The Story of Monasticism – Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality

Greg Peters (PhD, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto) is associate professor of medieval and spiritual theology in the Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University, in La Mirada, California. He is also visiting professor of monastic studies at St. John's School of Theology in Minnesota and adjunct professor at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin.

Contents

Introduction: The Monastic Impulse
Part I: Anthony to Benedict
1. The Origins of Christian Monasticism
2. Of Anchorites and Cenobites
3. The Rule
Part II: Benedict to Bernard
4. The Flowering of Benedictine Monasticism
5. Other Voices: Celtic, Frankish, and Eastern Monasticism
6. Challenges of Christendom
7. The Road to Reform
Part III: Bernard to Luther
8. The Cistercians, Carthusians, and Other Reforming Orders
9. Regular Canons, Hospitallers, and the Military Orders
10. The Friars
11. Decline or Development? Lay Piety and Religious Life in the Late Medieval Era
Part IV: Luther to Merton
12. The Reformers and Counter-Reformers
13. Protestants and Monasticism after the Reformation
14. Continuing Roman Catholic Monastic Practice
Epilogue: Monasticism Today and Tomorrow