The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women

Ever since I bought it, Laura Swan's "The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives and Stories of Early Christian Women" has proved a very interesting read for a person caught up in the mundane life of inner-city Melbourne. Laura's Swan's stories of these women from mostly very wealthy backgrounds who turned to the simplest and most stringently ascetic lives never fail to stir my own imagination. The way in which some ammas would go so far as to wear hairshirts and sleep on hair mats is particularly stirring because it suggests to me that these people must have been remarkably devout and had deep emotional ties to God. They stories form, even for someone like myself who has never had the self-discipline to be a religious practitioner of any kind, stories that have a true beauty in their simplicity and the manner in which the desert ammas would not only teach numerous disciples but also help the numerous very poor people of their time. The way in which many widows become ammas is particularly fascinating for someone of my generation. There are also a great many interesting sidelights on how the desert ammas communicated with much better-known theologians such as Jerome, plus a good deal of interesting stories of how the ammas resisted persecution by anti-Christian forces in the first three centuries of Christianity. Swan, a Benedictine nun, also offers detailed, easy-to-read analyses of both the sayings of the desert ammas and what the ammas offer as an alternative to today's stressful, fast-paced life. All in all, this is an impressive book with very surprising information that will add a great deal to your knowledge of early Christianity or serve perfectly as a purely inspirational work (as with myself).

I would like to say I really enjoyed this book. I found it interesting to hear several different backgrounds and also a lot of common ground placed among these forgotten desert mothers.

I thoroughly loved this book, particularly the wonderful commentary. I found myself drawn to their lives and craving to learn more about the ammas. Also the historical perspective of the ever evolving role of women in catholicism was evident and insightful. I also found the dictionary in the back very helpful.

The sayings of the desert mothers (the Ammas) are worth the purchase of the book. They are starkly beautiful and fresh. However, Laura Swan's commentary is predictable, dull and full of religious jargon and psychological cliche. Often the commentary loses sight of a particular Amma's "saying" entirely. Swan has a knack for missing the humor or irony in many of the sayings. I soon gave up reading Swan and simply read the Ammas' sayings -- and was more than rewarded.

This is a wonderful resource book for anyone interested in the history of spirituality. We have heard about the desert fathers, but here is a well-documented, readable, sometimes quirky look at their female counterparts.Swan relates the writings of the desert matriarchs to her own life and thought, which helped me think through some of the issues, such as asceticism, marriage, leadership, and changing views of women, society and spirituality. Read it! It is full of plums!