This little book by Albert Blaise
has already performed a great service for all who are interested in
Christian Latin literature. The reader who is familiar only with
Classical Latin feels helpless in the presence of certain forms,
certain expressions, and certain grammatical anomalies which seem
to him incorrect, even aberrant. The Handbook of Christian Latin,
making no pretense of erudition, follows step by step classical
stylistics and grammar, describing succinctly the characteristics
of Christian Latin in the many phases of its evolution and its
divergence from classical usage. This practical method has proved
its usefulness; the numerous, repeated demands for the book since
the depletion of the first printing are evidence of this. The
contents of this work were originally intended to serve as an
introduction to the Dictionnaire latin-français des auteurs
chrétiens. In contrast to the Dictionnaire , which extends
its investigations to the end of the Merovingian period, only
examples taken from the Patristic period, properly speaking, are
mentioned (with some very rare exceptions).