Richard Newman
Gracewing, £14.99, 244 pages
This small book is a revision and extension of Richard Newman’s Saint Benedict in His Time, which was published by Three Peaks Press in 2013. Both books look at the saint in his historical context; this second book stands alone, but would also be of interest to readers of the first.
The most striking thing revealed by Newman’s research is the similarities between Benedict’s world of a millennium and a half ago and ours – alongside the enormous differences. It is estimated that Benedict’s life lasted from 480 to about 547. This was a time of tremendous upheaval and conflict in both Church and state, with the Arian heresy still very much alive, rival popes, wars, plagues and famines. In 536, Italy lived under a dust cloud probably caused by volcanic eruptions; the sun could scarcely be seen and the crops failed, causing widespread hunger and distress. Benedict’s tools for harmonious community living were therefore fashioned in a forge with many of the features of our own age, and can work for people of many different times and cultures.
