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Drinking from the Hidden Fountain : A Patristic Breviary - Ancient Wisdom for Today's World
This collection of selected passages from the Fathers of the Church sets out a plan for meditation during the course of the year
- GenresTheology
448 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 19, 2024
I received this devotional as a gift and used it all of 2023. I appreciated it as a unique daily devotional!
This devotional includes daily snippets of writings from various Church Fathers which follow a monthly theme. It also includes an introduction and brief biography of each Father in the appendix, which is very helpful!
I did enjoy having a more bite-sized approach to the Fathers that I could take in during my day. It was a different kind of devotional from what is typically seen. I liked the classic feel to it and the spiritual depth it offers the reader. It wasn't too hard to read but wasn't overly simplistic either. It had just the right amount of depth to be meaningful and yet not overly intellectual or verbose.
My typical complaint with books like these is that simply using snippets of writings sometimes makes it hard to really understand the full point of what the author is saying. Context, especially in spiritual works like these, makes a huge difference, and I think we can sometimes run the risk of misunderstanding these snippets if we don't have a good understanding of the rest of the work. There were definitely times reading it that I wanted more than the snippet I had...but I guess that's a way to know that I should just read that original text then, ha!
Overall, I think any Christian would find this helpful and informative. If you're at all interested in what the ancient Fathers wrote and would like a slow-paced introduction to them, this yearly devotional may be just the thing!
This devotional includes daily snippets of writings from various Church Fathers which follow a monthly theme. It also includes an introduction and brief biography of each Father in the appendix, which is very helpful!
I did enjoy having a more bite-sized approach to the Fathers that I could take in during my day. It was a different kind of devotional from what is typically seen. I liked the classic feel to it and the spiritual depth it offers the reader. It wasn't too hard to read but wasn't overly simplistic either. It had just the right amount of depth to be meaningful and yet not overly intellectual or verbose.
My typical complaint with books like these is that simply using snippets of writings sometimes makes it hard to really understand the full point of what the author is saying. Context, especially in spiritual works like these, makes a huge difference, and I think we can sometimes run the risk of misunderstanding these snippets if we don't have a good understanding of the rest of the work. There were definitely times reading it that I wanted more than the snippet I had...but I guess that's a way to know that I should just read that original text then, ha!
Overall, I think any Christian would find this helpful and informative. If you're at all interested in what the ancient Fathers wrote and would like a slow-paced introduction to them, this yearly devotional may be just the thing!
December 31, 2020
Great book to help with your spiritual life.
January 15, 2025
Received as a gift, I think it’s good to read this first thing in the morning after prayer.
Glory to God ☦️
Glory to God ☦️
August 8, 2021
Focusing on particular topics for each month proved to be more a liability than an asset in this daily devotional. Topics for one or two months didn't seem worthy of such attention. Nevertheless, wonderful nuggets of patristic wisdom scattered throughout this book.
August 9, 2011
Excellent daily reading with a focus on Eastern Fathers.
February 21, 2016
This book has a short reading from one of the Church fathers for each day of the year. Great for a daily devotional.
November 18, 2019
The selections are good, though often (as with all these sorts of anthologies) the lack of context can be very misleading.
May 2, 2017
I love this book, and would (and have) recommend it to anyone. Great daily devotional, great intro the fathers, great intro to the desert tradition, great texts for meditation...just great.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews