The Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
Judaism
Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, did not generate any official monastic
institutions, and its normative form, Rabbinic Judaism, is the least sympathetic of the Abrahamic
religions to monasticism. The Essenes of the Qumrān community, the sole monastic group in the
history of Judaism, were, in their own vision, inimical to the ecclesiastic centre and marginal to
the official Judaic complex. The weak eschatology (doctrine of the last things) in Rabbinic
Jewish theology might account for the lack of an enduring monastic quest, which typically is
inspired by individual salvational expectations.
Islam
Although the Prophet Muhammad discouraged celibacy within Islam, non-Arabic Islam did
generate monastic orders. The Bektashi and the Sanūsiyyah (a conservative order founded in the
19th century) are typical of the marginal status of monastic settings in Islam. Vestigial rules and
formalized vows are discernible, but the main thrust of these monastics was interpersonal,
centring both on the relation between the individual teacher of esoteric wisdom (murshid) and his
disciple (murīd) and on the practices of chanting and meditation on the secret or known names of
God (dhikr) and of other ecstasy-producing methods. The “way” (ṭarīqah) meant something that
was not accessible to the pious, orthodox Muslim alone. The Naqshbandiyyah order, which
originated in Turkic-speaking areas of southwestern Central Asia, became widespread in the
Islamic Middle Ages and then returned to the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire (14th–20th
centuries) from India. The actual or alleged ingestion of cannabis drugs and the nonconformist,
antinomian doctrines of the order have given it some popular appeal.
The ritualization of the esoteric, as contrasted with that of the social and the civil in official
Sunni orthopraxy, seemed to provide an outlet and an alternative for a large number of devout
but nonconformist Muslims, much as the late-20th-century cultic movements (such as
spiritualist, hippie, and similar groups) did for the religiously alienated in the West.
Nonconformity to official doctrine was often enhanced by unexpected or deviant behaviour. The
Sanūsiyyah brethren, for example, prepared and used a variety of perfumes for their personal
toilets. An element of rebellion, frequently manifested in eccentric behaviour, is typical of a
setting where the official religion is antimonastic, as is the case of Islam.
Christianity
Although used by scholars to describe similar institutions and practices in other religions,
the terms monk and monastic are historically and etymologically Christian. A sweeping view of
Christian monastic history reveals a gradual shift of emphasis from the contemplative to the
socially active. Highly meditative orders emerged in the Eastern Orthodox Church and other
churches based on the Greek liturgy, the Mount Athos (Greece) complex (founded in the 10th
century) being the most famous among them. The large variety of Roman Catholic orders
displays eclectic emphases: the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, Carmelites, and certain
orders designated as “minor” (in the Latin sense of humble or modest, rather than lower in a
hierarchy or organization) emphasize meditation. The Dominicans should be called “major”—
though they are not—because the tasks of preaching, maintaining scholastic continuity, and
evangelizing outrank that of contemplation in their order. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits; founded
by Ignatius of Loyola between 1534 and 1540) stands at the other end of the contemplative–
social-centred continuum. Nearly all the members of the order are priests, and the order regards
teaching, social work, and the active life as the quintessence of supererogatory piety.
The Jesuits represented a new kind of order that proliferated in the Roman Catholic Church
after 1520, the so-called “clerks regular.” Other orders of clerks regular include the Theatines,
founded in 1524 as “Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence,” and the Barnabites, founded in
1530 as the “Clerks Regular of St. Paul.” They and their numerous female equivalents, such as
the Daughters of Charity and the Ursulines, constitute the active orders, none of which after 1965
live any longer in enclosure. In the 20th century Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of
Charity, which turned away from enclosure and contemplation to pursue a life of service. Some
scholars would argue that, because of this outward orientation, such orders should no longer be
called monastic.
Certain monastic institutions have existed within the Protestant tradition. In the mid-19th
century a number of Anglican religious communities for men and women were founded. The
first communities were sisterhoods that combined service (teaching and nursing) with prayer,
and male communities appeared not long after. In the late 20th century there were some 50
Protestant religious communities. The Taizé (France) communities of the Reformed Protestant
tradition, founded in the Burgundy region of France in the 1940s, initiated an ecumenical
movement of contemplative monasticism. The first brothers of Taizé came from French and
Swiss Reformed churches and were later joined by members of Lutheran churches; a community
of sisters in association with Taizé was later founded at Grandchamp near Neuchâtel, Switz.
There are also a few surviving Lutheran monasteries. Monasticism would thus seem to be a
viable expression of the Protestant tradition; yet, owing to a set of historical accidents whose
ideological summation was described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by the
German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), Protestantism has always emphasized active
engagement in the world rather than seclusion. This explains the existence of various part-time
Protestant retreats, usually in rural settings, designed as centres for recuperation from overwork.
