The Life of Jesus Christ Part One, Volume 1, Chapters 1-40

Milton T. Walsh has taken on a Herculean task of translating The Life of Christ by the fourteenth-century Carthusian, Ludolph of Saxony. He has more than risen to the challenge! Ludolph's text was one of the most widely spread and influential treatments of the theme in the later Middle Ages and has, until now, been available only in an insufficient late nineteenth-century edition (Rigollot). The manuscript tradition of The Life of Christ is extremely complex, and Walsh, while basing his translation on the edition, has gone beyond in providing critical apparatus that will be of significant use to scholars, as well as making the text available for students and all interested in the theology, spirituality, and religious life of the later Middle Ages. His introduction expertly places Ludolph's work in the textual tradition and is itself a contribution to scholarship. Simply put, this is an amazing achievement! Walsh's work fills an essential gap in our understanding of the text and its world, and will be the standard point of departure for all future research on Ludolph and treatises dealing with the life of Christ in the later Middle Ages. Accessible and readable, Walsh's translation should be on the shelf of every library, and all those who actively concern themselves with the later Middle Ages will want their own copy. The first volume, here translated, takes the narrative through the Sermon on the Mount. We can only eagerly await the appearance of the rest of the work!

Walsh has done pioneering work. [This book] will prove an invaluable tool for scholars researching the late medieval engagement with the humanity of Christ, while simultaneously catering for general readers and religious practitioners interested in learning more about a traditional and influential imaginative meditational practice.

This translation—the first into English—of The Life of Jesus Christ by Ludolph of Saxony will be welcomed both by scholars in various fields and by practicing Christians. It is at the same time an encyclopedia of biblical, patristic, and medieval learning and a compendium of late medieval spirituality, stressing the importance of meditation in the life of individual believers. It draws on an astonishing number of sources and sheds light on many aspects of the doctrinal and institutional history of the Church down to the fourteenth century.

Modern readers will find Ludolph's work fanciful. There is much here for meditation, and each section concludes with a prayer. The Life of Christ is not for the gullible, but it can be recommended for lectio and spiritual reading.

The volume is not only a tour de force of translation, but it is also beautifully presented. The font is pleasant to read, and the margins are generous, giving space not only for the sources identified by Dr. Walsh but also for any notes that the reader may wish to make. This volume will find a worthy place not only in academic libraries with a section on Carthusiana or medieval spirituality but also in monasteries, where monks and nuns of the twenty-first century will also benefit from Ludolph’s insights into the life and ministry of Jesus, here presented in a fine translation. Dr. Walsh is to be congratulated and thanked.