The reprint you hold is, to our knowledge, one of only two book-length studies in the English language on St. Peter Damian. The other is The Theology of Peter Damian, by Prof. Emer. Patricia Ranft (Catholic University of America Press, 2012). Rev. Owen J. Blum, O.F.M. (1912-1998), a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, was orphaned at age 7 by an influenza epidemic. Under the sponsorship of a Franciscan priest, he completed seminary studies, was ordained, and then joined the Quincy, Illinois Franciscans. Father Blum's career as a historical scholar began at C.U.A. in 1941. It was thanks to Father Aloysius Ziegler that he became interested in St. Peter Damian and published the present work, his doctoral dissertation, in 1947. Apart from several years as a coeditor of the New Catholic Encyclopedia, Father Blum kept St. Peter Damian the object of his endeavors. He collaborated with Prof. Kurt Reindel on the latter's German critical edition of Damian's Letters. His own English edition of the Letters, published volume by volume by the C.U.A. Press and completed after his death, stands as a monument to his scholarship.

Contemporary critics have argued that medieval philosophers have transmitted a concept of divine omnipotence that is unintelligible and self-contradictory: one which defines omnipotence as a power capable of producing any effect whatsoever. This study, concentrating upon the first Latin treatise explicitly devoted to omnipotence, places the concept of divine power in its patristic and early medieval context in order to demonstrate that this "traditional" concept of omnipotence was quite unknown among pre-scholastic figures. This work illuminates the patristic and early medieval background to Damian's seminal text and its theological and philosophical concerns. It explores Damian's central argument that God can, if He wills, even annul the past. This conclusion stems from Damian's insistence that divinity's primary attribute is Goodness and not Being. As such, God's power remains constrained only by divine goodness and is able to do anything whatsoever, even effect a logical contradiction, if it is good to do so.

Some of the roots of the characteristic negative attitude to homosexuality can be found in Peter Damian’s appeal to Pope Leo IX. Though written 900 years ago by an Italian monk in a remote corner of Italy, The Book of Gomorrah is relevant to contemporary discussion of homosexuality. The Book of Gomorrah asks the Pope to take steps to halt the spread of homosexual practices among the clergy. The first part outlines the various forms of homosexual practice, the specific abuses, and the inadequacy of traditional penitential penances, and demands that offenders be removed form their ecclesiastical positions. The second part is an impassioned plea to the offenders to repent of their ways, accept due penance, and cease from homosexual activity. Payer’s is the first translation of the full tract into any language from the original Latin. In his introduction to the tract Payer places The Book of Gomorrah in its context as the first major systematic treatise in the medieval West against various homosexual acts, provides a critique of Peter Damian’s arguments, and outlines his life. The annotated translation is followed by a translation of the letter of Pope Leo IX in reply to Damian’s Treatise, an extensive bibliography, and indexes. The book will be of interest to students of medieval history and religion, to ethicists and students of social mores, and to persons generally concerned with the historical roots of present-day attitudes to homosexuality.

The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality is a collection of essays by Camaldolese monks, nuns, and oblates. After an introduction by Michael Downey and an overview chapter on Camaldolese Benedictine history and spirituality, three chapters center on the Benedictine aspects of spirituality, such as liturgy, lectio divina, and Word/Wisdom of God. The book focuses on Camaldolese sources, eremitical/cenobitical dialectic, and solitude, followed by chapters on Camaldolese ecumenical and interreligious involvement, as well as oblate spirituality. The concluding chapter comments on Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality in a post-Vatican II context.

This book examines the history of sex and gender from a linguistic, artistic, and philosophical perspective, providing a new paradigm with which to analyze this controversial subject. Glenn Olsen's wide-ranging scholarship and his attention to primary sources and contemporary interpretations are enhanced by the inclusion of numerous illustrations of Romanesque sculpture. Part one takes the reader on a journey from the ancient world through the early middle ages, examining literature, art, and sculpture in order to capture the 'sexual imagination' of the period. Olsen emphasizes that all centuries had a varied language of sex, focusing on the means by which 'sex' was put into words, especially in penitentials and canon law. He shows there was no single understanding of gender and power relationships, arguing that the story of gender should encompass more than the history of power. Part two turns to Peter Damian, especially his Epistle 31, the so-called Book of Gomorrah. Olsen explores the themes of nature, sin, demonic incitement, lust, free will, and effeminacy, as well as the question of whether Damian represented the onset of the 'persecuting society.'