Becoming a Community of Disciples

Resources for Application

143

The life of St. Benedict was written by Gregory the Great (d. 604) and is available in an English translation: Terrence G. Kardong, The Life of St. Benedict by Gregory the Great: Translation and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009). Books on The Rule of Basil are academic and include Anna M. Silvas, trans., The Rule of St. Basil in Latin and English: A Revised Critical Edition (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2013). For an introduction to his life and thought see Stephen M. Hildebrand, Basil of Caesarea (The Early Church Fathers) (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2018); or, Stephen M. Hildebrand, Basil of Caesarea (Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality) (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014). Monastic rules were written for specific monastic communities and The Rule of Benedict is the most well- known. There are books of Christian spirituality that are not technically monastic rules but are like them. The most well-known are probably Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living and Dying and John Wesley’s A Plain Account of Christian Perfection , both of which should be read by those who are spiritually mature.