Book Reviews and More: Church Fathers and Teachers From Leo The Great to Peter Lombard

Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Church Fathers and Teachers From Leo The Great to Peter Lombard - Pope Benedict XVI

Church Fathers and Teachers:

From Leo The Great to Peter Lombard

Pope Benedict XVI

Ignatius Press

ISBN 9781621646518

eISBN 9781681491004

ASIN B003KVLFV4

Church Fathers and Teachers From Saint Leo the Great to Peter Lombard - Pope Benedict XVI

This marks the 29th volume by Pope Benedict I have read over the last few years. In that time I have read a number of books by and about Pope Benedict XVI. Of the popes in my lifetime, I find his writings of immense spiritual benefit. I would state that I underappreciated him until his resignation. And since then, I have read much. And with each piece I read I appreciate his wisdom, faith, and stand against modernism to an even greater extent. This is an excellent read, even though it overlaps with other volumes I have read.

The description of the edition of the book is:

“After meditating on the Apostles and then on the Fathers of the early Church, as seen in his earlier works Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church and Church Fathers, Pope Benedict XVI devoted his attention to the most influential Christian men from the fifth through the twelfth centuries. In his first book, Church Fathers, Benedict began with Clement of Rome and ended with Saint Augustine. In this volume, the Holy Father reflects on some of the greatest theologians of the Middle Ages: Benedict, Anselm, Bernard, and Gregory the Great, to name just a few. By exploring both the lives and the ideas of the great popes, abbots, scholars and missionaries who lived during the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christendom, Pope Benedict XVI highlights the key elements of Catholic dogma and practice that remain the foundation stones not only of the Roman Catholic Church but of Christian society itself. This book is a wonderful way to get to know these later Church Fathers and Teachers and the tremendous spiritually rich patrimony they have bequeathed to us.”

The chapters in this edition are:

1. Saint Leo the Great

2. Boethius and Cassiodorus

3. Saint Benedict of Norcia

4. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

5. Saint Romanus the Melodist

6. Saint Gregory the Great (1)

7. Saint Gregory the Great (2)

8. Saint Columban

9. Saint Isidore of Seville

10. Saint Maximus the Confessor

11. John Climacus

12. Saint Bede, the Venerable

13. Saint Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans

14. Ambrose Autpert

15. Germanus of Constantinople

16. John Damascene

17. Saint Theodore the Studite

18. Rabanus Maurus

19. John Scotus Erigena

20. Saints Cyril and Methodius

21. Saint Odo of Cluny

22. Saint Peter Damian

23. Symeon the New Theologian

24. Saint Anselm

25. Peter the Venerable

26. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

27. Monastic Theology and Scholastic Theology

28. Two Theological Models in Comparison: Bernard and Abelard

29. The Cluniac Reform

30. The Cathedral from the Romanesque to the Gothic Architecture: The Theological Background

31. Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor

32. William of Saint-Thierry

33. Rupert of Deutz

34. John of Salisbury

35. Peter Lombard

The volumes that overlap with this one are:

Fathers and Writers of the First Millennium - The Spiritual Masters (Chapters 10-20)

The Medieval Fathers and Writers - The Spiritual Masters (Chapters 21-35)

Those two volumes are preceded by:

Church Fathers From Clement of Rome to Augustine I

The Fathers of the Church - CTS Books

Which are preceded by:

Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church and Church Fathers

And they are followed by:

Holy Men and Women from The Middle Ages and Beyond

Which I only discovered while reading the description of this volume, while working on this review but have now added to my wish list. But back to this volume. It should also be noted there is no introduction of conclusion to the volume.

I have read much about the church fathers and by the church fathers over the years. Both in school and personal reading, much of it by Mike Aquilina. This is an absolutely fantastic volume. You can read it from beginning to end, or jump around and pick and choose the Fathers in a random order.

This is a wonderful volume to read and having read a chunk of it in a different edition it was a refresher on the church fathers and teachers. This volume at the start of each chapter had the name, date of the audience and location, for example:

Peter Lombard

WEDNESDAY, 30 DECEMBER 2009

Paul VI Audience Hall

It is a great resource that any Catholic would benefit from reading, it would be great for any Christian. An excellent volume.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2024 Catholic Reading Plan!

Link to reviews of other books by and about Pope Benedict XVI.

Books by Benedict XVI: