Title: The emergence of monasticism : from the Desert Fathers to the early Middle Ages /
Authors: Dunn, Marilyn.
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers,
Year: 2000
Subjects: Monastic and religious life History; Monastic and religious life History
Abstract: "This is the first book to provide a account of the emergence of monasticism from its roots in late antiquity and its transition to the early medieval West. Beginning with the search for individual perfection in the context of the religious and social climate of fourth-century Egypt, it traces the adoption and transformation of monastic ideas and practices first by the elites of the western Roman Empire and later by the royalty and aristocracy of the so-called 'barbarian' kingdoms, including the Franks and Anglo-Saxons. It tracks the development of monastic rules and includes sections on female asceticism and monasticism, on Irish monasticism and its influence, and the developing theology of afterlife and intercession.
Contents: The emergence of Christian eremitism -- The development of communal life -- Women in early monasticism -- The meaning of asceticism -- The evolution of monasticism in the West -- The Rule of St. Benedict and its Italian setting -- Britain and Ireland -- Irish peregrini and European monasticism -- England in the seventh century.