The abbot, the community, and obedience in the Rule of Saint Benedict as compared to its source, The Rule of the Master, to see Saint Benedict's originality. 'Historians of monasticism will read this translation, as they have long read the French original, for its close exegesis and textual analysis of the eighteen chapters of the RB directly dealing with the abbot's authority, along with the parallel passages in the RM that influenced Benedict' -Speculum.