An Introduction to the Desert Fathers

by Jason Byassee

The desert fathers wanted to get away from a church co-opted by empire and a Christian faith grown cold and listless. They retreated to the desert to do battle against demons and against their own worst desires. They had no intention of being famous; yet ironically their Sayings have inspired millions of imitators over the centuries. This guide is meant to accompany a reading of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, in hopes that readers with lives quite different than those third- and fourth-century dwellers of the Egyptian desert might nevertheless come to imitate their lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience; and more importantly, that readers might grow more imaginative and passionate in their following of the same Lord.

Genres: Theology, Christian

130 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent little book that not only helps you navigate the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, but serves as a good introduction to ancient monastic life. The Author does a fine job of highlighting both the strengths and the weaknesses of the various topics that the Sayings covers. He uses a well-thought-out level of humour (normally from the Sayings themselves) to help the reader get below the surface of what are often very foreign topics for a 21st Century Christian.

Highly recommended for those wanting to study the Desert Fathers - would also be good as a starting point, ie to see what all the fuss is about when it comes to the Desert Fathers :)

Nice use of questions at the end of each chapter helps to improve personal study, or promote small group study.

Also includes a useful Bibliography for further study.

This is a worthy addition to the other Cascade Companions that I have read.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this rather slim volume for quite some time, partly because it is on the Desert Fathers, who interest me because of their psychologically astute teachings and, partly, because this introduction is by Jason Byassee, who is one of those rare writers to can take theologically complex ideas and make them comprehensible to the lay reader. Certainly, that is what Byassee's books on Augustine's treatment of the Psalms and his commentary on the Confessions have done. And he repeats this achievement here with these often obscure, but profound sayings of the Desert Fathers.

The Desert Fathers, of course, are those Christian hermits and cenobites, who retreated from the increasingly worldly post-Constantinian church into the deserts of Egypt and Syria to seek a deeper experience of Christian prayer and meditation. In this retreat, they learned deeply about meditation and the obstacles to meditation in ways that those of us in the more worldly urban world don't manage. They were and are the inspiration of the monasteic movement, but their insights into spiritual psychology remain their chief value. They, certainly, learned how their 'bad thoughts' affected their spiritual lives and learned ways to overcome them. Sometimes those ways may strike us as odd or extreme, but the wisdom of these sayings remain.

Byassee organizes his discussion by topic, rather by saying, and, so, considers the main themes of the sayings of the Desert Fathers. He is sympathetic without being uncritical which gives a balanced account of what we can learn from these often difficult to relate to hermits. He includes reflection questions for additional study.

As a warning, this book is not really in print, but one can either get it as an e-book or order it as a print to order book. It is well worth the effort of finding, but, if you want a physical copy, give yourself some time to access it. It is worth the effort.