c. 203–211
Latin
On Idolatry
De Idololatria
Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220
A hard look at which trades a Christian may follow in a city where idolatry is woven into commerce, teaching, civic office, and the making of statues.
Early Church · Ethics
201–300
The Third Century
1 work
501–600
The Sixth Century
1 work
c. 530
Latin
The Rule of Saint Benedict
Regula Benedicti
Benedict of Nursia · c. 480–c. 547
Seventy-three short chapters ordering a monastery's day around prayer, reading, and manual work, with a striking moderation about food, sleep, and the failings of ordinary people.
901–1000
The Tenth Century
1 work
c. 995–1005
Latin
The Colloquy
Ælfric of Eynsham · c. 955–c. 1010
A Latin conversation practice in which a teacher questions boys playing a ploughman, a shepherd, a fisherman, a hunter, and a merchant about their work.
Anglo-Saxon · Education
1601–1700
The Seventeenth Century
1 work
published 1692
French
The Practice of the Presence of God
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection · c. 1614–1691
Conversations and letters collected after the death of a lay brother who worked in a monastery kitchen and claimed to possess God as peacefully among his pots and pans as on his knees.
Catholic (Carmelite) · Conversations and letters1 Thessalonians