Place, Landscape and the Sacred Among Catholic Monks in the American West
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Dwelling in the Wilderness: Place, Landscape and the Sacred among Catholic Monks in the American West by Jason M. Brown B.A., Brigham Young University, 2007 M.F., Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 2011 M.A.R., Yale Divinity School, 2011 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Resource Management and Environmental Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2017 © Jason M. Brown Abstract A monk’s purpose is to seek God, and contemplative monks in the Roman Catholic tradition are specifically called to seek God in place. Drawing from biblical motifs, religious symbols, spiritual teachings and monastic traditions, monastic communities have forged deep and abiding relationships with their rural and wild locales. While many of the studies concerning monasticism’s relationship to land engage historical and theological dimensions, far fewer give adequate voice to the range of lived perspectives of contemporary monks themselves. Exploring research questions focused on the relationship between environmental discourses and contemporary monastic spirituality, during field work conducted between December 2015 and May 2016, I interviewed 50 male monastics at four monastic communities through both seated and walking interviews. Embedded in the interdisciplinary literature of place and landscape studies, my findings are interpreted through the lens of recent debates regarding the role of cognitively or socially constructed discourses in the experience of landscape. Socially constructed or “representational” perspectives emphasize the semiotic character of experience and meaning making with place and landscape. Rooted in identity, gender, class, ideology or religion, we project meaning onto an otherwise meaningless objective landscape. More recent phenomenological approaches attempt to shift away from any vestiges of Cartesian dualism between subject and object by rejecting representational or symbolic understandings of experience for an emphasis on pre-cognitive, embodied, sensory experience as the fundamental driver of our experience of land and place. I argue that contemporary monasticism, rooted in both symbolic religious constructions and powerful spiritual experiences of land, has engaged environmental discourse through ‘bridging,’ a practice which attempts to assimilate environmental discourse into monastic spirituality on its own terms. The monastic sense of place, the question of ‘sacred’ land, and the observation of religious symbols in land demonstrate what I call an embodied semiotics wherein established religious and environmental discourses are relationally attached to and molded by embodied contact and experience with land. ii Lay Summary Drawing from biblical motifs, religious symbols, spiritual teachings and monastic traditions, monastic communities have forged deep and abiding relationships with their rural and wild locales. During field work conducted between December 2015 and May 2016, I interviewed 50 male monastics, at four monastic communities through both seated and walking interviews. Embedded in the interdisciplinary literatures of religion and ecology and place and landscape studies, my findings are interpreted through the lens of recent debates in these literatures regarding the nature of experience of place and landscape. I argue that contemporary monasticism, rooted in both religious ideas and powerful spiritual experiences of land, has incorporated environmental ideas into monastic spirituality on its own terms. The monastic sense of place, the question of ‘sacred’ land, and the observation of religious symbols in land demonstrate show that established religious and environmental ideas are relationally attached to and molded by embodied contact and experience with land. iii Preface This research and the analysis of the data collected was originated, carried out and conducted primarily by the author. My Supervisor was Theresa Satterfield, and my committee included Mike Meitner of UBC Forestry and John Robinson of CIRS (now at the University of Toronto). This dissertation has not as of yet resulted in any publications, though I hope it will soon. I am the sole researcher involved in collecting data and writing this dissertation. The Ethics review of this project was conducted through the UBC Behavioral Research Ethics Board, under the project title “Dwelling in the Wilderness,” Certificate Number H14-02005. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Lay Summary ................................................................................................................................. iii Preface............................................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ xi Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Ora et Labora: Toward a Monastic Spiritual Ecology .................................................. 1 First Encounter ............................................................................................................................ 1 Genesis ........................................................................................................................................ 2 The Meaning of Religion vs. Spirituality ................................................................................... 4 What is Christian Monasticism? ................................................................................................. 8 The Order of Saint Benedict ................................................................................................. 11 Camaldolese Benedictines .................................................................................................... 13 The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) ............................................. 13 Monastic Spirituality ................................................................................................................. 15 Liturgical Prayer ................................................................................................................... 15 Contemplative Prayer............................................................................................................ 16 Lectio Divina ........................................................................................................................ 18 Ongoing Conversations: Theoretical Scope of this Study ........................................................ 19 Religion and Ecology’s ‘Monastic Moment’ ........................................................................ 19 Debates in Place and Landscape Study ................................................................................. 26 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 35 Research Methods ..................................................................................................................... 36 Research as Pilgrimage ......................................................................................................... 36 Research as Place-Making .................................................................................................... 38 Writing as Re-Presentation ................................................................................................... 43 Toward an Embodied Semiotics of Place and Landscape ........................................................ 44 Chapter Summaries ............................................................................................................... 45 A Note on the Monks’ Identities ............................................................................................... 49 v Chapter 2: Building Bridges: Biblical Motifs and Environmental Discourse Among Monastic Communities in the American West ............................................................................................. 50 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 50 Monasticism and the Land in Historical Context ..................................................................... 52 Geographic Context for Biblical Peoples ............................................................................. 53 The Desert Foundations of Christian Monasticism .............................................................. 58 Medieval Monasticism and the Land .................................................................................... 63 Cistercian Reforms and