All the books by Dag Tessore:


A dialogue on Islam between Father and Son  
(Dialogo sull’Islam tra un padre e un figlio, Fazi, Rome, 2014; 400 pages). Available only in Italian.
Introduction by Franco Cardini.

This is a dialogical book between the author and his father Alberto Tessore, an anthropologist and traveller. It deeply analyses the main aspects of Islam, in its historical developing, in its today reality, and in its relation with Christianity and other religions. The book especially spells out the difference between the teachings of the Quran and of Prophet Muhammad’s hadiths, and the doctrines and customs that were afterwards elaborated by Islamic Law. It also proposes in a thoroughly new and sometimes baffling light the most burning aspects of Islam, as women’s rights, polygamy, Jesus, Palestine and Israel. The authors also step outside Islam, to question themselves about the actual meaning of following any religion, about the role of believes today, especially within Christianity, as well as about globalization as a radical challenge to traditional ways of life.
       - Read more: Abstract of the book and Index (English)Reviews on newspapers (Italian)
       - Where to buy it (15 €): Amazon, Libreria Universitaria; in E-book (13 €: EPUB, PDF)





The Mystique of War: The Spirituality of Arms from the Bible to Isis 
(La mistica della guerra: spiritualità delle armi nel Cristianesimo e nell’Islam, Fazi, Rome, 2003; 254 pages). Original in Italian (with Introduction by Franco Cardini). Entirely translated into ENGLISH and updated to 2015.

Available also in GermanPortuguese and Hungarian.

This is a book that throws a new, baffling light on the subject of holy war. There are many studies on this phenomenon, based on historical, political, and sociological analyses; however, this book suggests a different angle, emphasizing the most specific and most determinant aspect of holy war: religion. This book is a journey in search of the “spirituality of war”, a dimension which is a common heritage of nearly all cultures and religions. Through a wide outline on war spirituality from the Bible and the Quran, crusaders and mujahidins, samurais and Aztec priests, it argues that war can be seen as a way of liberation for oneself and for others, a way of mystical asceticism and introspection. Numberless ancient and modern texts are quoted: passages from Khomeini and Bin Laden, from samurai and Japanese monks, from St. Augustine, St. Bernard and St. Pius V, from the Teutonic Knights’ statutes and the Crusade’s proclamations.
         - Read more: Abstract of the book and Index (English)Read Excerpts, Reviews on newspapers (English), The Introduction of F. Cardini (Italian)
         - Where to buy it: out of print; available only in E-book (7 €)




 
Fasting 
(Il digiuno, Città Nuova, Rome, 2006; 70 pages). Original in Italian.

Available also in English and Polish.

Foreword (to the English edition) by Nicholas Sagovsky, Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey.

This is a brief treatise on fasting, in a simple language, easy to read, but at the same time rigorous and based on the ground-texts of the Christian religion: the Bible and the ancient Church Fathers. The reader will be able, in this way, to understand the meaning (and also the practice) of fasting in old Israel, for Jesus and the Apostles, for the original Christian community and for the great Church Fathers, and to understand again and live fasting in today's Church
        - Read more: Abstract of the book and Index (English); Review on "The Tablet"; The Foreword of N. Sagovsky (English)
        - Where to buy itEnglish edition (7 £); Italian edition (6 €)




 
The Christian Woman, According to the Teachings of Apostolic Tradition
(La donna cristiana secondo gli insegnamenti della tradizione apostolica, Il Leone Verde, 2007; 450 pages). Available only in Italian.
 
An in-depth and detailed analysis of Christian traditional teaching on women’s nature and role. After a survey of the historic and social context of the Hellenistic-Roman world, the book goes on explaining the traditional Christian doctrine about women: their metaphysical subordination to men, the spiritual value of obedience, the biological and psychological trends of being woman, the issues of the veil and dress, the exclusion of women from priesthood and many other themes. A book of a high academic level for the large number of quotations, documents and historical references (more than 2000 quotations from Bible and Church Fathers, among which many passages translated for the first time from Greek, Latin and Syriac), but at the same time readable, charming, captivating, and also highly controversial and intellectually challenging for its radical overthrowing of the modern concept about women and their role and rights.
         Read more: Abstract of the book and Index (English)
         - Where to buy it (25 €): Amazon, Libreria Universitaria, E-book (18 €)
 
  

 
 
Essays on Medieval Mentality
(Saggi sulla mentalità medievale, Adytum, Lavarone, 2012; 150 pages). Available only in Italian.

This book is an illustration of some main points of medieval men’s mentality. It exposes, through several quotations from original texts, aspects of medieval Christianity that are often ignored: the concept of commerce as rebellion against the order established by God, the corruption of Papacy as a proof of its divine mission, the idea of devils as bodily realities operating in daily life, and the blood’s nobility as a theological concept.
       - Read more: Abstract of the Book (English)
       - Where to buy it (18 €): Libreria Universitaria, Libreria Fernandez 





The Capital Vices
(I vizi capitali, Città Nuova, Rome, 2006; 73 pages). Original in Italian.

Available also in Polish and Czech.

This short book is a practical guide encouraging Christians to engage in a serious spiritual work on themselves, beginning from the diagnosis and therapy of the seven basic diseases which are the cause of every psychical and physical malaise: greed, anger, envy, presumption... The book is written in a simple and easy to read style, though rigorously based on the Church Fathers’ sentences and teachings.
         - Read more: Abstract of the Book and Index (English)
         - Where to buy it (6 €): Amazon, Libreria Universitaria





Apostle Peter: A Man in Search of God
(San Pietro, un uomo alla ricerca di Dio, Città Nuova, Rome, 2007; 175 pages). Original in Italian.

Available also in Spanish and Portuguese.

A easy-read book, easy to read, but also accurate at the historical-scientific level. Besides the biographical and historical facts of Apostle Peter’s life and the picture of the social and cultural background in which he lived, great importance is given to the inner and spiritual path of this man in search of God. The sources on which this book is based are the New Testament, some apocryphal hagiographic tales, the works of the Church Fathers and of ancient historians, as well as recent historiographical and archaeological studies. The book is written in a clear and easy-read style.
         - Read more: Abstract of the Book and Index (English)
         - Where to buy it (11 €): Amazon, Libreria del Santo
 


 
 
King David, Prophet of Israel
(Davide, profeta e re d’Israele, Città Nuova, Rome, 2012; 150 pages). Available only in Italian.

Figure of highest importance for the Jews, but also for the Christians and the Muslims, David is an ambiguous, mysterious character: prophet and spiritual man, but at the same time a sovereign rich in power, glory and women; great saint, religious teacher and ascetic, but simultaneously great sinner; man of prayer, author of the Psalms, enchanting musician, but at the same time cruel warrior, conqueror and assaulter of caravans... This readable and charming book, rigorously based on the biblical narration, describes the life of David, as spiritual leader of Israel and as politician, as human being with his weaknesses and as teacher of prayer (this book abundantly quotes verses from the Psalms), and allows the reader to penetrate the historical context and the life-style of that age.
        - Read more: Presentation of the Book (Italian)
        - Where to buy it (10 €): Amazon, Libreria Universitaria
 




Gregory VII: The Monk, the Politician, the Saint
(Gregorio VII: il monaco, l’uomo politico, il santo, Città Nuova, Rome, 2003; 230 pages). Available only in Italian.

One of the most important Popes of the Church history and of the West. He died in 1085. He was the main character of extraordinary adventures: the rivalry with the Empire and Henry IV, the quarrel for the investitures, the king's excommunication and the Pardon of Canossa are crucial facts, that show Gregory VII as a man of Church and a politician. But this touching biographical portrait (factually accurate and well-documented, but also readable and appealing) shows also his experience as monk, his spirituality, his humanity: through his rich and fascinating epistolary (till now never translated entirely into any modern language), we are offered a precious occasion to approach the "personality" of Gregory VII, with his choices, his doubts, his fears.
         - Read more: Abstract of the Book and Index (English)
         - Where to buy it (14 €): Amazon, Libreria del Santo
 




An Introduction to Ratzinger: The Ethical, Political, Religious Positions of Benedict XVI
(Introduzione a Ratzinger: le posizioni etiche, politiche e religiose di Benedetto XVI, Fazi, Rome, 2005; 223 pages). Original in Italian.
Preface by Bartholomew I, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Available also in Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal) and Bulgarian.

Cardinal Ratzinger's books, articles, decrees, interviews are of extreme interest and also of great importance in order to understand his politics and his thinking as pope, as well as the post-Ratzinger Church situation. This book is an review – through his own words - of Cardinal Ratzinger's thoughts on several important issues (the question about the Mass in Latin, the condemnation of homosexuality and feminism, the relation with the other Christian Churches, etc.).
        - Read more: Abstract of the book and Index, The Preface of the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I
        - Where to buy it: out of print, available only in E-book (7 €)