The Scale of Perfection

By Walter Hilton

Book Overview

Walter Hilton's The Scale of Perfection maintains a secure place among the major religious treatises composed in fourteenth-century England. This guide to the contemplative life, written in two books of more than 40,000 words each, is notable for its careful explorations of its religious themes and also as a monument of Middle English prose. Its popularity is attested by the fact that some forty-two manuscripts containing one or both of the books survive, with a relatively large number of manuscipts with Book I alone, which suggests it may have been the more popular of the two. Hilton (born c. 1343) was a member of the religious order known as the Augustinian Canons. There is reason to believe that be was trained in canon law and studied at the University of Cambridge. He was the author of a number of works in English and Latin, all much shorter than The Scale. He died at the Augustinian Priory of Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire in 1396. On the basis of the content of certain of his works it can be safely inferred that he was actively involved in some of the religious controversies current in England in the 1380s and 1390s, and his principal concern, evident in The Scale , is to defend orthodox belief, especially in the conduct of the contemplative life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158044069X
• ISBN13: 9781580440691
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Awesome!

Walter Hilton was born circa 1343, so it's truly awesome that he wrote this book in the 13th century, before he was born! That really shows that with christianity anything is possible! And it really answers questions, y'know? Did I mention that it's awesome?

Beginning Christianity

This is a book about a girl who is fixing to become a secluded nun. Walter Hilton is a 13 Century Mystic who is teaching her how to be a Christian. The chapters are short and to the point. He teaches her to be a christian is a very simplistic manner. This book is truly awesome and brings up many issues inwardly about your own christianity. It also answers many issues. The fact that this is written in the 13century makes it more awesome, because modern man does not think in simplistic terms about what Christianity is truly all about.