A couple of years ago I was teaching what we used to call catechism but now term an inquirers’ class for newcomers to the parish who want to be baptized, confirmed, or received. During the discussion, a young woman—a lesbian—told us that the frst time . . .

Monks have been in the Wadi al-Natrun (ancient Scetis) in Egypt for almost 1700 years.1 Most studies of early monasticism focus on its history,2 but here I wish to examine its spirituality by looking in particular at the spirituality of early monastic . . .

In recent years scholars have added many up-to-date windows to the ancient monastic dwelling of the holy man in late antiquity. With these constructions they have brought new light to the way we see the holy man: as patron,2 thaumaturge,3 mediator and . . .

Blame it on Walt Disney. Our cartoons have sentimentalized and therefore falsified-the animal kingdom. Think of Bambi and Thumper. Even more, think of all the cute little talking animals that serve as comic relief in recent Disney films, tossing off . . .

Sometime in the sixth century, according to Palestinian monastic tradition, “a certain woman, poor in appearance,” arrived late one evening after vespers at the Monastery of Saint George of Choziba outside Jericho (a monastery that still exists)1and a . . .

Journeying to the interior is both physical fact and spiritual reality in early Christian monasticism, especially in Egypt, where the physical interior is clearly marked and life-threatening. The attacks of the demons in the Life ofAntony demonstrate . . .

Extreme episodic events have the capacity to transport large amounts of terrestrial material to the coastal ocean. While estuaries and deltas are typically thought to trap most of this material, some escapes these coastal features and is transported t . . .

The cory catfishes (Callichthyidae) are small, South American armored catfishes with a series of dermal scutes that run the length of the fish from posterior to the parieto-supraoccipital down to the caudal peduncle. In this study, we explore the anat . . .

In a recent issue of The American Benedictine Review, David N. Bell offered a searching critique of early Christian monasticism and found it severely deficient in a number of ways. He points out that the monks of the fourth and fifth century were not . . .

In January and February of 1996 I had the great good fortune of joining the team of American archeologists, faculty, and students who went to Wadi Natrun, Egypt; we were there to excavate the Monastery of Saint John the Little and study firsthandCopti . . .