Christian History Home > Issue 64 > Antony and the Desert Fathers: Christian History Interview - Discovering the Desert Paradox
Antony and the Desert Fathers: Christian History Interview - Discovering the Desert Paradox
What many found when they sought God in a seemingly God-forsaken landscape.
conversation with Belden Lane, Presbyterian professor of theology at St. Louis U | posted 10/01/1999 12:00AM
It is difficult to fathom today why the desert fathers did what they did, or why the church, East and West, was so taken by their example for the next millennium. It requires a great deal research and historical imagination to see what the desert monks were getting out of their ascetic discipline.
Belden Lane, a Presbyterian professor of theology at St. Louis University, is one who has done the research and has the historical imagination. His The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Mountain and Desert Spirituality (Oxford, 1998) is a brilliant analysis of how geography has played a vital role in the history of Western spirituality. Christian History asked Professor Lane to help us grasp the attraction of desert asceticism throughout Christian History.
Why did the desert fathers choose to work out their spirituality in the desert?
They sought God, first of all, and they knew that God was most easily found in a place without distractions. Second, the desert was also a marvelous laboratory ...
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