New Monasticism, or Neomonasticism, can refer either to a modern movement within Evangelical Protestant Christianity modelled on a monastic way of life in a contemporary context or a movement within Roman Catholicism to expand the way of life of traditional monastic communities to lay people.

Origins

The origin of the new monastic movement is difficult to pinpoint. Some communities

Jesus movement

The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...

 now identified with new monasticism have been in existence since the 1970s and 80s. Other well-known communities, such as the Simple Way in Philadelphia, formed in the mid-90s.

The notion and terminology of “new monasticism” was developed by Jonathan Wilson in his 1998 book called Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World. Wilson was, in turn, building on ideas of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...

, who said in 1935: “the restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ” and philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...

. Noting the decline of local community that could sustain the moral life, MacIntyre ended his book After Virtue, by voicing a longing for “another . . . St. Benedict.” By this he meant someone in the present age to lead another renewal of morality

Morality

Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...

 and civility through community. Wilson identified with that longing in his own book, but outlined a vision to carry it forward within the Christian tradition.

Calling the vision a "new monasticism", he proposed four characteristics that such a monasticism

Christian monasticism

Christian monasticism is a practice which began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament, but not mandated as an institution in the scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules Christian...

 would entail: (1) it will be “marked by a recovery of the telos of this world” revealed in Jesus, and aimed at the healing of fragmentation, bringing the whole of life under the lordship of Christ; (2) it will be aimed at the “whole people of God” who live and work in all kinds of contexts, and not create a distinction between those with sacred

Sacred

Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...

 and secular vocations; (3) it will be disciplined, not by a recovery of old monastic rules, but by the joyful discipline achieved by a small group of disciples

Disciple (Christianity)

In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...

 practicing mutual exhortation, correction, and reconciliation; and (4) it will be “undergirded by deep theological reflection and commitment,” by which the church may recover its life and witness in the world.

The middle months of 2004 became a defining moment for the movement, when there was a gathering of a number of existing communities and academics in Durham

Durham, North Carolina

Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, where they drew together something like a "rule of life", referred to as the "12 marks" of new monasticism. The gathering took place at a new monastic community called "Rutba House", of which some founding members were Jonathan and Leah Wilson-Hartgrove. Not coincidentally, Leah Wilson-Hartgrove is a daughter of Jonathan Wilson whose writing has galvanized the movement.

Values

Most new monastic communities emphasize the following:

• Thoughtful, prayerful, and contemplative
  Contemplation
  The word contemplation comes from the Latin word contemplatio. Its root is also that of the Latin word templum, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship, derived either from Proto-Indo-European base *tem- "to cut", and so a "place reserved or cut out" or...
  
   lives
• Communal life (expressed in a variety of ways depending on the community)
• A focus on hospitality
• Practical engagement with the poor

"Twelve Marks"

The "Twelve Marks" of new monasticism express the common thread of many new monastic communities.
These "marks" are:

1. Relocation to the "abandoned places of Empire" [at the margins of society]
2. Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us
3. Hospitality to the stranger
4. Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation
5. Humble submission to Christ’s body, the Church
6. Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate
   Novitiate
   Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
   
   
7. Nurturing common life among members of an intentional community
   Intentional community
   An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
   
   
8. Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children
9. Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life
10. Care for the plot of God
    Trinity
    The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
    
    ’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies
11. Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew
    Gospel of Matthew
    The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
    
     18
12. Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life

Differences from traditional Christian monasticism

The movement differs from other Christian monastic movements in many ways.

• A rule of life is associated with the New Monastic movement though traditional monastic vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience are not normally taken as do members of traditional orders such as the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, and Basilians.
• Communities do not always live in a single place but geographic proximity is emphasized by the movement.
• The movement allows married couples. The Springwater community, in Portland
  Portland, Oregon
  Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
  
  , Oregon
  Oregon
  Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
  
   has membership that includes both married couples and celibate singles. Most traditional forms of Christian religious life do not admit married couples. However, certain Roman Catholic and Anglican orders, known as "third,"
  Third order
  The term Third Order designates persons who live according to the Third Rule of a Roman Catholic religious order, an Anglican religious order, or a Lutheran religious order. Their members, known as Tertiaries, are generally lay members of religious orders, i.e...
  
   "secular," or "lay" orders, admit married individuals who profess the spirituality of the order (including the Franciscans and Dominicans).
• Members of the movement do not wear religious habit
  Religious habit
  A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognisable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anachoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform...
  
  s.

Roman Catholic lay movements

The New Monastic movement within Catholicism began after the Second Vatican Council's call to encourage the laity to be more involved in religious life. There was then a growth in the number of lay movements linked to religious orders. These lay organisations, such as the Lay (or Third Order) Franciscans, have existed for centuries. They encourage the laity to take on the principles behind certain religious orders and try to live them in the secular world away from the monastery, friary or priory to which the religious community is linked. An example is the Lay Dominicans. They are called to live by the Four Pillars of Dominican life. These are study, prayer, community and preaching. So Lay Dominicans are encouraged to study the faith regularly, pray and meditate daily, build strong communities of faithful and to evangelise. Whichever religious lay movement someone belongs to they are encouraged to go on retreat at least once a year to a monastery or friary of that community. Lay groups usually meet once a month in church or in people's homes.

Religious orders that have lay movements include Cistercians, Benedicitines, Franciscans, Carmelites, Augustinians, Carthusians and
Dominicans.

All lay members of religious communities are expected to pray the Divine Office of the Church every day. This involves saying certain prayers at set periods throughout the day. There are usually six times each day that prayers are to be said.

See also

• L'Arche
  L'Arche
  L'Arche is an International Federation dedicated to the creation and growth of homes, programs, and support networks with people who have intellectual disabilities...
  
  
• Dorothy Day
  Dorothy Day
  Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert; she advocated the Catholic economic theory of Distributism. She was also considered to be an anarchist, and did not hesitate to use the term...
  
  
• Catherine Doherty
  Catherine Doherty
  Ekaterina Fyodorovna Kolyschkine Doherty, better known as Catherine Doherty, CM, Servant of God was a social activist and foundress of the Madonna House Apostolate...
  
  
• Jesuism
• Movement for a New Society
  Movement for a New Society
  The Movement for a New Society was a U.S.-based network of social activists, committed to the principles of nonviolence, who played a key role in social movements of the 1970s and 80s....
  
  
• Radical Orthodoxy
  Radical orthodoxy
  Radical Orthodoxy is Christian theological and philosophical school of thought which makes use of postmodern philosophy to reject the paradigm of modernity...
  
  
• Tolstoyan movement