Judith SUTERA, OSB, St. Benedict's Rule, An Inclusive Translation and Daily Commentary. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021, pp.321. $24.95 pb. ISBN: 9780814688182, 8818 eISBN: 9780814688434, E8843. (For the Rule only: Judith SUTERA, OSB, St. Benedict’s Rule: An Inclusive Translation, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021, pp.120. $14.95 pb. ISBN: 9780814688199, 8819, eISBN: 9780814688441, E8844.) Reviewed by Carol STANTON, Orlando, FL.

Can a 6th century document be relevant today?

St. Benedict wrote his Rule for monastics at a time when his society had lost its fulcrum. Built on stability of place, support in Gospel living, capacious hospitality and a holiness forged in the rhythms of daily life, Benedictine monasteries became centers of community in the midst of upheaval.

Benedict’s Rule replaced punitive harshness with accountability for the common good. Daily life was lived in balance—in food, drink, time, work, prayer— “in the school of the Lord’s service,” where all are lifelong learners; where the strong are challenged but the weak do not lose heart; where humbly seeking God is the communal work and where all, even the youngest, have a voice. That this 6th century Rule makes room for broad input bespeaks democracy; the inclusion of the young reveals a long view—decisions made in the present create someone else’s future.

The Rule of St. Benedict is a spiritual antidote to the soul-sickness of our time. To increase its accessibility, Benedictine Sister Judith Sutera has translated it into gender-neutral English. Sutera sees the Rule in the genre of Wisdom literature.  Seekers of wisdom come in all ages and few enter monasteries.  Younger generations already think and live in gender neutral ways.  Many are searching for less isolating and more spiritual models for their lives. Sutera provides an inclusive version in which they will feel at home.

English speaking Benedictines may also feel more at home in this translation.  For years monastic women have had to “read themselves into” their Rule, adding Prioress or Abbess to Abbot, she to he, etc., creating the kind of awkwardness heard in liturgies when readers attempt “on-the-spot” language conversions. It also takes constant energy to make linguistic space for oneself.  For these women Sutera’s work may come as a relief.

There are, of course, textual purists. Sutera declares that hers is not a scholarly translation from the Latin. Instead, she draws carefully from her own monastic life and studies and from the RB1980 (Kardong, Doyle, Verheyen), the most authoritative 20th century English translation of the Rule of Benedict. In the Introduction to her Rule and Commentary edition, Sutera anticipates critics and defends her choices of “monastic,” “Lord,” and, interestingly, “priest”—which she keeps for ecumenical inclusion. (Christians of several denominations follow the Benedictine Rule and some have female priests.)  

Sutera did replace Abbot with Superior. Benedict clearly intended the leader of the monastery to reflect God as Abba-Father (Aramaic: “Daddy”). Sutera’s dilemma was that she could find “…no word in our language [for women] that has anywhere near the degree of association as the abbot/Abba connection.” The English words “abbess” or “prioress” “…completely lack the resonance.” She chose the word Superior because it is widely familiar, is encompassing and retains the Benedictine value of “…one who is over (super) others, as in, “those who live under an abbot.”  For women in religious communities who have struggled for decades to create non-vertical governing and titles the word may feel regressive. Sutera’s choice also lost the image of parenthood, so foundational to Benedict’s image of the one in charge of the monastery. A tough choice.

Liturgical Press’s print of St. Benedict’s Rule only is a neat pocket size. The Commentary edition is still compact but targets a larger audience. It follows the monastic calendar, quotes the daily selection from the Rule and pairs it with a brief reflection and questions.  The Commentary is a user-friendly, spiritual resource for individuals, families, church or campus groups, Benedictine houses and intentional communities.

22,000 monastics and over 25,000 lay oblates follow St. Benedict’s Rule today—living witness to the viability of this 6th century document. By making its language inclusive, Judith Sutera gives the 21st century greater access to it and opens up new spaces, within and without the monastery, for sharing Benedict’s wisdom.