REGISTRATION REQUIRED – All book discussion sign-ups announced at the beginning of the semester on the Honors listserv

• Book: THE WANDERING MIND: WHAT MEDIEVAL MONKS TELL US ABOUT DISTRACTION by Jamie Kreiner
• Discussion Leader: Dr. Jamie Kreiner (author), Associate Dean, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of History
• Date: Thursday, February 15, 6:00-8:00pm
• Location: Moore Hall 116
• Description: Although we think of early monks as master concentrators, a life of mindfulness did not, in fact, come to them easily. Their attempts to continuously contemplate the divine order and its ethical requirements were all-consuming, and their battles against distraction were never-ending. Delving into the experiences of early Christian monks living in the Middle East, around the Mediterranean, and throughout Europe from 300 to 900 CE, The Wandering Mind shows that these men and women were obsessed with distraction in ways that seem remarkably modern. Even though the world today is vastly different from the world of the early Middle Ages, we can still learn something about our own distractedness by looking closely at monks’ strenuous efforts to concentrate.

Contact: Kora Burton, [email protected].