The purpose of the monastery was to be a place where its members could spend their lives focusing on their spiritual lives. Most of them spent time doing charity work in the community as well, but the core of the experience was studying, working, and praying or meditating. The distractions of the world make it difficult for a Believer to focus their mind on God as a effectively as a monastic could. This made the monastics into spiritual leaders and it gave them very rich internal lives.
I have no idea. The monastic could not have a family, because the ascetic life was simply incompatible with raising children and seeing to a spouse.
The hours a monk could spend in prayer, or pouring over a religious text, are simply unmatchable for a married person with a normal job. It is currently popular in Protestant circles to believe that a person with a big family is somehow very holy because of their progeny. So, if someone in a Baptist church told everyone that he was going to be a hermit they would probably not take it too well. What if he said that he intended to live on the street so he could pray all day without other responsibilities getting in the way?
Would that be a noble thing to do? Or an irresponsible one? Would his parents be proud of his choice? When St. Augustine found God, he told his mother that he was going to leave the things of the world and devote his life to Christ.
His mother, Monica, had been pining away for him to have another grandson which meant finding him a wife — this had been her favorite hobby since his childhood , but that desire was pushed aside when he told her his news. She energetically supported his monastic efforts and saw this as the highest calling one could have; this meant so much to her that she no longer needed to see more grandchildren. How many parents today would be that supportive if their only child announced their intention to avoid marriage?
We assume that they are all just pining away for a spouse and few people can imagine that they actually enjoy being single and use their free time wisely. Monasteries were part of the two-tiered conception of Christianity that Protestantism saw as complicit with lower standards for the rank and file. Prior to Protestantism though perhaps Hus talked about this too there was ipso facto a closer-to-God life, measured by time spent in religious activities, granted to priesthood and brotherhoods and sisterhoods.
Protestantism does not pre-judge the non-religious life as a lesser life, and this is due to its wider concept of calling. Protestants say, and I agree, that you cannot value the life of a person who spends 8 hours a day at a secular job for the glory of God, as less of a calling than the life of a person who spends 8 hours a day in an explicitly religious job.
By the following November, 27 of its former students had been arrested. Both the term itself, and the actual existence of the new and ever-expanding Christian movement called New Monasticism actually had its origins in the writing, teaching, and practice of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
It began on April 26, when Bonhoeffer brought into practice his interest in monastic teaching in the founding of an illegal seminary in Zingst, Germany , during WWII. In June of that year it moved to Finkenwalde. Himmler ordered State Security police to close it down in , imprisoning 27 of its students.
The same year Bonhoeffer wrote his most famous book, The Cost of Discipleship. Dietrich was executed by the Nazis on Apr. He was 39 years old. They now refer to themselves as an "Ecumenical", rather than as a "Protestant" Community, since they began accepting Monks currently in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, as well as those of Protestant background.
Torrey , founded Jesus Abbey as a missionary community in Korea. It is affiliated loosely with the Episcopal Church. They are very Evangelical and sound in doctrine. They seem in actuality to be a Lay Monastic Community, but they do not call themselves that, or use the term "monks" in referring to themselves.
Believing that all Christian ministries should also preach the Gospel, they also had a very strong evangelistic emphasis, also. As a parachurch organization, they do not take stands on non-essential to Salvation Doctrines. Currently as of Dec. First to Allow Women Monks. Calvin devotes a large portion of Book 4, Chapter 13 of his Institutes to the question.
He speaks somewhat favorably of Augustine 's depictions of early monasticism, but he widely criticizes the 16th-century version, saying that "no order of men is more polluted by all sorts of foul vices" 4. A concise criticism of monasticism can be found in the Augsburg Confession , the primary confession of the Lutherans. Article 27, On Monastic Vows , admits that the monasteries were once "profitable to the church," but lists a number of evils that had been introduced by Luther's time, such as:.
So many wicked opinions are inherent in the vows, namely, that they justify, that they constitute Christian perfection, that they keep the counsels and commandments, that they have works of supererogation. All these things, since they are false and empty, make vows null and void. Calvin and Luther's objections to the practice follow along these same lines, and also include denunciations of the "idleness" of monastics Calvin, 4. Given these objections, and the enthusiastic criticism of the practice by these and other early Protestant leaders, it's not surprising that monasticism has not generally existed among Protestants.
An example of early Protestant reaction against suspected monasticism can be found in a Puritan pamphlet entitled The Arminian Nunnery , written in relation to a small religious community called Little Gidding. The author's initial concerns include women "watching and praying all night," their " canonical hours ," and the decorations of their chapel, all of which "strongly savour of Superstition and Popery. These concerns were not assuaged by the fact that two of the women, thirty and thirty-two years of age, were virgins who had given themselves to fasting and prayer.
The author attacks this as "a contemplative idle life" that insinuates that other callings are not service to God.
He admits the point that the women "had made no Vows," but finds many vestiges of Catholicism worthy of criticism. The Arminian Nunnery thus mirrors several of the criticisms mentioned above, particularly those of rejection of marriage, the elevation of monasticism above other professions, the concern over vows, and the idleness of monastics. Some modern Protestant "monastic" communities exist, among Anglicans and more generally within Protestantism.
Notably, other than in the most conservative Anglican orders, even these tend to avoid at least some of the issues raised in Augsburg, by relaxing or not requiring vows of celibacy, poverty, or obedience. Depending upon your usage of the word "monasticism" may render your question void. There are many Protestant groups who choose to 1 Live communally, 2 Bind themselves by communal rules, 3 Dedicate their community unto the service of the Lord and the help of the poor.
The last thing any one claiming to be Christian, be they Protestant, Catholic or whatever, is separate themselves from society for some idea that doing so is God ordained or even God pleasing.
The command is to " Go into the world When we read " Come out and be separate,"2 Cor. This is a major fault of going into hiding on some mountain top.
Besides that, if a psycho-evaluation were done on such who do these things, piety would not be found to be the justifying cause. Denominations like to put rules of their own on their own which Christ condemns as in Mt.
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