Monks, Monasticism, Roman Catholic Church, Mystics, Evangelicals, Mega-Church
March 12, 2008
Over at Christian Research Net we find a summary of a very telling story from the Boston Globe about evangelicals turning to monasticism. The summary also points you to the original story at the Boston Globe.
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Posted in Ecumenism, Monasticism, Mysticism, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism
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March 12th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Interesting,
I’m definitely not cut out for the monastic life; although I’ll admit that sometimes it seems very appealing. Coming home to sick and winy kids to take care of and changing diapers is not always the most peaceful life I could have imagined (but I guess the good Lord gives each of us a calling).
I don’t really understand why protestants would put a negative spin on monks and religious life. There is one thing that WE ALL can thank the monks for. Christian monastic communities were originally formed (long before the 16th century) to memorize scripture and write copies of The Bible all day long; they were pretty much the only people that knew how to read and write. St. Benedict (circa 5th century) probably did more than anyone to shape Christian monasticism, as well as western civilization as we know it today. If it weren’t for the monasteries we would probably still be running around naked in Northern Europe painting ourselves blue and chunking spears at each other like our ancestors. Instead we have universities of higher learning and the marvels of modern science.
Of course we should look to the Bible before condemning monasticism, and the Holy Scriptures contain many examples of people in monastic life (even celibate ones): [Num. 6:2–8 the Nazarites, Luke 1:15 John the Baptist, Judg. 13:5–6 Samson, Sam. 1:11 Samuel, Luke 2:36–37 Anna, Acts 18:18, 1 Cor. 7:32–38, 1 Tim. 2:3–4, 1 Tim. 5:3–12, 1 Tim. 5:12, etc.]
Also, I will be forever grateful to the monks, because some of those guys make really great beer!