Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Monasticism

An unwilling, desperate nun trapped in the cloister, unable to gain release: such is the image that endures today of monastic life in early modern Europe. In By Force and Fear, Anne Jacobson Schutte demonstrates that this and other common stereotypes of involuntary consignment to religious houses shaped by literary sources such as Manzoni's The Betrothed are badly off the mark.

Drawing on records of the Congregation of the Council, held in the Vatican Archive, Schutte examines nearly one thousand petitions for annulment of monastic vows submitted to the Pope and adjudicated...

In a day when psychological counseling sometimes passes as spiritual direction', this book reminds us that early Christians--like Eastern Christians still today--were convinced that only someone with long and deep experience in prayer and discipline can dare to lead others along the way to God.

The Rule of Saint Benedict meets contemporary culture-the connection points and the sticking points between the two are the focus of Conversation with Saint Benedict. Renowned Benedictine scholar Terrence Kardong considers various aspects of modern culture that he considers worrisome and the light that Benedict's Rule might shed on them for Christians today. He also takes up specific aspects of the Rule itself that he finds difficult to deal with. This book, then, offers a rich interplay that does not shrink from recognizing both strengths and weaknesses in our culture as well as in...

Defining spirituality as 'the dynamic unity between the content of a faith and the way in which it is lived by historically determined human beings', Vauchez steps outside the clerical world usually studied to trace the religious mentality of the laity, the ordinary and often illiterate majority of Christians.

"Reaching for God" is a compendium of Benedictine life and prayer for oblates. It brings together in one volume the essence of Benedictine spirituality-its history, its relevance through the ages and in the present, and a summary of the most fundamental gifts and values it offers for living a meaningful life. Here, the meaning and purpose of the oblate way of life is explained in a clear and encouraging way. Werner offers guidance and examples of prayer to enrich any spiritual life.

"Sister Roberta Werner, OSB, having worked as a teacher, caregiver, and educational administrator, is now...

As novice master of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, Thomas Merton presented weekly conferences to familiarize his charges with the meaning and purpose of the vows they aspired to undertake. In this setting, he offered a thorough exposition of the theological, canonical, and above all spiritual dimensions of the vows.

Merton set the vows firmly in the context of the anthropological, moral, soteriological, and ecclesial dimensions of human, Christian, and monastic life. He addressed such classical themes of Christian morality as the nature of the human...

After fifty years of monastic life, prayer, and spiritual direction, Meg Funk knows what it means to listen with the ear of one's heart to the Holy Spirit. In"Discernment Matters," she shares what she has learned. This book is a resource for those who want to learn and practice discernment as taught by the early monastic tradition. It includes an accessible summary of teachings about discernment from monastic traditions of late antiquity, consideration of important tools for making decisions today, and practical examples from the lives of St. Benedict and St. Patrick, as well as from the...

How can we tend the garden of our souls? Meg Funk turns to the wisdom of the desert fathers for the means of removing obstacles to spiritual growth, which include thoughts of food, sex, possessions, anger, dejection, and pride, among other preoccupations. Redirecting thought away from such weeds in the garden of the spirit can lead to a greater awareness of God and purity of prayer.

This method to mental discipline may seem impossible at first, Funk admits, but those who succeed at it are rewarded with a liberating experience as they come to observe and control individual thought...

"Humility Matters" makes the claims that humility is for a disciple of Jesus Christ what enlightenment is for a Buddhist, realization for a Hindu, surrender for a Muslim, and righteousness for a Jew. It is the unmistakable character of one who has accepted the vocation to undertake the spiritual journey. It is at the core of our experience of life in Christ.

Meg Funk guides readers deeper into a life of humility by following the movement of what the early Christians called the four renunciations: to renounce our former way of life, our thoughts of our former way of life, our self-made...