Book Reviews2 Don’t Trust the Abbot: Musings from the Monastery.

Nov 13, 2009

Book by:  Abbot Jerome Kodell, O.S.B. Collegeville, Minn. : Liturgical Press.  94 pages.  Paperback.  ISBN 978-0-8146-3238-3.  $11.95.  March 2009.

Abbot Jerome Kodell is the abbot of Subiaco Abbey in Arkansas.  His book is a collection of his letters published in his Abbey’s newsletter, The Abbey Messenger between 1989 and 2008.  The letters have been edited and revised for this book.  

The title of this book is rather amusing since most monks trust their abbots to do their best as the spiritual father of the monastery.  Abbots are not elected because they are popular, but rather because they are capable leaders.

The topics examined through Abbot Jerome's letters are divided into three parts:  trust and faith, Christian life, and prayer.  His writing is down-to-earth and appealing to his readers.  Even though Abbot Jerome is a scholar, his letters are accessible to anyone.  He discusses topics such as trust, prayer, silence, celibacy, responsibility, the dark night of the soul, saints, distractions during prayer, intercessory prayer, monasticism, private revelations, and the American dream, to name a few.  The letters are short and to the point without being dry.

This book covers topics that are of interest to Benedictine monks, nuns, oblates, and those interested in Benedictine monasticism and spirituality.

Abbot Jerome Kodell, O.S.B., besides being an abbot, is a founding member of the Little Rock Scripture Study Program.  He is the author of Twelve Keys to Prayer (1999), The Eucharist in the New Testament (1991), commentaries with the Collegeville Bible Commentary, and articles and other books.  

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