The Frontiers of Paradise: A Study of Monks and Monasteries

Levi, professor of poetry at Oxford, who once lived in a religious order, observes that the monastic life is not confined to Christianity or to the West. In this engaging survey of monasticism, he touches on many historical highlights, from Indian wandering asceticsthe earliest monksthrough Egypt's hermit communities, Serbia's Holy Mountain and San Lazzaro in Venice, to the major Christian orders such as Benedictine, Gregorian, Dominician and Cistercian. Eccentrics, holy women, visionaries, mystics and refugees populate this gracefully written study. Levi also looks at monastic artstone sculpture, abbey architecture, Buddhist cave sanctuariesand investigates a Western monastic culture that embraced a regulated lifestyle, herbal medicine and a passion for scholarship. (May)