The Dialogue On Miracles

Caesarius was a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Heisterbach in Germany, where he served as Master of novices. For their instruction and edification, he composed his lengthy Dialogue on Miracles in twelve sections between 1219 and 1223. The many surviving manuscripts of this and other works by Caesarius attest to his stature in the history of Cistercian letters. This volume contains sections one through six of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogue on Miracles, the first complete translation into English of an influential representation of exempla literature from the Middle Ages. Caesarius’s stories provide a splendid index to monastic life, religious practices, and daily life in a tumultuous time.

"A collection of 754 brief narratives, The Dialogue on Miracles is a translation of Caesarius of Heisterbach's Dialogus miraculorum. While these narratives, or exempla, were written primarily to pass on the moral teaching of the Bible and the Cistercian tradition to young monks, they provide modern readers a window into not only the lives of the first generations of Cistercian monks and nuns, but also of medieval German society and culture, secular and religious"--

Caesarius was a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Heisterbach in Germany, where he served as Master of novices. For their instruction and edification, he composed his lengthy Dialogue on Miracles in twelve sections between 1219 and 1223. The many surviving manuscripts of this and other works by Caesarius attest to his stature in the history of Cistercian letters. This volume contains sections one through six of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogue on Miracles, the first complete translation into English of an influential representation of exempla literature from the Middle Ages. Caesarius’s stories provide a splendid index to monastic life, religious practices, and daily life in a tumultuous time.

Caesarius was a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Heisterbach in Germany, where he served as Master of novices. For their instruction and edification, he composed his lengthy Dialogue on Miracles in twelve sections between 1219 and 1223. The many surviving manuscripts of this and other works by Caesarius attest to his stature in the history of Cistercian letters. This second volume contains sections seven through twelve of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogue on Miracles, the first complete translation into English of an influential representation of exempla literature from the Middle Ages. Caesarius’s stories provide a splendid index to monastic life, religious practices, and daily life in a tumultuous time.

Caesarius was a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Heisterbach in Germany, where he served as Master of novices. For their instruction and edification, he composed his lengthy Dialogue on Miracles in twelve sections between 1219 and 1223. The many surviving manuscripts of this and other works by Caesarius attest to his stature in the history of Cistercian letters. This second volume contains sections seven through twelve of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogue on Miracles, the first complete translation into English of an influential representation of exempla literature from the Middle Ages. Caesarius’s stories provide a splendid index to monastic life, religious practices, and daily life in a tumultuous time.

This book explores, in a manner that is readily accessible to those with little or no formal training in philosophy or theology, important questions concerning the rationality of belief in miracles. This book employs the time-honored literary device of dialogue, a practice that dates as far back as Plato. Done well, this form of philosophical investigation puts forward a thesis, yet genuinely engages with the views its author opposes. These dialogues are intended to provide a philosophical defense of the possibility of rationally justified belief in miracles. Such a defense can legitimately dispense with much of the paraphernalia that professional scholars in a discipline use in writing for other professional scholars in their discipline--some scholarly texts seem to be more references than argument--but it must not "dumb down" the material by oversimplifying the issues, or presenting "straw man" versions of the arguments it seeks to refute. My hope is that not only those who are already convinced of the rationality of belief in miracles will read this book, but also those who are unconvinced.