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.