A Benedictine Education

By John Henry Newman || Edited by Christopher Fisher A Benedictine Education presents two essays by John Henry Newman which articulate Saint Benedict’s vision of a schola servitii dominici, “a school of the Lord’s service.” As Christopher Fisher notes, the book aims to aid in the recovery of the Benedictine principle, a principle animated by a poetic disposition. The Portsmouth Institute, at which Fisher serves as Executive Director, works to develop this disposition and thus provide leaven for a Christian culture. In her Introduction, Margarita A. Mooney bears this out, emphasizing the power of the Benedictine principle to purify present-day educational systems. Concluding the volume is an Interpretive Essay by Abbot Thomas Frerking, O.S.B. The graceful and graced fruit of a life of contemplation, Abbot Thomas’s words testify to the sublime truth at the heart of Christianity: the gift of wisdom comes not from literacy or learning, but from love. John Henry Newman (1801–1890) had a not