The ʼnew monasticism’

The chapter provides a description and analysis of the contemporary phenomenon known as ʼnew monasticism’. It examines key figures whose work influenced the rise and development of the movement (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, George MacLeod, Teilhard de Chardin, and Thomas Merton). It offers a typology of new monasticism (conceptual, classical, and contextual) based on the sources on which it draws. It describes the various experiments of monastic living that characterize the different approaches: conceptual (e.g. Rutba House, the Simple Way); classical (e.g. Monasteries of the Heart, Céli Dé); and contextual (e.g. Taizé, Focolare, mayBe, Kumla). And it examines how new monasticism can be situated-socially, culturally, and spiritually-in relation to other contemporary movements in spirituality and ‘lived religion’.