GroshLink

Dr. Dale C. Allison Jr., Errett M. Grable professor of New Testament exegesis and early Christianity, and I agree about at least one item.  In a spiritual formation seminar last spring, I remember him challenging those which would offer the Desert Fathers and Mothers as role models for spiritual formation, i.e., living like Christ.  This topic comes up for me again and again when discussing the teaching authority of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.  Yes, there is much to learn from them, but their teaching is not the Word of God.  An important part of teaching is not only our stated relationship with God, but also our embodiment of the Word (through our life, words, and actions).  It is in the area of pursuit of holiness through extreme measures where I find the Desert Fathers and Mothers going a separate direction.  For those with a beginning interest in the Desert Fathers, check out Discovering the Desert Paradox:  What many found when they sought God in a seemingly God-forsaken landscape.  Conversation with Belden Lane, Presbyterian professor of theology at St. Louis U. Note:  Belden's The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Mountain and Desert Spirituality (Oxford, 1998) is resported to be a brilliant analysis of how geography has played a vital role in the history of Western spirituality.  I guess this goes on the to read list.

The desert asks two questions: What do you learn to ignore? And what do you learn to love? In other words, how do you let go, and what do you hold onto? Those are the basic dimensions of the spiritual journey that the desert monks went through as they embraced the desert. -- Belden Lane