Hiking in the Death Valley desert with Stephen and Joanne Hatch. (I’m the “rib cage” in the middle!)
Are you looking for good reading about the desert? Here’s an annotated booklist of some of my favorites.
1. Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
This is a classic and a must-read, as relevant today as it was when first published in 1968. Abbey, the old curmudgeon, alternates between lyrical poetic descriptions of the red rock desert of Utah and diatribes about the loss of wilderness. He’s irreverent, even rude, and considers himself non-religious. Is he “spiritual” and a contemporary desert father?
2. The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton
This was one of Merton’s favorites among his own books. He presents 150 Sayings from the Desert Fathers (not Mothers), organized randomly, neither alphabetically nor thematically. This drives me crazy, along with his Roman numerals. But this is a must read, too. Merton’s introduction is brilliant. He challenges us all to “swim away from the shipwreck” of our dominant culture as the Desert Fathers did and become our best and “true” selves by living a counter-cultural life.
3. Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christine Valters Paintner
Mercifully, Paintner organizes her collection of the Sayings by themes especially relevant to us and puts the numbers in Arabic numerals, focusing more on the Desert Mothers. Her commentary on each saying is excellent. She defines key desert terms in contemporary ways and is especially good with accidie and “the passions.” Her introduction alone is “worth the price of the book,” as Paula Huston wrote. Her quotations from other writings on the desert will lead you to futher inspiring readings.
4. The Desert: An Anthology for Lent, John Moses
This book is a gold mine of inspiration for daily living from more contemporary writings on desert spirituality. Read it at any time of the year. The footnotes and the last chapter on “The Literature of the Desert” point you to other invaluable resources on desert spirituality.
5. Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers, Yushi Nomura
This volume illustrates the universal relevance of desert spirituality across cultures and centuries. Nomura is a Japanese artist who learned about the desert tradition in a class with Henri Nouwen at Yale Divinity School. He “hears” the desert sayings like Zen stories and koans and renders them in his own beautiful calligraphy. His Japanese brush paintings turn the Desert Fathers into Zen monks and place the Egyptian stories in a classical Japanese setting. As Nouwen notes in his introduction, “he created a place in which the Buddha and the Christ in him could reach out to one another.”
6. The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, Belden Lane
In this unique and splendid book, Lane explores “desert and mountain spirituality” through the three classical stages of mystical growth: purgation, illumination, and union. He alternates between physical wildernesses such as Mount Sinai and Upper Moss Creek and the “desert” of the nursing home where his mother is dying of cancer and Alzheimer’s. Like Merton, Lane emphasizes the counter-cultural dimension of desert spirituality where we go against the grain of our dominant culture and pay attention to what matters most in our lives, ignoring the rest through commitment to contemplative and compassionate living. The forty pages of footnotes are daunting and worth slogging through.
7. Desert Voices: The Edge Effect, Tessa Bielecki and David Denny
In this compilation of essays from the early years of the Desert Foundation, David Denny and I celebrate our love affair with the desert. In the “Tent of Meeting,” we explore friendships between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, whose traditions grow out of the desert. We honor non-violent peacemakers who sow hope in the troubled desert of Israel-Palestine. We describe the inner desert of loss and grief and reflect on the universal desert of impermanence and death.
would you believe that i’ve read all of these except the john moses book (which i will try to get my hands on immediately!) christine valters painter’s book as well as yushi nomura’s are two of my favourites. i used christine’s book last year for lent and found it amazing. i can also recommend ‘in the heart of the desert’ by john chryssavgis if you haven’t already read that one. this is a great book list for anyone wanting to learn more.