Some notes about the outline and bibliography that follow 1. The outline is a journey through monastic history from its beginnings up to and inclusive of the 19th century. The outline has been broken up into what seems to be reasonable portions. 2. The bibliography that follows each portion of the outline generally records books/articles which would be most helpful to the portion of the outline listed above. The bibliography does not pretend to be exhaustive. Further, some books listed in one section may be helpful in other sections of the outline though the book’s title may not be recorded a second time. 3. The outline in its entirety would take about a year to complete provided that one met with the novice every weekday for an hour. Perhaps a rough schedule could look like the following: Part I: Background for the Rise of Christian Monasticism may take three weeks provided that one emphasized the scriptural roots and the figure and teaching of Origen. Part II: Pre-Benedictine Monasticsm may take five to six weeks. One would need to emphasize Egyptian monasticism, St. Basil, Evagrius of Pontus, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and John Cassian while taking less time on Palestian and Syrian monasticism. Part III: The Life and Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia may take three weeks. Part IV: Section 1 may take three weeks emphasizing the Celtic form of monasticism as well as the missionaries whose work set the stage for the medieval world. Part IV: Section 2 may take three weeks emphasizing Charlemagne and his associates made to the spread of the RB. Part IV: Section 3 may take two weeks with its study of Cluny. Part IV: Section 4 may take two weeks with its study of the Cistercian order. Part IV: Section 5 may take a week. Part IV: Section 6 may take at least three weeks with its study of the Protestant Reformation and the beginnings of new congregations. Part IV: Section 7 may take four weeks to complete with a study of the Enlightenment, a study of what seems to be death of the monastic life, its revival, and the monastic life’s entry to America. All of the above would add up to 30 weeks. If one completed the outline in 30 weeks, then that would reflect serious study and effort. Not every novitiate, or novice master, or novice is built for such endurance. I would advise that one takes what one can from the outline and adapt it to one’s needs and inclinations. Outline for an Introduction to the Tradition of Monastic Spirituality Introduction 1. The meaning of the terms a. Introduction b. Tradition c. Spirituality 2. Monasticism as a Universal Phenomenon a. Marginality, the basic sociological factor of Monasticism b. Non-Christian and Christian monasticism 1. Non-Christian monasticism: the Facts, the Structures, the Motivations 2. Christian Monasticism a. Motives influenced by other cultures or religions b. Specifically Christian motives Part I: Background for the Rise of Christian monasticism A. Monastic currents outside of Judaeo-Christian Revelation 1. Far Eastern Religions (especially Hinduism and Buddhism) 2. The Greco-Roman World a. The Pythagoreans b. The Cynics c. The Stoics d. Neo-Platonism 3. Persian Influences B. Monastic currents in Judaism 1. The Essenes and Qumran 2. The Therapeuts C. Scriptural Roots of Monasticism 1. The Old Testament 2. The New Testament D. Pre-Monastic Christian Asceticism 1. Virginity and Ascetics in the 1st centuries 2. Martyrdom 3. Origen’s Ascetical-Mystical teaching 4. Rigorist and Unorthodox tendencies E. The immediate origins of Christian monasticism Some suggested resources: Piefer, Claude. “Reclaiming the Monastic Tradition.” American Benedictine Review 42:2 (June 1991): 202-211. Bouyer, Louis, Introduction to Spirituality, Translated by Mary Ryan Perkins. New York: Desclee, 1961, chaps. one and two. Endress, Richard. “The Monastery as a Liminal Community.” American Benedictine Review, 26:2 (June 1975): 142-153. “Neo-Pythagoreanism”, H.S. Long, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 2003. “Essenes”, John J. Collins, Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol.2, 1992, 619-626. Fitzmyer, Joseph. Responses to One Hundred One questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Paulist Press, 1992. Desprez, Vincent. “Jewish Ascetical Groups at the time of Christ: Qumran and the Therapeuts,” American Benedictine Review 41:3 (September 1990): 291-311. Piefer, Claude. “The Biblical Foundations of Monasticism.” Cistercian Studies 1 (1966): 7-31. “Virginity” Ignace de la Potterie, Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. Xavier Leon-Dufour, Seabury Press, 1973, pp. 635-637. Ramsey, Boniface. Beginning to Read the Fathers. New York: Paulist Press, 1985, pp. 136-148. Clark, Elizabeth A. Women in the Early Church. Message of the Church Fathers. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1983, pp. 15-25. Brown, Peter. The Body and Society. Lectures on the History of Religions. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988, pp. 418-423. Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death, New York: Free Press / London: Collier-Macmillan, 1973, pp. 163-165. Kardong, Terrence. “John Cassian’s Teaching on Perfect Chastity”, American Benedictine Review 30 (1979) pgs. 249-263. Russell, Kenneth. “Cassian on a Delicate Subject”, Cistercian Studies 27 (1992) pgs. 1-12. Bouyer, Louis. The Spirituality of the New Testament and the Fathers, Translated by Mary Perkins Ryan. New York: Desclee Press, 1960, pp. 190-210. “Origen” Henri Crouzel, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 2003, Crouzel, Henri. Origen: The Life and Thought of the First Great Theologian, Translated by A.S. Worrall, San Francisco, Calif.: Harper and Row, 1989, pgs. 87-149. von Balthasar, Hans. Origen, Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of his Writings, Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1984, pgs. 183-314. Danielou, Jean, Origen, Translated by Walter Mitchell. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1955, pp. 293-309. PART II: Pre-Benedictine Christian Monasticism Introduction: Types of Monastic literature and major monastic themes Section 1: Monasticism in Egypt A. The Anchorites and Semi-anchorites 1. An overview 2. St. Athanasius, Herald and Theologian of the Incipient Monasticism 3. Antony: Father and Model of Monks 4. The anchoritic and semi-anchoritic way of life 5. The Apophthegmata Patrum 6. The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto; The Historia Lausiaca 7. Aspects of desert spirituality B. Pachomian Cenobitism 1. Introductory Material a. Chronological tables b. Genealogical table of Pachomius’ Lives c. The Geography of Pachomius’ monasteries 2. The life and deeds of Pachomius a. Summary of Principal Facts and dates b. The Biographies of Pachomius c. Pachomius: The man and his deeds 3. The Rule of Pachomius a. Precepts b. Precepts and Institutes c. Precepts and Judgments d. Precepts and Laws 4. The Institutions of the Pachomian Koinonia a. The normative texts: The Rules b. The development and extent of observances c. Activities of the Koinonia d. Scripture in the life of the Koinonia 5. Pachomian spirituality a. The Community Ideal b. Life under the Rule c. Leadership and Responsibility d. The ascetic goal Some suggested resources: Ramsey, Boniface. Beginning to Read the Fathers. New York: Paulist Press, 1985, pp. 161-163. Chitty, Derwas. The Desert a City. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966, pp. 2-6. Desprez, Vincent. “Saint Anthony and the Beginnings of Anchoritism,” American Benedictine Review 43:1 (March 1992) pgs. 66-81. McGuire, Brian. Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience 350-1250. Cistercian Studies. Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, MI, 1988, pgs. pp.7-12. Robert E. Gregg’s Introduction to his translation of The Life of Anthony and the Letter to Marcellinus, The Classics of Western Spiritulity. New York: Paulist Press, 1980, pgs. 6-10. Bouyer, Louis. The Spirituality of the New Testament and the Fathers, Translated by Mary Ryan Perkins. New York: Desclee Press, 1960, pgs. 311-313. “The Desert Fathers, Antony and Pachomius” by Philip Rousseau in The Study of Spirituality (ed. Jones, Wainwright, Yarnold), New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, pgs. 125-128. Brown, Peter. The Making of Late Antiquity. The Carl Newell Jackson Lectures. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978, pgs. 89-91. Harmless, William. Desert Christian: An Introduction to the literature of Early Monasticism. Oxford / New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Dunn, Marilyn. The Emergence of Monasticism: from the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Ward, Benedicta. The Desert Christian: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (The Alphabetical Collection). New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1975, pgs. xvi-xxv. Stewart, Columba. The World of the Desert Fathers: Stories and Sayings form the Anonymous Series of the Apophthegmata Patrum. Oxford: SLG Press, 1986. Ward, Benedicta. The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers: the Apophthegmata Patrum (the Anonymous Series). Oxford: SLG Pres, 1975. Donahue, Cecil. “The ‘Agape’ of the Hermits of Scete,” Studia Monastica 1 (1959) 97-114. Leloir, Louis. “The Message of the Desert Fathers: Then and Now,” American Benedictine Review 40:3 (September 1989) pgs. 221-249. Louf, Andre. “Spiritual Fatherhood in the Literature of the Desert,” in Abba: Guide to Wholeness and Holiness East and West, Cistercian Studies. ed. John R. Somerfeldt. Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, MI, 1982, pgs. 37-63. Stewart, Columba. “The Portrayal of Women in the Sayings and Stories of the Desert,” Vox Benedictina 2 (1985) 5-23. Taft, Robert. “Praise in the Desert: The Coptic Monastic Office Yesterday and Today,” Worship 56 (1982) 513- 536. Brown, Peter. The Body and Society, Lectures on the History of Religions. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988, pgs. 217-239. Veilleux, Armand. “Monasticism and Gnosis in Egypt,” in The Roots of Egyptian Christianity, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity, ed. B.A. Pearson and J.E. Goehring. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1986, pgs.273-277. Veilleux, Armand. Paochomian Koinoinia, Cistercian Studies. Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, MI, 1980- 1981. Desprez, Vincent. “Pacomian Cenobitism: I & II,” American Benedictine Review 43:3 & 43:4 (September 1992 & December 1992), pgs.