Western Monasticism: A History of the Monastic Movement in the Latin Church Volume 185

by Peter King

Overview

Christians have been drawn to monastic life nearly as long as Christianity has existed. Dedicating themselves to prayer, meditation, and good works, men and women in many diverse times and places have been willing to abstain from marriage, sexual relations, and personal ownership to serve God single-mindedly. 

In this overview of the Latin tradition, Peter King, emeritus senior lecturer of medieval history at Saint Andrew's University, leads readers quickly but deftly along the rugged monastic road from late antique Egypt to the present day, passing through spectacular expansion in medieval Europe, dissolution during the Reformation, retrenchment at the Counter Reformation, condemnation during the Enlightenment, destruction at the hands of revolutionaries, refoundation and new vigor during the nineteenth and the ecumenical twentieth centuries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879077853
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	11/01/1999
Series:	Cistercian Studies , #185
Pages:	482
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.08(d)
Age Range:	1 - 17 Years

About the Author

Peter King (1930-2024) was emeritus senior lecturer of medieval history at St. Andrews University. His books included Western Monasticism: A History of the Monastic Movement in the Latin Church (Liturgical Press, 1999).
 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
     Preface   9
     Abbreviations   11
     List of Illustrations   13
Chapter   1  Egypt   15
Chapter   2  The Beginnings of Monasticism in the West   33
Chapter   3  Gaul, Spain, Ireland   59
Chapter   4  Saint Benedict and Sixth-Century Italy   83
Chapter   5  A Second Benedict and his Progeny   103
Chapter   6  Monasticism in an Age of Reform   131
Chapter   7  White Monks, Black Monks   159
Chapter   8  Religious Women in the High Middle Ages   195
Chapter   9  Decay and Renewal: The Late Middle Ages   229
Chapter 10  Catholic Monasticism under the Counter reformation   273
Chapter 11  The Whirlwind   317
Chapter 12   Western Monasticism in the Nineteenth Century   341
Chapter 13   Monasticism in the Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Free Churches   383
Chapter 14  The Twentieth Century   421
     Select Bibliography   437
     Index of Persons and Places   465