S.G. PRESTON IS a Knight of Prayer. Each morning at his Vancouver, Wash., home, he wakes up and prays one of the 50-odd psalms he has committed to memory, sometimes donning a Kelly green monk’s habit. In Durham, N.C., Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and fellow members of Rutba House gather for common meals as well as morning and evening prayer based on the Benedictine divine office. Zach Roberts, founder of the Dogwood Abbey in Winston-Salem, meets regularly with a Trappist monk to talk about how to contemplate God. Roman Catholic monastic traditions loom large in their daily routines – yet all three men are evangelical Protestants.
The image of the Catholic monk – devoted to a cloistered life of fasting and prayer, his tonsured scalp hidden by a woolen cowl – has long provoked the disdain of Protestants. Their theological forefathers denounced the monastic life: True Christians, the 16th-century Reformers said, lived wholly in the world, spent their time reading the Bible rather than chanting in Latin, and accepted that God saved them by his grace alone, not as reward for prayers, fasting, or good works. Martin Luther called monks and wandering friars “lice placed by the devil on God Almighty’s fur coat.” Of all Protestants, American evangelicals in particular – activist, family-oriented, and far more concerned with evangelism than solitary study or meditative prayer – have historically viewed monks as an alien species, and a vaguely demonic one at that.
Yet some evangelicals are starting to wonder if Luther’s judgment was too hasty. There is now a growing movement to revive evangelicalism by reclaiming parts of Roman Catholic tradition – including monasticism. Some 100 groups that describe themselves as both evangelical and monastic have sprung up in North America, according to Rutba House’s Wilson-Hartgrove. Many have appeared within the past five years. Increasing numbers of evangelical congregations have struck up friendships with Catholic monasteries, sending church members to join the monks for spiritual retreats. St. John’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Minnesota, now makes a point of including interested evangelicals in its summer Monastic Institute.
“I grew up in a tradition that believes Catholics are pagans,” said Roberts, who was raised Southern Baptist and serves as a pastor in a Baptist church. “I never really understood that. Now I’d argue against that wholeheartedly.”
I write as a convinced Protestant, and who is also learning to appreciate the richness of monastic spirituality. “Was Luther too hasty?” From our advantage of hindsight, perhaps he did throw out the baby with the bath water. But his vision of true holiness made him see the corruption and inordinate wealth of many monasteries and the lust for power and the immorality of the Renaissance papacy a scandal in society.
There is a lesson for us here too, large endowments in churches and denominations can be dangerous in that when a church begins to drift theologically and spiritually, those endowments can cushion them from the inevitable consequences of their unfaithfulness. They can also rob the church of the joy trusting God to supply all their needs through prayer.
The modern American Church from “tele-churches and ministries” through to the older mainline churches need again to hear Jesus message “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful†(Mark 4:19).
Rev. Peter Dewberry
Having been raised in the “Jesus is coming – look busy!” school of neurotic self-denying Calvinism, I know exactly what a breakthrough it was for me to realize how much good in historic Christianity was thrown out needlessly by the Protestant Reformation. Too often we think that frenetic mission and worship performed with Pauline anxiety is a Christian’s only means of developing a transforming relationship with God. The stillness and meditativeness and patience of both the monastic and friars’ traditions have never lost their value for allowing the Spirit pf God to fill us.
One of the newest expressions of Neo-Monasticism in the Episcopal Church: http://www.anamcharafellowship.org
I would only note that religious orders in the Roman Catholic church continue to decline, and that the vast majority that remain are women. There is a certain attraction to the monastic life among Evangelicals in rebellion against their upbringing, to be sure, but I would recommend reading Botticelli’s The Decameron for a more mature view of the monastic experience as it actually is, rather than some romanicized Protestant longing for a better world than mega-church religion. Monasticism is certainly an understandable urge, but the cure in this case is far worse than the disease.
A growing community within the Anglican tradition can be found at http.www.ChristTheSower.org whose charism can be traced back to 1626 England and the Community of Little Gidding
Correction on my post…http://www.christthesower.org
I have been rereading Thomas Merton’s book, New Seeds of Contemplation. It knocks my socks off. There are also remarkable affinities between Merton and Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest.
[blockquote] I would only note that religious orders in the Roman Catholic church continue to decline, and that the vast majority that remain are women. There is a certain attraction to the monastic life among Evangelicals in rebellion against their upbringing, to be sure, but I would recommend reading Botticelli’s The Decameron for a more mature view of the monastic experience as it actually is, rather than some romanicized Protestant longing for a better world than mega-church religion. Monasticism is certainly an understandable urge, but the cure in this case is far worse than the disease.[/blockquote]
I will not comment on the situation in the Latin Church since I am not familiar with it. However I can tell you that monasticism in Orthodoxy is experiencing quite a revival after years of decline (mostly under Communist persecution). All across the Orthodox world and even in the United States there has been a sharp increase in the number of people seeking the angelic life. This is true even in those countries where church attendance is not particularly high.
In Orthodoxy monasticism is considered the highest and noblest calling. It is often regarded as one of the most important indicators of the health of the church. I would say from that point of view things are looking up.
Some glimpses of Orthodox monasticism…
From Russia http://tinyurl.com/2at38n
A general glimpse http://tinyurl.com/2wv64x
Romanian Monks chant the Lamentations
http://tinyurl.com/2pydcm
From war torn Serbia & Kosovo
http://tinyurl.com/3xs93x
A list of Orthodox monasteries in N. America
http://omna.malf.net/
#4 One presumes you mean the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. It is hardly “mature,” since the tales about monastics are rather sophomoric dirty jokes, nor does it pertain to “what really is/was.” Most of the stories in this collection are not only ficitional, they predated Boccaccio; tracing sources and analogues was something of a cottage industry among scholars. Using the text as direct historical evidence is a category error. There was a rich medieval tradition of anti-monastic polemic and fiction; much of it is not to be taken any more seriously than the vaudeville treatment of nuns.
[blockquote]I would only note that religious orders in the Roman Catholic church continue to decline[/blockquote]
Only the modernist/liberal afflicted orders. Orthodox, traditionalist religious orders are seeing surges in membership worldwide.
Monastic history is fairly cyclic, frequently showing the following stages :
1.) Renewal or foundation, marked by intense prayer and fidelity to the community, hard work, and a frugile, simple life.
2.) Accumulation of wealth, which happens when you work hard and live simple.
3.) Development of a comfortable but pious and virtuous life, less intense and less frugal.
4.) A gradual decay and degradation to the state some protestants (see #4, above) seem to think is the monastic norm.
My experience of visiting monasteries is that #3 is more the norm, which is not surprising in a prosperous society. Of course, if you need to decry monastic life, you can certainly find examples of monks behaving badly. You can also find many examples of good, holy men and women attaining a high degree of virtue and integrity through their monastic observance.
If you are reading Thomas Merton, I suggest [i]The Waters of Siloe[/i], a history of the Cistercian Order, which excapsolates this cycle over and over again in it’s 900 years history. They had two major renewals: the original foundation of Citeaux in 1098 and then the 17th century renewal at La Trappe (hence: Trappists) that spread and really gives us the largest of Cistercian families today.
It’s also helpful to read [i}The Rule of St. Benedict[/i], a short collection of spiritual wisdom on how good it is – and how difficult – when brethren dwell together in unity. Except for the Carthusians, western monasticism is rooted in Benedict’s vision of prayer and work, balanced and moderated always under the fatherly care of an abbot, in the company of the brothers.
If you are interested, the Carthusians have a website that includes their constitutions and a great deal about their life. However, they are not at all the norm in the western Church.
Thank you, Austin, for the correction. Boccaccio wrote the work, while Botticelli painted the painting of the same name, and I do get those confused. But I hardly think that masterpiece can be reduced to a bunch of dirty jokes, as you would have it. It is dirty, but so is life–even among the monks.