This volume, the fifth in the series of volumes containing the one hundred and eighty letters written by the eleventh-century monk Peter Damian, contains careful and annotated translations of Damian's Letters 121-150. Written during the years 1062-66, the letters deal with a wide variety of subjects and provide a contemporary account of many of the controversies of the gripping period in the history of church and state. Included here are several letters addressed to kinsmen. Letter 123 is Damian's rather lengthy exhortation ...
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This volume, the fifth in the series of volumes containing the one hundred and eighty letters written by the eleventh-century monk Peter Damian, contains careful and annotated translations of Damian's Letters 121-150. Written during the years 1062-66, the letters deal with a wide variety of subjects and provide a contemporary account of many of the controversies of the gripping period in the history of church and state. Included here are several letters addressed to kinsmen. Letter 123 is Damian's rather lengthy exhortation to his nephew Damianus encouraging him to seek a pure and virtuous monastic life. Letter 132, written to his nephew Marinus, contains a comprehensive discussion of the virtues proper to the monastic life. And Letter 126 to Alberic of Monte Cassino, presents a good example of Damian's principles of biblical exegesis. The remaining letters (151-180) are currently being translated and will be published in the sixth and final volume in Spring 2005. Owen J. Blum, O.F.M., (1912-98) published frequently on Peter Damian and assisted in the critical edition of the Letters published in the series Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Irven M. Resnick is Professor of Philosophy and Religion, and Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies, at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
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