Great Teachers from a Great Teacher

Our Holy Father Benedict XVI is a learned man with much wisdom to share. His Papal Wednesday Audiences feature intellectually and spiritually edifying content. Our Sunday Visitor has compiled the texts in a series of books—Great Teachers being one of the most recently published. Through these writings we are introduced (or reintroduced) to the monastic and scholastic theologians of the 12th and 13th centuries and their writings—including St. Dominic Guzmán, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bonaventure, John of Salisbury, and Bl. John Duns Scotus. Pope Benedict XVI is a master at introducing these great men in the context of history, and linking their sermons and writings to our lives today.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, mostly reading it in the Adoration chapel. The chapters (for the most part) are a single Wednesday Audience—brief enough to read in small chunks of time. At times I found myself thoroughly absorbed and reading multiple chapters at a time; other times I lingered on a single chapter. Not only are the Great Teachers wonderful spiritual examples, but they also speak to me as a scholar and an educator.

“In [Hugh of Saint-Victor’s] treatise on the methodology of knowledge and pedagogy, entitled significantly Didascalicon (On Teaching) his recommendation was: ‘Learn willingly what you do not know from everyone. The person who has sought to learn something from everyone will be wiser than them all. The person who receives something from everyone ends up becoming the richest of all.’” (p 32)

While the texts of the Papal Audiences are available on the Vatican website, I have found it convenient to have the printed texts for portability (I have taken this book to the Adoration Chapel on numerous occasions and on trips out of town). For one who is not well-versed in Church history, this book serves as a gentle reminder (or swift introduction) of the Christian Middle Ages’ contribution to Catholic theology. This can serve as a beginning to further reading on the lives and teachings of these theologians who are still quoted and studied and whose words remain relevant to our Christian lives.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company; I was provided with a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Great Teachers-Pope Benedict XVI. They are also a great source for a Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible.