Book excerpt: Here is the first volume in English which enables the reader to form a vivid impression of the great twelfth-century Paris master, Hugh of Saint-Victor. Among the classical authorities on the contemplative life in the Western world, no one has been accorded higher honor than Hugh. An extraordinary productive writer and teacher, Hugh's influence was felt throughout Europe during his own lifetime. He was the first great writer of dogmatics in the West. The greater part of this volume is devoted to substantial selections from Hugh's great works on the symbolism of Noah's Ark. In these works his aims as one skilled in critical explanation and as a theologian are constantly implicit. The charming later group of works on charity is represented by the first English version of a short piece, "On the Nature of Love." From Hugh's unfinished commentary on Ecclesiastes, there is a short passage, "The Soul's Three Ways of Seeing." In his full and concise introduction Aelred Squire discusses the more recent studies of the many biographical and literary problems of Hugh's career. He shows the close unity of Hugh's thought by examining his spiritual teaching in its wider theological context.