Greg Peters. The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality. Baker Academic, 2018. See here to purchase the book.
Greg Peters teaches medieval and spiritual theology at Biola
University. He has also been a visiting professor at Saint John’s School
of Theology and is a research professor of Monastic Studies and
Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.
The larger theme of this book is that monastic principles can and
should guide the spirituality of Christians who are not officially
monks. Such principles include devotion to God through prayer, liturgy,
asceticism, solitude, and Christian community. Peters presents the
thought of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians on this issue,
and on the principles of monasticism themselves, ranging from the
patristic period to the twentieth century. The New Testament forms the
foundation for the monastic principles and the concept of institutional
monasticism. Acts 2-4, in which the early Christians devote themselves
to the apostle’s teaching, prayer, and fellowship as well as share their
possessions, looms large as a historical inspiration for Christian
monasticism.
The assets of this book include its scholarly rigor, its breadth and
its depth, and its edifying effect, as the concept of devotion to God
unites the different Christian thinkers whom Greg profiles. Among the
most interesting and compelling discussions in the book are Jerome’s
defense of scholarly work as actual work, the divinizing effect of
liturgy on sinful believers, and the monastic underpinnings of
marriage, which provides boundaries for human sexual desire.
There are recurring themes in this book. First, there is the concept
of the priesthood of all believers. All Christians believe in this, on
some level, even though Roman Catholicism also has an institutional
priesthood. Second, there is the concept of calling, that a Christian’s
everyday occupation can be a way to glorify God and to serve God and
others. Protestants stressed this, and the concept came to find a place
among Catholic thinkers. There is also the question of whether
institutional monasticism is meritorious and provides practitioners with
a faster route to heaven. Luther inveighed against this idea, believing
that it contradicts justification by grace through faith alone.
I have mild critiques, based on my own reading of this book, and
other readers may have a different impression; I myself may gain a
different impression were I to reread the book. First, Peters perhaps
could have explained more why asceticism was and is important. Cannot a
person be devoted to God, without going hungry and refraining from sex?
My impression, from other scholars I have read and heard, is that there
was a multifold rationale for Christian asceticism. Asceticism can
remove distractions from one’s relationship with God, but there was also
a belief that the flesh alienates one from the spiritual realm and that
the appetites are self-centered. The goal of decreasing distractions is
one with which I can identify. I have some difficulty, however,
accepting the latter two assumptions (i.e., appetites as alienating from
the spirit and selfish) as authoritative and normative.
Second, Peters could have explained better why Luther believed that
seeing monasticism as meritorious conflicted with justification by grace
through faith alone. Roman Catholicism, after all, did not believe that
only monks went to heaven, for ordinary Christians could, too. Yet,
they thought that institutionalized monasticism could provide a faster
track to heaven, as the increased devotion to God was meritorious, and
monasticism provided an opportunity to suppress the flesh, which all
Christians, on some level, are to do. Some questions enter my mind.
Luther obviously had problems with the concept of merit, thinking that
it detracted from the importance of divine grace. Yet, would he deny
that some Christians will receive more rewards in the afterlife than
other Christians? Many Protestants today say that all Christians are
saved, but some Christians will receive more rewards, based on their
good works. There is also the question of how Catholics believed that
ordinary Christians could be saved, even though they, on some level,
indulged the passions, by not being complete ascetics. Purgatory may be a
significant aspect of the answer to this question: ordinary believers
will eventually get to heaven, but they will need to be purified in
purgatory.
Third, while the book often spoke about the importance of Christians
incorporating monastic principles into their life, it was a little thin
about what this practically looks like. It does describe what took place
in institutional monasticism, however, along with Clement of
Alexandria’s strict depiction of asceticism.
Notwithstanding these critiques, this book is rich, informative, beautifully written, and edifying.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. My review is honest.