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THE STORY of MONASTICISM THE STORY of MONASTICISM RETRIEVING an ANCIENT TRADITION for CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY GREG PETERS K Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) © 2015 by Greg Peters Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516–6287 www.bakeracademic.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peters, Greg, 1971– The story of monasticism : retrieving an ancient tradition for contemporary spirituality / Greg Peters. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8010-4891-3 (pbk.) 1. Monasticism and religious orders. 2. Spirituality—Christianity. I. Title. BX2432.3.P48 2014 271—dc23 2015007081 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) To my sons, Brendan and Nathanael, for giving me great hope in the church’s future Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Monastic Impulse 1 Part I Antony to Benedict 1. The Origins of Christian Monasticism 23 2. Of Anchorites and Cenobites 37 3. The Rule 53 Part II Benedict to Bernard 4. The Flowering of Benedictine Monasticism 71 5. Other Voices: Celtic, Frankish, and Eastern Monasticism 87 6. Challenges of Christendom 103 7. The Road to Reform 118 Part III Bernard to Luther 8. The Cistercians, Carthusians, and Other Reforming Orders 137 9. Regular Canons, Hospitallers, and the Military Orders 155 vii Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) viii Contents 10. The Friars 170 11. Decline or Development? Lay Piety and Religious Life in the Late Medieval Era 186 Part IV Luther to Merton 12. The Reformers and Counter-Reformers 205 13. Protestants and Monasticism after the Reformation 224 14. Continuing Roman Catholic Monastic Practice 243 Epilogue: Monasticism Today and Tomorrow 255 Bibliography 259 Index 271 Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Acknowledgments s with all books, this one would not have been possible without the assistance of many people. My interest in and study of Christian Amonasticism continues to benefit from my friendship with the monks and oblates of St. Andrew’s Abbey, Valyermo, especially Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB, and Fr. Cassian DiRocco, OSB. The past and present faculty, staff, and students of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University continue to stimulate my thinking on monasticism through their insightful questions and comments. I am thankful to the administration of Biola University for awarding me a sabbatical during which I began writing this book. I appreciate my research assistant Nadia Poli for dutifully retrieving articles and books and for moments of levity in an otherwise stressful environment. The mem- bers of Anglican Church of the Epiphany, La Mirada, have been gracious in supporting me, their priest, through this and all writing projects. My wife, Christina, continues to support me unconditionally, creating a home that is both conducive to and a refuge from the ups and downs of writing. I am truly thankful for her companionship and love. Lastly, I give thanks for Brendan and Nathanael, to whom I dedicate this book. I am blessed that God called me to be their father. ix Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Introduction The Monastic Impulse t seems sensible to suppose that there are at least two reasons why you might be reading this book: (1) you already have an interest in monasticism and Iare wondering what this book has to say about the history and institution of the monastic religious life; or (2) you have no idea about monasticism and want to learn what it is. I hope, in either case, that this book will be of value to you. But first I will need to speak to those who do not know too much about monasticism, which is the exact position that I was in nearly twenty years ago. Being raised a Southern Baptist in Virginia in the 1970s and 1980s did not give me a good grounding in the finer points of monastic life and history. Having received a decent public school education, I do not ever recall reading about monks and nuns, though it seems reasonable to suppose that I did at some point. It was not until I took a church history class that included the Middle Ages and the Reformation era during my final semester at a Christian college that I was finally introduced, in a proper manner, to monasticism. My introduction came through the charismatic and important figure Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth-century Cistercian monk (of whom more will be said later). I recall asking myself, What is a monk? What is a Cistercian? Several months and a few books later, I knew that I had discovered my academic area of interest. Not only was I captivated by the personality of Bernard of Clairvaux, but everything about monasticism was fascinating to me. I am probably the only graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary who has on 1 Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) 2 The Story of Monasticism his transcript an arranged course titled “Medieval Monastic History”! From there I went to St. John’s School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota, to study monks with monks. Needless to say, I was hooked and I continue to be hooked. Hence, a book on the history of Christian monasticism geared toward a ressourcement of the tradition for the twenty-first century.1 The untranslatable French word ressourcement is most often used in con- nection with the theological movement known as the nouvelle théologie (new theology), a reaction among younger Roman Catholic theologians of the early twentieth century to the theological dominance of neo-Thomism.2 Since then, however, the task of ressourcement has come to be viewed as the recovery by contemporary Christian scholars of insights from the church’s past. Thus it is appropriate to speak of a biblical ressourcement or a liturgical ressourcement. The Roman Catholic theological milieu after the Second Vatican Council is often described holistically as a climate of ressourcement. Semantically the idea of ressourcement falls within the range of other words that speak to a recovery or retrieval, which are common themes in monastic history— particularly during the Middle Ages—as will be seen below. Ressourcement is not just a rediscovery or recovery of the past for the past’s sake, but it is a rediscovery and recovery of the past in order to give fresh expression to contemporary faith. In the words of French philosopher Charles Péguy (d. 1914), “A [true] revolution is a call from a less perfect tradi- tion to a more perfect tradition, a call from a shallower tradition to a deeper tradition, a backing up of tradition, an overtaking of depth, an investigation into deeper sources; in the literal sense of the word, a ‘re-source.’”3 Martin Luther’s recovery of the apostle Paul’s teaching that justification is by faith alone, an insight that led to the Protestant Reformation, becomes in hindsight (and anachronistically) a moment of ressourcement. Likewise, as we will see below (in chap. 14) in the Vatican II decree Perfectae Caritatis, the council fathers commended the recovery of ancient sources as a way to imagine the future. The decree explicitly states that the way forward for monasticism is by looking to its past and by appropriating the good that is found there. Though paradoxical, in order to move forward in faith, one has to go backward first. This sentiment, that the future lies in the past, is not only a Roman Catholic 1. It should be noted that the institution of monasticism is not unique to Christianity. Buddhist forms of monasticism predate Christian monasticism by about 2,500 years. Good introductions to non-Christian forms of monasticism can be found in William M. Johnston, ed., Encyclopedia of Monasticism, 2 vols. (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000). 2. See Hans Boersma, Nouvelle Théologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). 3. Cited in Marcellino D’Ambrosio, “Ressourcement Theology, Aggiornamento, and the Hermeneutics of Tradition,” Communio 18 (Winter 1991): 537. Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Introduction 3 sentiment but has also drawn the attention of evangelical scholars, including myself.4 This book, therefore, is a work of monastic ressourcement. Defining Monasticism When considering monasticism it is always important to start with definitions since many forms of religious life are oftentimes wrongly labeled “monastic.” The English word “monk” comes from the Latin word monachus, which is a transliterated form of the Greek word monachos.
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