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Monasticism: the latest evangelical fad, or part of a “universally human” search for meaning?
Part of a growing Protestant movement to reclaim aspects of the Roman Catholic tradition, a new monasticism is attracting Baptists and Pentecostals alike. The Boston Globe reported that over 100 evangelical monastic communities have started in North America. Though diverse, most communities emphasize traditional contemplative living, hospitality, and commitment to the poor.
New Monastics shape their lives by ancient monastic practices and represent the most “radical” of those pursuing the monastic tradition. The number of less “radical” followers is growing, too. Some retreat at local monasteries, practice meditative monastic prayer or observe divine hours.
Why this surge of interest? Some feel it is a reaction to the shallowness of mega-churches. Others suggest Protestants are reaching for a foundation that dates further back than the Reformation. Others look to the intersection between the
In Christianity Today’s cover article “Lost Secrets of the Ancient Church” a section on Monastic Evangelicals suggests that books by Kathleen Norris, Phyllis Tickle, Arthur Boers, and Tony Jones are emphasizing monastic living and inspiring others.
The Catholic reaction is varied. Though some see the evangelical practice of monasticism as watered-down Catholicism, others feel the movement can help to heal Catholic-Protestant relations.
Dr. Peter Kreeft, a well-known Catholic apologist, professor, and philosopher, told WoW he feels the roots of the monastic tradition are “universally human.” Christians — with their high-tech, fast-paced, second-by-second lifestyles — need simplicity as well as discipline. Kreeft suggests that order and discipline create space to experience mystery. He suggests that the allure of monasticism is natural because it represents these needs innately “present in the human soul.”
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Less is more
Not only Catholicism but Eastern Orthodoxy has a long history of monasticism going back at least to the Third Century and likely further. While one hears about modernized Catholic orders whose members which are dwindling in number, this is not a universal problem. The Catholic orders that are more traditional are gaining members as are the Orthodox ones. Recently, on TV, I saw a story about a traditional Dominican teaching order where the average of the nuns is thirty-something. In his epistles St. Paul called Christians to live in community and when possible, celibacy (1 Corinthians 7:8.) It is not surprising that as more Evangelicals read the Church Fathers and rediscover liturgy that they would also look to the monastic tradition.
Kiley Humphries
This is nothing more than the “Emerging Church” movement which was discussed last week on several threads at length.
Brian McLaren, Rick Warren, Tony Campolo, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones are all part of this movement.
What’s in a name? This sounds very much like the old Jesus People who used to read Kierkegard and lived in communes, either in the country or in the inner city like JPUSA in Chicago. Other than using the word “monastic,” what’s so different from this and L’Abri with the Schaeffers? My wife and I would have liked this sort of thing in the 80s when we were younger.
Generally speaking, there are many threads of evangelicalism that are emulating Catholic traditions. Take the classical education revival in homeschooling for example. Also the recent trends toward celebrating Lent and Advent. Very understandable given the sheer vacuousness of evangelicalism. What’s wrong with these expressions, other than lingering anti-Catholic sentiment, as long as we do not bow to the pope or pray to Mary, saints and statues?
The problem is that secluding yourself permanently prevents you from fulfilling the Great Commission. Some monestaries and such have ways of trying to get around this by printing books or making stuff, but really I see no evidence in Scripture for long-term isolation. Paul seems to consider separating from all non-Christians out of the question: “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-10
#4 I didn’t gather from this article that these “monstastics” were separating themselves from the world, permanently or otherwise. It does however seem like a way to live out Acts 2, the lack of which is not a problem for contemporary evangelicals.
This is nothing more than the “Emerging Church” movement which was discussed last week on several threads at length.
Brian McLaren, Rick Warren, Tony Campolo, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones are all part of this movement.
And Satan. Don’t forget Satan.
I think Rich Mullins — a musician and Christian I admired greatly — would understand this movement and probably be part of it.
#4: Spot on.
#5: Maybe these “new monastics” aren’t separating themselves from the world, but the solution to the problems they see-televangelists, megachurches, the prosperity gospel, too much pop culture, too much focus on politics-isn’t found in returning to Catholic traditions. How about returning to the Bible?
While there’s probably nothing inherently wrong with televangelists and megachurches, they do contribute to maybe a commercialized or slick perception of evangelicalism. Smaller churches seem to fit the Biblical model better-especially those small enough for everyone to know each other.
Memorizing scripture and meeting with fellow believers to discuss their Christian life is great, but it doesn’t have to involve Catholic traditions and liturgy.
I also think there is too much focus on politics. But that doesn’t mean you need to abandon social conservativism. The Globe article says that New Monastics tend toward left-leaning politics and social action. That’s not the solution. The solution is turning hearts to Jesus, one person at a time, and transforming evangelicalism and society from the inside out and from the bottom up. Cal Thomas had it right in the book Blinded by Might. Doing it through the government (top down) won’t work.
The Globe article says that New Monastics tend toward left-leaning politics and social action. That’s not the solution. The solution is turning hearts to Jesus, one person at a time, and transforming evangelicalism and society from the inside out and from the bottom up. Cal Thomas had it right in the book Blinded by Might. Doing it through the government (top down) won’t work.
Define “work.”
That one-heart-at-a-time approach is all well and good, but it’s slow.
That top-down approach may not make permanent changes in the souls of men, but it does get some help to people who don’t have time to wait for the evangelicals to convert everybody.
And the Israelites had to have a king.
SteveG: Define “help.”
Spiritual help won’t come from the government. Private organizations and churches are better at poverty-fighting than the government. But the government can help by emphasizing not aid, but trade; not subsidies, but freer markets; not wealth redistribution, but wealth creation.
That last part, by the way, comes from something Rick Warren wrote. (so that I don’t get credit for the wording).
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019116.html
The most important “help” is spiritual and eternal, which the government doesn’t provide.
The gospel commands Christians to aid the poor.
It also commands Christians to not cherish monetary wealth.
And then Christians oppose programs to help the poor on the grounds that they require them to part with their monetary wealth.
SteveG: Define “help.”
Spiritual help is lasting and most important, and won’t come from the government. Our nation’s morals won’t improve unless hearts improve.
Poverty-fighting is most effectively done by churches and private organizations. As for what the government CAN do to help:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019116.html
It’s not a question of “Should we help the poor?”, but “How do we do it best?”
But I agree, sometimes we do value monetary wealth too highly. So what should we do? Support more government spending? No. Give more to churches and charities.
SteveG: Define “help.”
Spiritual help is lasting and most important, and it won’t come from the government. Our nation’s morals won’t improve unless hearts improve.
Poverty-fighting is most effectively done by churches and private organizations. As for what the government CAN do to help:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019116.html
It’s not a question of “Should we help the poor?”, but “How do we do it best?”
But I agree, sometimes we do value monetary wealth too highly. So what should we do? Support more government spending? No. Give more to churches and charities.
SteveG: Define “help.”
Spiritual help is lasting and most important, and won’t come from the government. Our nation’s morals won’t improve unless hearts improve.
Poverty-fighting is best done by churches and private organizations. As for what the government CAN do to help:
http: //www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019116.html
It’s not a question of “Should we help the poor?”, but “How do we do it best?”
But I agree, sometimes we do value monetary wealth too highly. So what should we do? Support more government spending? No. Give more to churches and charities.
Steve, sounds like you’ve got something against christianity. Your post #6 contained something I am surprised nobody challenged: This is nothing more than the “Emerging Church” movement which was discussed last week on several threads at length.
Brian McLaren, Rick Warren, Tony Campolo, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones are all part of this movement.
And Satan. Don’t forget Satan.
Honestly, was that necessary? I have my doubts. Your negativity is not complimentary.
Brought some good memories, Jay!
_________________________________________________
JayfromCleveland (#3) You mentioned JPUSA from Chicago, something I’d not seen in quite a while. I always loved The Ressurection Band’s music and their ministry to inner-city youth.
oooops……forgot to mention a favorite musician who is also a Fransican Monk, John Michael Talbot.
Who here is familiar with his music?
Matt Y. at #11: SteveG: Define “help.”
Spiritual help is lasting and most important, and won’t come from the government. Our nation’s morals won’t improve unless hearts improve.
Poverty-fighting is best done by churches and private organizations.
Perhaps, but how many such organizations have the infrastructure in place and the ability to generate a predictable amount of revenue so that they can dependably deliver help on a large scale?
Government programs are certainly flawed and require oversight to keep them honest, but they also have a unique ability to get material help to the largest number of people.
Yes, it does mean that people pay more in taxes. But rather than scream ’socialism,’ which seems to be the first reaction of most conservative Christians, why not consider that those programs are doing some good?
If church and private charity were up to the job, there would be no need for government programs. I don’t say that as a slight against the desire of Christians or anyone else to do good (and indeed, church and private charity do play a significant role); but the problem is, they do their good unevenly, and irregularly, and people who are needing to buy bread and milk for their children don’t have time to wait for spiritual revival.
Justus at #12: Steve, sounds like you’ve got something against christianity. Your post #6 contained something I am surprised nobody challenged:
[Victoria]: This is nothing more than the “Emerging Church” movement which was discussed last week on several threads at length.
Brian McLaren, Rick Warren, Tony Campolo, Dan Kimball, Tony Jones are all part of this movement.
[SteveG:] And Satan. Don’t forget Satan.
[Justus:] Honestly, was that necessary? I have my doubts. Your negativity is not complimentary.
I’ve added names to keep the speakers clear. Note that in the first part, I was quoting Victoria from #2. She views the “Emerging Church” movement — or indeed, anything that departs the least little bit from her particular view of things — with deep suspicion. (This was discussed at length on other threads.)
She seems to see Christians I like — Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo in particular — as near-heretical. So I indulged in a bit of satire to illuminate that.
Nothing against Christianity at all… but maybe something against the brand of Christianity that insists there is only one way to see things and those who disagree are not only wrong, but dangerous and possibly evil.
Justus at #13: oooops……forgot to mention a favorite musician who is also a Fransican Monk, John Michael Talbot.
Who here is familiar with his music?
I am!
Well, I sort of am. I’ve heard a bit of his work but I always associated him with Michael Card (probably because I encountered them at about the same time) and I am quite a bit more familiar with some of Michael Card’s work.
#13
Justus,
)
I like John Michael Talbot too and have a number of his CDs. Actually he is one of the few perpetrators of “Contemporary Christian Music” that I do like unless you consider John Rutter as CCM. (Hey, he is Christian and his music is contemporary.
God forgot, in the Psalms or otherwise, to include that we don’t help people until their hearts are changed. WE CAN’T know if someone’s heart is changed and we are not free to judge that anyway.
I read where a certain brand of Christian counseling won’t counsel someone unless the counselor believes that the person in regenerate. FORGET about evangelizing someone THROUGH their trials, heaven forbid, we help someone in a way that WE didn’t plan!!
To SteveG #15: Thank you, friend, for the clarification!
Oh Michael Card is also one of my fave musicians!!!! Love his brand of worship/contemporary style, especially the CD, “Under The Sun”. I could listen to him, Rich Mullins, and Talbot almost all day.
Steve and Kathy, have you listened to JMT’s album called, Troubador of the Great King?
Truly inspiring and exceptional music. my personal favorite.
I too am familiar with JMT and amen your other music choices as well Justus!
I like Mullins and Card, I’m less familiar with JMT except by name, not sure offhand what songs I know might be his.
My very favorite is St. Louis Jesuits.
There was a man who had failed as a real estate developer down around San Antonio. He began a monastery of Orthodox monks down in Blanco. Whole thing had to be shut down when the monks proved to be pedophiles
That having been said I think we too need to realize that a monastic lifestyle–rejecting as it does the acquisitive message of modern American capitalism–is the one last remaining institution which can stand outside of and criticize the excesses of American culture.
Justus at #18: Michael Card is also one of my fave musicians!!!! Love his brand of worship/contemporary style, especially the CD, “Under The Sun”. I could listen to him, Rich Mullins, and Talbot almost all day.
Add some Mark Heard and Randy Stonehill and I’ll join you.
I grew up on John Michael Talbot’s music
Also, just a note that I believe a lot of the “new monastic” communities include families as well as single people, and include people with jobs outside the community. They also seem to plant down in urban areas. So there’s some marked differences between these communities and more traditional monasteries.
ok, Steve, NOW you’re talking!!!! I have Randy’s best CD, and had met him a couple times. The first time in 1985 in Colorado. I had gone to the Christian Artists Music Seminar in the Rockies, and entered a song I’d co-written with a buddy of mine. Our song made to the semi’s!! Anyway, after a session, I was walking to the dorm I was at talking with Randy and Michelle Pillar, when all the lights went out. At that point, Randy invited me to eat some fresh pizza with him and Scott Wesley Brown (Yeshuah Ha Meshiah). I did, and was enthralled at the stories they had. I took a pic with Randy, and kept it till later. Just a few years ago, Randy did a concert at an A/G church and I asked church security if I could show him that pic from 1985. He asked where we were and when I told him it was the Seminar in the Rockies, he asked if that was the night we had pizza in the dark!!!
If I recall, JMT has a brother Terry who has sung backup on JMT’s music. Hasn’t Terry recorded music on his own?
So Alissa, you’re familiar with JMT’s earlier stuff?? That’s the stuff I got into, very shortly after I came to faith.
Great Stonehill story, Justus.
In ‘93 or so, I got to be his concert assistant. I picked him up at his hotel and took him to the church, made sure he had what he needed backstage and then drove him to the airport the next day.
On the night of the concert he showed me how to play “Breath of God,” although I was not an accomplished enough guitar player (then or now) to really pick it up.
He told me a few road stories and let me play the beat-up Martin guitar he used exclusively at that time. Great guy and brilliant musician.
I had the chance to interview Steve Taylor once too, for the local newspaper when he came through town. But I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him otherwise.
Justus:
Well, I can’t say I’m FAMILIAR with JMT’s early work, but I’d probably recognize it if I heard it. I did love the album he and Michael Card did together.
My dad was probably the biggest Michael Card fan in the known universe, and I probably know every song he ever wrote. He was one of the few Christian musicians who consistently toured through upstate New York when I was a kid, and my very first concert was a Michael Card concert, when I was five. Dad would always tell stories about how I fell asleep.
(I’m new.)
Well, this is neat. ;O) My husband and I also lament the mega church superficiality and lack of community but…it is more because of our love of the word of God that we sense this need and strive to create that again.
I think that a healthy dose of persecution will/can cause a real quick “communal” lifestyle much like the early church. As of yet, we do have the blessed, fleeting freedom of honest, open worship. I say, take all from the hand of God and live as free people under the authority of scripture.
While I do agree with the need for solitude to even be able to READ anymore, let alone pray, this can be fostered in your own home with good old fashioned discipline.
I also want to add that L’abri and these leftist communes (I did some research on doctrine of a few of them from the original peace…two of which are in my NC area) are a far cry from each other. Schaeffer was biblically grounded and unapologetically reformed. These folks, as far as I gather, care little for doctrinal distinctiveness.
Also, just for the record, my parents lived in common in Santa Barbara, CA before I was born. They hung out with Chuck Smith in the early years. Those Jesus freaks!
Steve Taylor is one of those who I envision just sitting down and goofing on people. I liked his album, Meltdown at Madame Tussaud’s. Actually…..I liked all of them. hahaha
Then……there is PETRA!
Oh.here is an obscure christian band. I recall they are from Los Angeles, Ca. They are Barnabas. Kind of a hard rocking group. I actually found a CD of theirs that I listened to back in the 80’s on E-Bay. VS, have you heard of a christian band called, Servant?
Petra was great both in the later albums with Greg X. Volz and the first few with John Schlitt. I think they hit their peak with Beyond Belief though.
I’ve heard of Servant, but don’t know their work.
Despite the “reformation” and the hosts of theological priests that have followed, we have not really gotten far from the Roman Catholic Church anyway.
Kylie,
Good job!!
To the WoW powers that be: A thread on contemporary Christian music could be very interesting.
28-
don’t leave out Crazy For God by Frank Schaeffer.
I am with SteveG 100% on his post 37. What if WoW had a thread on the state of christian music nowadays?
Oh, Steve, before I foget to ask you: Have you heard of revelation Radio?
Have not heard of Revelation Radio. What is it?