Sermons on the Christian Year - (Cistercian Fathers) by Isaac of Stella (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Isaac of Stella was an English-born Cistercian who studied in the schools before entering monastic life and becoming abbot of Stella in 1147. His liturgical sermons inject a speculative philosophical inquisitiveness into imaginative meditations on scenes from Scripture. This present volume includes sermons 27-55, along with three fragments. In these sermons, while treating biblical passages corresponding to the major feasts of the Christian calendar, Isaac tackles weighty dogmatic issues such as predestination, the problem of evil, and Christ's two natures.

Review Quotes

"Isaac's sermons exist in only a few manuscripts, and hence few have had an opportunity to read his Latin text. This translation makes the sermons accessible to anyone who can read English. We should be grateful to all who made that possible."
Cistercian Studies Quarterly

"This long-awaited volume allows contemporary readers to appreciate the full theological creativity and monastic wisdom of one of the greatest, but less well-known, Cistercian mystics of the twelfth century. Isaac of Stella's liturgical sermons are original, challenging, and spiritually nourishing. It is a delight to have them in a fine English translation for the first time."Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus, Divinity School, University of Chicago

"This new publication, which brings to completion the whole series of his sermons, coming out forty years after the first half, benefits from two improving new factors: a better knowledge of Isaac's life and literary output, and an updated translational technique, more attentive to the original style of the author. Such a work will undoubtedly increase the knowledge and the consequent relevance of Isaac of Stella, for `the soundness of his monastic teaching, the depth and breadth of his theology, and his skill with words'. Surely, it is time for acknowledging his high place among the great authors of the first Cistercian generation, and his full and undisputable right to be called `the fifth evangelist of Cîteaux.'"Fr. Domenico Pezzini