Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church Through the Middle Ages

by Pope Benedict Xvi

Paperback, 2011

Status

Available

Description

"In brief portraits, Pope Benedict XVI offers engaging, perceptive, and edifying sketches of some of the great thinkers and writers of Christianity. Pope Benedict discusses notable theologians from East and West but also many figures whose primary witness was as ascetics, poets, mystics, and missionaries. His pieces are not only illuminating historical sketches but also often surprisingly personal reflective meditations on the perennial changes of theology, spirituality, devotion, and corporate religious life in short, of thinking about and wrestling daily with the mysteries that envelop all our lives and struggles. Always with an eye to their deepest religious convictions and struggles, the Holy Father presents these great thinkers' importance for the church and for Christian life today. Great Christian Thinkers is an open-minded look at the tradition and is written for Catholics and Protestants alike"--Publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ebnelson
A collection of daily meditations on saints both obscure an prominent, though this work contains the biographical information it does not contain the insight one would expect from Pope Benedict. Whereas I had come expecting to find lyrical biographies of great men and women, what I found was
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shallow plumb lines better for suited for a quick read and longer pondering.

If you’re looking for an introduction to saints, look to Bulter’s Lives of Saints or better yet, Jacobus’s Golden Legend (Princeton’s two-volume edition is excellent). Whereas these two titles function well to introduce people to the lives of amazing Christians, this pontifical work is better suited for those moving on to round two and seeking to meditate more.
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ISBN

0800698517 / 9780800698515
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