The vow of stability : an ethnography of monastic life / Richard D.G. Irvine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Irvine, Richard, 1982-

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh, Scotland : Scottish Universities Press, 2025.

Summary:

Though monastic life is often imagined to be a flight from the world, Benedictine monks take on the intense social commitment of life in close community. Drawing on long-term anthropological fieldwork in a Catholic English Benedictine monastery, The vow of stability: An ethnography of monastic life traces the monks' daily lives as they confront the eternal in the fabric of the everyday. Bringing into focus the vow of stability - a lifelong commitment to the monastery and its community - this ethnography explores the rhythms and architecture that sustain shared life in a world of movement and fleeting interaction. At the same time, it analyses those social processes that damage and undermine the monastic institution and those in contact with it - in particular the harm caused by sexual abuse. Engaging with the everyday dynamics of life in close community while paying close attention to the time-depth of monastic history, this is a study of how religious institutions endure and change through generations.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-917341-09-1

1-917341-11-3