Activist, nun and spiritual guide Joan Chittister invites us to create a monastery within ourselves: to cultivate wisdom and resilience, so we can live more easily and give of ourselves more fully, no matter our circumstances. 'In every beating heart is a silent undercurrent that calls each of us to a place unknown, to the vision of a wiser life, to become what we feel we must be - but cannot name.' So begins Sister Joan Chittister's words on monasticism, offering a way of living and seeing life that brings deep human satisfaction. Amid the recent global disruptions, Sister Joan calls readers to cultivate the spiritual seeker within all of us, however that may look across our diverse journeys. The Monastic Heart carries the weight and wisdom of the Benedictine spiritual tradition into the twenty-first century. Sister Joan draws deeply from Saint Benedict, a young man who sought moral integrity in the face of an empire in the sixth century, not by conquering or overpowering the empire, but by simply living an ordinary life extraordinarily well. This same monastic mindset can help us grow in wisdom, equanimity and strength of soul as we seek restoration and renewal both at home and in the world. At a time when people around the world are bearing witness to human frailty - and, simultaneously, the endurance of the human spirit - The Monastic Heart invites readers to embrace a new beginning of faith. Without stepping foot in a monastery, we can become, like those before us, a deeper, freer self, a richer soul - and, as a result, a true monastic. 'Essential reading for anyone wishing to find the compass of their heart and the wellspring from which to live fully.' Gregory Boyle, New York Times bestselling author of Tattoos on the Heart

This extraordinary story takes the reader from the rice fields of Vietnam to the peaceful surrounding of Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery in Plum Village. "Healing" traces a young woman's path from an abusive childhood in a war-torn Vietnam, to a promising career as a medical doctor and poet, to finally finding true happiness as a nun. With humor, insight, and an irrepressible sense of joy, Sister Dang Nghiem story demonstrates how one woman's unique path can provide clarity and guidance for everyone.

This book examines Sami shamanism in Norway as a uniquely distinctive local manifestation of a global new religious phenomenon. It takes the diversity and hybridity within shamanic practices seriously through case studies from a Norwegian setting and highlights the ethnic dimension of these currents, through a particular focus on Sami versions of shamanism. The book's thesis is that the construction of a Sami shamanistic movement makes sense from the perspective of the broader ethno-political search for a Sami identity, with respect to connections to indigenous peoples worldwide and trans-historically. It also makes sense in economic and marketing terms. Based on more than ten years of ethnographic research, the book paints a picture of contemporary shamanism in Norway in its cultural context, relating it both to the local mainstream cultures in which it is situated and to global networks. By this, the book provides the basis for a study revealing the development of inventiveness, nuances and polyphony that occur when a global religion of shamanism is merged in a Norwegian setting, colored by its own political and cultural circumstances.

St. Elizabeth was a grand daughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland, and the sister of the last Czarina Alexandra. Following the assassination of her husband, the Grand Duke Serge, in 1905, she became a nun. This short work sets forth in the Grand Duchess's own words her vision for monastic life in inner city early twentieth century Moscow. The style is very different from that of better-known monastic rules, as for example of St. Benedict. Through it the reader is offered a glimpse into the daily life of this short-lived but fruitful outreach to the poor of pre-revolutionary Russian society. A short life of the new martyr, murdered by the Bolsheviks, is provided at the end of the work. Well illustrated with black and white photos.

"A Monastery in Time" is the first book to describe the life of a Mongolian Buddhist monastery - the Mergen Monastery in Inner Mongolia - from inside its walls. From the Qing occupation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the Cultural Revolution, Caroline Humphrey and Hurelbaatar Ujeed tell a story of religious formation, suppression, and survival over a history that spans three centuries. Often overlooked in Buddhist studies, Mongolian Buddhism is an impressively self-sustaining tradition whose founding lama, the Third Mergen Gegen, transformed Tibetan Buddhism into an authentic counterpart using the Mongolian language. Drawing on fifteen years of fieldwork, Humphrey and Ujeed show how lamas have struggled to keep Mergen Gegen's vision alive through tremendous political upheaval, and how such upheaval has inextricably fastened politics to religion for many of today's practicing monks. Exploring the various ways Mongolian Buddhists have attempted to link the past, present, and future, Humphrey and Ujeed offer a compelling study of the interplay between the individual and the state, tradition and history.

Christianity Rediscovered is more than just a classic missionary story. It is also a profound challenge, a call to a radical redefinition of what we mean when we talk about mission - as relevant to today's church as it was when it was first written. For Vincent Donovan, his experiences amongst the Masai in East Africa meant a total reappraisal of the meaning of his faith, and a rediscovery of his Christianity. Written with moving simplicity, Donovan's account continues to represent a provocative challenge to all those engaged in issues of evangelism and culture. Bringing this vital work to a new generation, this edition includes a foreword by Chris Lane, author of Ordinary Miracles.

"Almost a prerequisite for any serious study of Sufism in European languages": this was the verdict of Seyyed Hossein Nasr in his review of the first edition of "A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-Alawi his Spiritual Heritage and Legacy".---In this work, the author, Dr Martin Lings, presents a vivid picture of the unforgettable figure of the Algerian Shaykh Ahmad al-Alawi through a short biography by his French doctor and the translation of the Shaykh al-Alawi's own autobiography. These are followed by expositions of the Shaykh al-Alawi's teachings which are based on pure metaphysics and gnosis. Finally, Dr Martin Lings translates selections from Shaykh al-Alawi's aphorisms and mystical poetry. The whole work immerses the reader in the world of North African Sufism both as an intellectual tradition and a living reality.

What is discernment? Who was Peter Faber? Why do the Jesuits exude such optimism? Awareness. Emotions. Love. Work. We use such words every day in normal conversation, but those same words take on special meaning when used in the context of Ignatian spirituality. Other words and phrases, such as finding God in all things, are distinctly associated with the Ignatian approach to spiritual development. Acquiring a general grasp of these terms will prove invaluable to those who desire a better understanding of the Jesuit / Ignatian way of life. With Ignatian Spirituality A to Z, Jim Manney has provided a brief, informative, and entertaining guide to key concepts of Ignatian spirituality and essential characters and events in Jesuit history. The lexicon format allows readers to find terms quickly, and the concise descriptions are ideal for those new to the Ignatian story. From Pedro Arrupe to Francis Xavier, from Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam to Zeal, this book uncovers the rich language of the Jesuits. It will be an indispensable tool to anyone interested in Ignatian spirituality, to staff, faculty, and students at Jesuit institutions and schools, and to clergy and spiritual directors who advise others about prayer and spiritual matters.

First published twice in 1926, and again in 1934 with an updated bibliography, Cranage's The Home of the Monk is a small but useful introduction for the visitor to any English monastic site. Working from surviving architectural and documentary evidence, he examines the buildings section by section, explaining how each part of an abbey was used. He briefly explains the history of the various monastic orders which existed in medieval England, and their differences from one another. He also provides plans of what constituted the typical arrangements likely to be found in Benedictine, Augustinian, Cluniac and Cistercian houses. The book provides a useful starting point for further study of medieval religious houses, and a handy guide for the occasional visitor to such sites.

Praised in The Atlantic Monthly as an "engrossing narrative," Nuns tells the fascinating stories of the women who have lived in religious communities during some of the most tumultuous years in European history. Drawing particularly on the nuns' own words, Silvia Evangelisti reveals their ideals and achievements, frustrations and failures, and their attempts to reach out to the society around them. She explores how they came to the cloister, how they responded to monastic discipline, and how they pursued their spiritual, intellectual, and missionary activities. Indeed, nuns often found a way to contribute to their communities by creating charities and schools, while a few exceptional women made names for themselves for their artistic talents or for establishing new convents. This book features the individual stories of some of the most outstanding historical figures, including Teresa of Avila, who set up over seventeen new convents. Evangelisti shows how these women were able to overcome some of the restrictions placed on women in their societies at large. In doing so, she provides a fascinating and rarely seen glimpse into their intriguing world.

Most anthropological and sociological studies of Buddhism have concentrated on village and rural Buddhism. This is a systematic anthropological study of monastic organization and monk-layman interaction in a purely urban context in the countries where Theravada Buddhism is practised, namely, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Laos and Thailand. The material presented is based on fieldwork carried out in Ayutthaya, Central Thailand. Dr Bunnag describes and analyses the socio-economic and ritual relations existing between the monk and the lay community, and she demonstrates the way in which the role of the monk is used by some men, wittingly or otherwise, as a social stepping-stone, in that for the son of a farmer a period in the monkhood can provide the education and contacts necessary to facilitate his assimilation into the urban lay community at a social and economic level which would otherwise have been impossible. Finally, Dr Bunnag places the material presented in a broader theoretical context by reviewing it in relation to anthropological discussions concerning the nature of Thai society as a whole.

This book is a comparative macrosociological study of the interaction between religious virtuosi and society in two civilizations: traditional Theravada Buddhism and Medieval Catholicism. Merging Weberian sociology with the Maussian tradition of gift-analysis, and criticizing the neglect of meaning in current comparative historical sociology, the author also argues the need for a multidimensional approach capable of addressing the part played by religious orientations in shaping the institutional strength and ideological power of religious elites in the historical framework of the Great Traditions.

The Hermit Fathers is an account of the virtuous asceticism and admirable ways of life of the holy and blessed wilderness fathers. They are meant to inspire and instruct those who want to imitate their heavenly lives, so that they may make progress on the way that leads to the kingdom of heaven. The holy fathers who were the initiators and masters of the blessed monastic way of life, being entirely on fire with divine and heavenly love and counting as nothing at all that men hold to be beautiful and estimable, trained themselves on earth to do nothing whatsoever out of vainglory. They hid themselves away, and by their supreme humility in keeping most of their good works hidden, they made progress on the way that leads to God. Moreover, no one has been able to describe their virtuous lives for us in detail, for those who have taken the greatest pains in this matter have only committed to writing a few fragments of their more admirable deeds and words. In this book you will find twenty eight examples of the lives of those Holy men and women which are sweeter than honey and honeycomb.

Constantina, daughter of the fourth-century emperor Constantine who so famously converted to Christianity, deserves a place of her own in the history of Christianity. As both poet and church-builder, she was an early patron of the Roman cult of the virgin martyr Agnes and was buried ad sanctam in a sumptuously mosaicked mausoleum that still stands. What has been very nearly forgotten is that the twice-married Constantina also came to be viewed as a virgin saint in her own right, said to have been converted and healed of leprosy by Saint Agnes. This volume publishes for the first time critical editions and English translations of three Latin hagiographies dedicated to the empress, offering an introduction and commentaries to contextualize these virtually unknown works. The earliest and longest of them is the anonymous Life of Saint Constantina likely dating to the mid or late sixth century, reflecting a female monastic setting and featuring both a story of pope Silvester's instruction of Constantina and a striking dialogue between Constantina and twelve virgins who offer speeches in praise of virginity as the summum bonum. A second, slightly later work, On the Feast of Saint Constantia (the misnaming of the saint reflecting common confusion), is a more streamlined account apparently tailored for liturgical use in early seventh-century Rome; this text is reworked and expanded by the twelfth-century Roman scholar Nicolaus Maniacoria in his Life of the Blessed Constantia, including a question-and-answer dialogue between Constantina and her two virginal charges Attica and Artemia. These works will be of great interest to students of late ancient and medieval saints' cults, hagiography, monasticism, and women's history.

Two groups were persecuted over four hundred years in what is now the south-western United States, each dissimulating and disguising who they truly were. Both now declare their true identities, yet raise hostility. The Penitentes are a lay Catholic brotherhood that practised bloody rites of self-flagellation and crucifixion, but claim this is a misrepresentation and that they are a community and charitable organisation. Marranos, an ambiguous and complicated population of Sephardic descendants, claim to be anousim. Both people have a complex, shared history. This book disentangles the web, redefines the terms, and creates new contexts in which these groups are viewed with respect and sympathy without idealising or slandering them. It uses rabbinics, literary analyses, psychohistory, and cultural anthropology to consolidate a history of mentalities.

Himalayan Hermitess is a vivid account of the life and times of a Buddhist nun living on the borderlands of Tibetan culture. Orgyan Chokyi (1675-1729) spent her life in Dolpo, the highest inhabited region of the Nepal Himalayas. Illiterate and expressly forbidden by her master to write her own life story, Orgyan Chokyi received divine inspiration, defied tradition, and composed one of the most engaging autobiographies of the Tibetan literary tradition.
The Life of Orgyan Chokyi is the oldest known autobiography authored by a Tibetan woman, and thus holds a critical place in both Tibetan and Buddhist literature. In it she tells of the sufferings of her youth, the struggle to escape menial labor and become a hermitess, her dreams and visionary experiences, her relationships with other nuns, the painstaking work of contemplative practice, and her hard-won social autonomy and high-mountain solitude. In process it develops a compelling vision of the relation between gender, the body, and suffering from a female Buddhist practitioner's perspective.
Part One of Himalayan Hermitess presents a religious history of Orgyan Chokyi's Himalayan world, the Life of Orgyan Chokyi as a work of literature, its portrayal of sorrow and joy, its perspectives on suffering and gender, as well as the diverse religious practices found throughout the work. Part Two offers a full translation of the Life of Orgyan Chokyi. Based almost entirely upon Tibetan documents never before translated, Himalayan Hermitess is an accessible introduction to Buddhism in the premodern Himalayas.

Can the Christian life be lived alone? When her husband left Christianity several years into their marriage, Stina Kielsmeier-Cook was left "spiritually single"-struggling to live the Christian life on her own, taking her kids to church by herself, and wrestling with her own questions and doubts. In this memoir, Kielsmeier-Cook tells the story of her mixed-faith marriage and how she found community in an unexpected place: an order of Catholic nuns in her neighborhood. As she spent time with them and learned about female Catholic saints, she began to see that she was not "spiritually single" after all-and that no one really is.

The manuscript contains the 259 documents in Latin and medieval Danish which made up the economical foundations for the monastery's 400 year-old history. This first collected translation of the papal and royal privileges, the court roll and the many deeds of gifts gives an extraordinary insight into a Danish monastery's national and international relations.

In Friesach, der altesten Stadt Karntens, grundete der Dominikanerorden sein erstes Kloster im deutschen Sprachraum. Mit dem Abzug seiner Predigerbruder wurde ein fast 800 Jahre wahrendes Kapitel Klostergeschichte geschlossen. Anlass genug, die Entwicklungsgeschichte dieses Konvents zu beleuchten und auf dessen vielgestaltige Rolle im stadtischen Gefuge hinzuweisen. Das Buch gibt einen Einblick in die einstige Strahlkraft des Klosters - mit dem Ziel, seinen Ruf als ehemals geistiges und soziokulturelles Zentrum fur die Zukunft zu bewahren. Unter Zugrundelegung noch vorhandener Quellen wird ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Stadtgeschichte Friesachs prasentiert. Die Geschichte der jahrhundertelangen Anwesenheit des Dominikanerordens in dieser Stadt erfahrt ihre verdiente Wurdigung.