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Book Cover for: The Life of Christ (Reader's Edition): Volume 2, Ludolph The Carthusian

The Life of Christ (Reader's Edition): Volume 2

Ludolph The Carthusian

Hardcover
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The chequered life of Ludolph the Carthusian (c. 1295-1378) found its spiritual contentment in the writing of his colossal work on the Vita Jesu Christi in Latin. The book on the Life of Christ occupied some forty years of Ludolph's life in a charterhouse in Mainz. It has been styled as a summa evangelica and as it contains a series of meditations, spiritual instructions and prayers, it has also served to many a medieval scholar as a collation of dogmatic and moral dissertations. These are still worthy of great note today as they were mostly prior to the pre-Reformation period of the Roman Church.

Since the early years of first going to the press in Latin the book has been printed in some sixty editions and translations. These have often served as an inspirational source of meditation, contemplation and prayer to several saintly figures. In this novel work the translator tends to offer a popular edition of a vivid picture of Jesus' life and that of his immediate followers as seen through the eyes of a medieval writer.

The book has also during the ages aroused reverential awe urged by the words, signs and doings of Jesus in a historical situation very much parallel to the convolutions of our times. With many a Christian presently desiring to return to the early Church founded by Jesus as witnessed in the Gospel, this is a source of inspirational beauty and practical activism as to what it means to follow Jesus. It is also a precious Speculum vitae Christi, or Mirror of the Life of Christ, for any present-day disciple's formative life in a community, like that of the early disciples and apostles who knew Christ very directly.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Arouca Press
  • Publish Date: Apr 4th, 2025
  • Pages: 668
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 1.63in - 2.30lb
  • EAN: 9781998492152
  • Categories: • Christianity - Catholic - General• Christian Living - Devotional

Praise for this book

Since all sanctification and perfection are contained in the life of the God-Man, Jesus Christ Our Lord, the better we get to know His life, the closer we will be to the sublime goal God had in mind when He created us. Ludolph's Life of Christ is a priceless companion to the Gospels and leads to that goal. -Dom Pius Mary Noonan, OSB, Prior of Notre Dame Priory, Tasmania, author of The Grace to Desire It (Cana Press)

This spiritual classic is addressed to all. It aims to be practical, rather than speculative... Its holy Carthusian author-never canonised, because the Carthusians don't bother to keep a score of their saints-offers an historical vision of salvation, from Christ's going out from the Father to his final glory. -Fr. Giles Gonacher, OSB, Pluscarden Abbey

The Carthusian Ludolph's Life of Christ is not so much a biography of the Lord as a compendium of contemplative Christology. Influential across centuries, it was foundational in St. Ignatius of Loyola's conversion of life, and a strong influence on Ignatian spirituality, especially its particular method of meditation. -Fr. Hugh Somerville Knapman, OSB, author of Ecumenism of Blood: Heavenly Hope for Earthly Communion (Paulist Press)

The Life of Christ marked a breakthrough in pious imagination, zooming in on the details of the Gospel and bringing them to life. Ludolph claims no mystical insight but simply draws from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to inform his reading of the sacred text. -Michael P. Foley, Professor of Patristics at Baylor University and author of Lost in Translation: Meditating on the Orations of the Traditional Roman Rite (Angelico Press, 2023)