet, March 2009--Sanford Lakoff The American Spectator 'This wide-ranging book is also an engagement with the early Christian desert fathers whose spirituality fed Buxton in his discovery of the meaning of monasticism.'--Sanford Lakoff

As a reader might imagine, this book can be compelling. Buxton's trajectory is dramatic, and he writes about it with clarity and candor. He's well-read and well-versed in the early monastic heavy hitters, quoting the abbas, Evagrius, and Benedict extensively and easily. - American Benedictine Review 'This wide-ranging book is also an engagement with the early Christian desert fathers whose spirituality fed Buxton in his discovery of the meaning of monasticism.' -- The Tablet Mention in Church Times, February 2009 Sensitive and perceptive...Stretching out to what is of ultimate value is tantalising; a book about it must inevitably be incomplete, leaving us wanting more. Good books do that. -- Fr Jonathan Ewer * Church Times * 2I can warmly commend the book as 'spiritual reading' in itself, as it is thoughtful, interesting, researched, well-written, original and accessible. I had a sudden desire to place a welcoming copy of this particular book in each unit of guest accomodation here at Fairacres! As an introduction to monastic history, it is also a good book for a novitiate library I hope some readers will feel moved to obtain the book and that they will find it helpful, as I have done. It would be a good boom to take away for retreat reading! Fairacres Chronicle, summer 2009 -- Sister Avis Mary SLG * Face The Nation * ... one of the things that gives Tantalus and the Pelican its interest is its account of a spiritual development so characteristic of our times... This is a carefully crafted and intelligent book, weaving together a number of themes... Buxton now possesses a language in which to articulate some of his deepest insights into monasticism and to argue not simply for its value but for its necessity... He writes with sensitivity, understanding and a kind of yearning about its appeal. - Gillian Leslie, The Tablet, March 2009 -- G. Leslie * Tablet, The *

Author Information

Nicholas Buxton has visited and stayed in numerous monasteries all over the world. He has a PhD in Buddhist philosophy and was one of the participants in the BBC2's The Monastery. He has published widely on religion and spirituality and is a Minor Canon of Ripon Cathedral.

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