Lege. Meditāre. — Read. Contemplate.
Careful, beautiful editions of the world's contemplative classics — the Gospels in the Latin of Saint Jerome, and the lost meditation manuals of early Buddhism. Sacred language, ancient practice, quiet craft.
READ THE NEW TESTAMENT IN LATIN
Illustrated, step-by-step graded readers of the Latin Vulgate. No prior Latin required: every sentence is built from simple words explained in Latin beside the text — and whenever Jerome's real words come within reach, they stand apart in gilded panels marked hoc ipsum legis: "this, you are truly reading." Language help only, never doctrinal commentary — at home in Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and classical-education settings alike.
The Gospel of Matthew in Easy Latin
The Pater Noster, the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount — words Latin Christendom carried for fifteen centuries, arriving in your own reading. 304 full-color pages, 25 photorealistic plates, and the whole Gospel in the unaltered Vulgate in the back.
The Gospel of Mark in Easy Latin
The swiftest Gospel, complete — every verse of Mark in twenty-two graded chapters with twenty-two plates, from the Jordan to the empty tomb. Finish it, and you have read an entire book of the Bible in Latin.
The series continues — the whole New Testament, one book at a time.
THE MEDITATION CLASSICS
Modern editions of texts the meditation world has nearly forgotten — manuals and commentaries from the first thousand years of Buddhist practice, presented plainly and read closely.
Small presses live on honest words from real readers. If a book of ours has been part of your practice or your study, an honest review on Amazon — whatever you truly think — helps the next reader find it.
ABOUT THE PRESS
Contemplative Sciences Press publishes the texts people have actually used, for centuries, to order their inner lives — and gives them the editions they deserve. Our books are typeset by hand in the classical tradition, illustrated with care, and printed to be kept.
We work across traditions without collapsing them. Our Latin Gospels add language help, never doctrine; our Buddhist editions present the sources plainly and let them speak. What the books share is a conviction: that contemplative texts reward slow, close, first-hand reading — in the original language where possible, in honest editions always.
We are the sister imprint of Imperial Restitution Press, publisher of the Lingua Latina series of graded classical readers — Caesar, Pliny, Ovid, Vergil, Seneca — with which our Latin Gospels share their method and their care.
Teaching Latin through the Gospels, or leading a group through one of the meditation classics? We provide desk copies and are glad to help you evaluate a text for your setting.