The Emergence of Monasticism
Subtitle: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers
Published: December 2000
Language: eng
Number of pages: 280
ISBN-13: 9780631134633
First sentence: In 324 an Egyptian villager named Aurelius Isidorus of Karanis was attacked by two enraged neighbours, Pamounis and Harpalos, when he turned their cow, which was eating his crops, off his land.
Description: "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.

This unique work is based on a detailed consideration of the texts, their use and adaptation, and is the first treatment of the subject to draw together social and religious approaches. The book offers a number of original perspectives on major issues and controversies."--Jacket.