This book examines the method of meditative reading encouraged by John Cassian (c. 360-435) in his ascetic writings, the bulk of which are fictive dialogues that purportedly record the instruction he had received from Egyptial Christian monks. This instruction was at its core an interactive experience, depending upon both the discernment of the master and diligent application of instruction by the student. Driver examines Cassian's understanding of the act of reading and suggests the implications of this for Cassian's monastic teaching and it interprets Cassian's method of reading in light of contemporary discussions of reading and the self.

Steven D. Driver

Introduction; Chapter 1 John Cassian; Chapter 2 Stories and Histories of Early Egyptian Monasticism; Chapter 3 Western Perceptions of Egyptian Monasticism; Chapter 4 Literary Structure and Monastic Praxis; Chapter 5 Implications for Praxis; Chapter 6 Implications for Theoria;