We begin our study of medieval Christianity with monasticism because the experience of Christianity in the west can only be understood in the context of the movement. While early Christianity in the Mediterranean spread through a network of small communities in urban centers, the rural nature of the west, the culture of the Germanic tribes and the dissolution of Roman rule made such a scenario impossible. The conversion of Europe came about through the efforts of individual missionaries and through the decision of individual kings (often at the urging of already Christian wives) to embrace the religion and to bring it to their people: monks & nuns were the means by which this was made possible.
Monasticism was established for the salvation of the individuals who chose to take refuge within the walls of the cloister, but in the end, one might argue that monasticism saved Christianity in the west. Besides leading the effort to convert the peoples of northern and eastern Europe, monasteries provided Europe with a common culture and language (Latin) and remained repositories of learning and classical knowledge during times of hardship and chaos. Monasteries provided social stability in a landscape often fractured and overwhelmed by instability. Though popes, bishops, priests, and other clerics had important roles to play in European society, monks & nuns were unquestionably the most important source of spiritual leadership in the west from the fifth century through the early twelfth.
I would suggest that you read the selections in the order presented in the syllabus: Lynch first, then the two Rules, then the description of monastic culture provided by LeClercq (himself a Benedictine) and finally the very short excerpt from William of St. Thierry, which helps to illustrate the material in LeClercq.
Some questions to help you prepare for discussion follow below:
1. Why does Benedict feel cenobitic monasticism is to be preferred to other approaches? What is the goal that his rule is meant to foster? How does cenobitic monaticism contribute to the goal? How does this rule specifically seem to contribute to that goal? How does Caesarius' rule for nuns compare with Benedict's rule for monks? What assumptions about gender underlie Caesarius' decision to create a rule for nuns "especially suitable to their sex"?
2. What is the role of the abbot in the community? What virtues seem to be required of the monks? What virtues seem to be required of the abbot?
Paper
Topic: (For instructions on writing the short
papers, click here.) William of St.
Thierry writes: Reading serves the purpose of the intention
with which it is done. If the reader truly seeks God in his reading,
everything that he reads tends to promote that end, making the
mind surrender in the course of the reading and bring all that
is understood into Christ's service. What insight does this passage give you into the monastic experience? How does it seem to relate to Benedict's vision, and the rule he designed to facilitate his vision? |