From its origins in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor in the Roman Empire to changes and developments in the century before the Protestant Reformation in Europe, The Monastic World tells the sweeping, rich story of the history of Christian monasticism. The author is a professor of medieval history at the University of London. He shows a real interest in the devotion of monastics and the relationship between their beliefs and their ways of living. All of the major historical monastic figures, and many minor ones, are portrayed here, as are each of the religious orders, as well as the secular rulers and royals who were often frustrated by the influence of monks in their kingdoms.
We recommend this book to you because it is too easy today to speak of “living like a monk” without knowing what that means. We recommend this information-packed and readerly book to every want-to-be monastic, to learn how it was, and what monasticism meant to the world.
This book, as no single resource before, brings East and West together in their differing expressions and movements of monasticism and makes the experiences of women important, as well as covering the manual, commercial, agricultural, ascetic, and political features of monks, nuns, monasteries, and convents. Jotischky writes in a way designed to engage ordinary readers while including a range and plenitude of research and notes that will appeal to a serious student.
