The Monastic Footprint In Post Reformation Movements

This book examines the influence of the monastic tradition beyond the Reformation. Where the built monastic environment had been dissolved, desire for the spiritual benefits of monastic living still echoed within theological and spiritual writing of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a virtual exegetical template. The volume considers how the writings of monastic authors were appropriated in post-Reformation movements by those seeking a more fervent spiritual life, and how the concept of an internal cloister of monastic/ascetic spirituality influenced several Anglican writers during the Restoration. There is a careful examination of the monastic influence upon the Wesleys and the foundation and rise of Methodism. Drawing on a range of primary sources, the book will be of particular interest to scholars of monastic and Methodist history, and to those engaged in researching ecclesiology and in ecumenical dialogues.

This book offers a detailed analysis of one of the key episodes of twentieth-century ecumenism, focusing on the efforts made to reconcile the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain in the years since the First World War. Drawing on newly available archives as well as on a broad range of historical, theological, and liturgical expertise, the contributions explore what was attempted, why success proved elusive, and how the quest for unity was reconfigured into the twenty-first century. The volume sets contemporary ecumenical ambitions in historical context, explains the origins, course, and aftermath of the Anglican–Methodist ‘Conversations’ of 1955–72, retrieves their enduring global legacy, and explores the fraught nature of the ecumenical quest. It will be of key interest to scholars with an interest in ecumenism, Methodist studies, and church history.

This book examines how Methodism and popular review criticism intersected with and informed each other in the eighteenth century. Methodism emerged at a time when the idea of a ‘public square’ was taking shape, a process facilitated by the periodical press. Perhaps more so than any previous religious movement, Methodism, and the publications associated with it, received greater scrutiny largely because of periodical literature and the emergence of popular review criticism. The book considers in particular how works addressing Methodism were discussed and critiqued in the era’s two leading literary periodicals – The Monthly Review and The Critical Review. Focusing on the period between 1749 and 1789, the study encompasses the formative years of popular review criticism and some of the more dramatic moments in the textual culture of early Methodism. The author illustrates some of the specific ways these review journals diverged in their critical approaches and sensibilities as well as their politics and religious opinions. The Monthly’s and the Critical’s responses to the Methodists’ own publishing efforts as well as the anti-Methodist critique are shown to be both multifaceted and complex. The book critically reflects on the pretended neutrality, reasonableness, and objectivity of reviewers, who at times found themselves negotiating between the desire to regulate literary tastes and the impulse to undermine the Methodist revival. It will be relevant to scholars of religion, history and literary studies with an interest in Methodism, print culture, and the eighteenth century.

This book employs a global history approach to John Wesley’s (1703–1791) political and social tracts. It stresses the personal element in Wesley’s political thought, focusing on the twin themes of ‘liberty and loyalty’. Wesley’s political writings reflect on the impact of global conflicts on Britain and provide insight into the political responses of the broader religious world of the eighteenth century. They cover such topics as the nature and origin of political power, economy, taxes, trade, opposition to slavery and to smuggling, British rule in Ireland, relaxation of anti-Catholic Acts, and the American Revolution. Glen O’Brien argues that Wesley’s political foundations were less theological than they were social and personal. Political engagement was exercised as part of a social contract held together by a compact of trust. The book contributes to eighteenth-century religious history, and to Wesley Studies in particular, through a fresh engagement with primary sources and recent secondary literature in order to place Wesley’s writings in their global political context.

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 singlemindedly. 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.

Examining the recent radical re-invention of monastic tradition in the everyday life of New Monastic Communities, Exploring New Monastic Communities considers how, growing up in the wake of Vatican II, new Catholic communities are renewing monastic life by emphasizing the most innovative and disruptive theological aspects which they identify in the Council. Despite freely adopting and adapting their Rule of Life, the new communities do not belong to pre-existing orders or congregations: they are gender-mixed with monks and nuns living under the same roof; they accept lay members whether single, married or as families; they reject enclosure; they often limit collective prayer time in order to increase time for labour, evangelization and voluntary social work; and are actively involved in oecumenical and interreligious dialogue, harbouring thinly-veiled sympathy with oriental religions, from which they sometimes adopt beliefs and practices. Offering unique sociological insights into New Monastic Communities, and shedding light on questions surrounding New Religious Movements more generally, the book asks what 'monastic' means today and whether these communities can still be described as 'monastic'.

“Oneness” considers the role small-group monastic life plays within the life of the contemporary church. Using a focus on the life, practice and history of the Shepherds Law community as a starting point, the book broadens the discussion to consider the how such communities negotiate the boundary between the solitary life and life within their community. Contributions include: Sarah Foot on Northumbria’s long tradition Peta Dunstan on Monasticism in the 19th century Andrew Louth on the Skete George Guiver on the monastic sacrament in life, liturgy, saints and buildings Dom Xavier Perrin on Gregorian chant and monastic life Christopher Irvine and Ralph Pattison on the buildings of Shepherds Law in their context With an afterword by Rowan Williams

The title of this book gives a general idea of its subject matter--a sideline of the nineteenth-century Gothic Revival in art and literature. This took the form among High Church Anglicans, not only of restoring parish churches and cathedrals, but also founding brotherhoods on supposedly medieval lines. "Olde Worlde" externals, such as flowing black robes, shaven heads, sandals and rosary beads, helped to make young men forget that they were living in the midst of an industrial revolution. To a large extent, the whole business of building up monastic waste places was a form of escapism. As the reader will discover, the result was often as unreal as the twilight world pictured by Alfred Tennyson in his series of connected poems entitled Idylls of the King, which appeared at intervals between 1842 and 1885. The earlier "monkeries," with their dim religious light and Gothic gloom described in these pages, were contemporary with Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series of novels. Anson has dealt already with the revival of the religious life for men and women within the Anglican Communion in The Benedictines of Caldey (1940), The Call of the Cloister (1955), and Abbot Extraordinary (1958). In his latest book, he concentrates on Father Ignatius of Jesus, Abbot Aelred Carlyle, and Father Hopkins, each of whom tried to restore Benedictine monastic life in the post-Reformation Church of England. Much new material has been discovered in recent years that debunks more than one lovely legend. The octogenarian author has not been afraid to disclose many facts which some readers may feel ought to have been kept hidden, for they are not exactly edifying. The entire book might be summed up in Lord Byron's words: "'Tis strange--but true; for truth is always stranger than fiction."