Books in the New Monastic Library: Resources for Radical Discipleship series

The first edition of Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World became one of the founding and guiding texts for new monastic communities. In this revised edition, Jonathan Wilson focuses more directly on lessons for these communities from Alasdair MacIntyre''s After Virtue. In the midst of the unsettling cultural shifts from modernity to postmodernity, a new monastic movement is arising that strives to be a faithful witness to the gospel. These new monastic communities seek to participate in Christ''s life in the world and bear witness by learning to live intentionally as the church in Western culture. This movement is about finding the church''s center in Christ in the midst of a fragmented world, overcoming the failure of the Enlightenment project and our complicity with it, resisting the temptation to Nietzschean power, and building communities of disciples. This new edition is greatly enlarged from the original volume. It includes responses to critics of the new monasticism such as D. A. Carson, an entirely new chapter on the Nietzschean temptation, an afterword on properly understanding the new monastic movement, the dangers it faces, and the work yet to be done, as well as an appendix on the supposed post-modern agenda of Jonathan Wilson and Brian McLaren. For those striving to understand the path the church should take in this fragmented world, this book is essential reading.Jonathan R. Wilson is Pioneer McDonald Professor of Theology at Carey Theological College, Vancouver, BC. His most recent book is Why Church Matters.

Many young idealists, after a few failures, burn out and return to status quo lives. Not so with the seven radicals in this book, who met in an interracial house church and intentional community on Chicago's West Side during the civil rights era. Here you will make the acquaintance of a Church of the Brethren pastoral couple who tried to bring communal life to the black ghetto; a fashionable socialite who trashed her curlers and joined the simple life; an elite Stanford graduate who cast his lot with a bus full of black teens on an epic ride to Washington, DC, to hear MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech; two ethnic-Mennonite women who became community leaders and elders during a male-dominated era; and a painfully shy "geek" awakened to the traumas of racism by five days in the Albany, Georgia, jail. Now, in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, these veterans of community witness to the possibility of radical life conversions, engagement with the hard, slow work of racial reconciliation that learns from mistakes and does not quit. This book concludes with the invitation to the joyful path of becoming who God made us to be--saints.

Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom is the story of the Urban Vision community in New Zealand. This book recounts the story of a group of young Christian adults who over the last fifteen years have relocated to the colorful ends of their city to share life with those who are struggling, homeless, sick, poor, neglected, or otherwise marginalized. The community has grown over time to seven neighborhoods where on any given day you may find ""Urban Visionites"" growing vegetables amidst the concrete, teaching English to refugees, offering alternative education programs to out of school teenagers, fostering children, doing church with the homeless, offering friendship to the mentally ill, roasting fair trade coffee, running kids clubs, moms groups, tenant meetings or just sharing yet another cup of tea with their neighbors. In fact sharing is a good summary of the whole shape of this exciting movement. They share homes, food, money, vehicles, jobs, prayers, dreams, conversations, fun, tears, pain, hope, healing, transformation . . . they share the whole of life with each other and with their neighbors. They live the gospel, this good news of Jesus.""As you flip through these pages, you feel your soul start to breathe better. It is a call to break free from all that suffocates us and to live with the recklessness and innocence of the lilies and sparrows. Justin and Jenny not only invite you to reject the counterfeit splendor and empty promises but they point you towards new rhythms and holy habits that move the world a little closer to God''s dream for it.""-Shane Claiborneauthor, activist, recovering sinner""Honest and deeply reflective, Jenny and Justin Duckworth have granted us a window on the beauty, the mess, the joy, and the pain of missional community. What they have discovered is that we can live fuller, more gracious lives in community, mission, and contemplation than we can by living in our nuclear family fortresses. This journey against the tide of a consumption-oriented culture will require us to put to death our tiresome and lonely lives of delicious self-absorption, but the promise of discovery and adventure in our voyage to a more sustainable and simplified life of shalom is painted for us with such striking honesty and beauty that we are compelled to set out on the waka. This is not a book, it is an invitation. I urge you not just to read it, but to accept it.""-Scott BesseneckerAssociate Director of MissionsInterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USAJenny and Justin Duckworth were founders of Urban Vision movement.

Throughout the history of the church, monastic movements have emerged to explore new ways of life in the abandoned places of society. School(s) for Conversion is a communal attempt to discern the marks of a new monasticism in the inner-cities and forgotten landscapes of the Empire that is called America.This book invites us into a way of life that is simultaneously ancient and wonderfully new. By combining first-person accounts of the marks of Christ-formed communities with rich historical and biblical reflection, the various writers provide truthful and hope-filled descriptions of contemporary Christian community. Taking seriously the resources of the monastic tradition and the importance of preserving a relationship withthe wider church, the authors offer mature, wise, and gracious insight into the practices of faithful living. I heartily recommend this book to anyone yearning for evidence and promise of renewal in the church!Christine D. PohlProfessor of Social Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminaryauthor of Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999)Whatever future God has for the church, I am convinced the essays in this remarkable book will help us discern that future. Monasticism has always been one of the main means God has used to renew the church. Through some strange miracle God now seems to be calling Protestants to consider what it might mean for them to live in communities that might look very much like monastic communities. Such a call might tempt many toward some kind of romanticism, but one of the remarkable things about these essays is their stark realism. Such a realism is unavoidable not only because of the challenges facing those who are about the formation of communities faithful to God but also because they have lived with one another enough to know this is not going to be easy. So these essays are full of good sense and they help us see the potential of this extraordinary movement. Moreover, each essayist never forgets to remind us that when it''s all said and done, it''s about God who makes it possible for us to live patiently and nonviolently in a world of impatience and violence.Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School""I believe the new monasticism represents a source of vital renewal from the margins and forgotten places of empire. It is my sincere hope that the new monasticism will grow so strong and healthy and widespread that every follower of Jesus in every church has the opportunity - if not to actually live in a new monastic community - to at least have enough proximity and relationship to be influenced by it. This book can help that dream and prayer come true.""Brian McLaren, pastor (crcc.org), author (anewkindofchristian.com)""In this vision of transformation, the prophets of a new monasticism have a single commitment. They want to realize together--in prayer, thought, and action--their total dependence on God by simply following Jesus. A book prompted by our civilization''s signs of death may not seem hopeful, but this one is. The new monasticism has seen the truth that in deepening darkness there is nothing so hopeful as embracing the cross.""Jim Douglass, author of THE NONVIOLENT COMING OF GOD and co-founder of Mary''s House Catholic Worker in Birmingham, Alabama.God is stirring something new...a new monasticism. This book will take you on an intriguing journey with a few followers of Jesus who are discovering some new ways to give expression to the monastic vocation in our troubled world. Must reading for those who want to take their faith seriously in community with others.Tom Sine, author of Mustard Seed vs. McWorld (www.msa.org)The Rutba House is a Christian community of hospitality, peacemaking, and discipleship in the Walltown neighborhood of Durham, NC.

If the church is more than just a building, what could it mean to live in it--to inhabit it as a way of life? From their location in new monastic communities, Otto, Stock, and Wilson-Hartgrove ask what the church can learn from St. Benedict''s vows of conversion, obedience, and stability about how to live as the people of God in the world. In storytelling and serious engagement with Scripture, old wisdom breathes life into a new monasticism. But, like all monastic wisdom, these reflections are not just for monks. They speak directly to the challenge of being the church in America today and the good news Christ offers for the whole world.Conversations between contemporary Christian communities and Benedictine monasticism are among the most surprising and promising in the church today. Given that the roots of monasticism and of contemporary Protestantism lie in different parts of the Christian tradition, mutual engagement between contemporary Christians and monastics has been rare. Recently, however, the scene has shifted, and Inhabiting the Church represents the new eagerness to learn the art of living together faithfully from experienced and ancient practitioners.--Christine D. Pohl from the foreword""Protestants looking for a richer, thicker, more robust and enchanted way of living into the Christian story should not ignore this invitation into the rhythms and cadences of Benedictine spirituality. Indeed, only one kind of person should avoid this book: the reader who does not wish to be changed.""--Lauren F. Winner author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex ""This book is a timely intersection of the new and ancient, breathing fresh life into an aging body. An older generation will find this book a long-awaited reassurance that the Spirit is still stirring radical nonconformity on the margins of empires. And the contemporary renewal of new monastics and prophetic tricksters will find a cure for the pretension and sloppiness that can so often taint our vision or tempt us to pretend that there is ''something new under the sun.'' With both courage and humility, we will all find ourselves invited to inhabit the incarnational body that makes God visible to the world . . . May it inspire all of us to become the church that God longs for."" --Shane Claiborne author of The Irresistible Revolution, founding member of The Simple Way, and recovering sinner""These folks are bringing things both old and new out of the great Christianstorehouse! The New Monasticism is discovering what is alwaysrediscovered--and always bears great life for the Gospel.""--Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M.Center for Action and ContemplationAlbuquerque, New MexicoJon Stock is a member of Church of the Servant King, publisher of Wipf and Stock, and proprietor of Windows Booksellers in Eugene, Oregon.Tim Otto serves as an Associate Pastor of the Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco. He is also a part-time nurse at the San Francisco county hospital, working with AIDS and cancer patients.Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a member of Rutba House in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of To Baghdad and Beyond.

What modern church doesn''t call itself a ""community""? Yet for how many is it real? How many churches form disciples intimately connected enough to call themselves Christ''s ""body""? How many form disciples who know the relational arts that create a robust unity? How many form disciples practiced in the ways of sacrificial love?Pastor John Alexander, a thirty-year veteran of living in Christian communities, yearns for all the wonder and promise of the New Testament vision of church to come true. After struggling with Scripture in live-together church communities, he shares the Scriptural practices and wisdom that make for an authentic, sustainable, and joyful life together. For any person or church wanting to move beyond the cliche of ""community"" to the radical vision of the New Testament, this book is an invaluable guide""John Alexander has been one of the unsung heroes in the modern Christian world. His understanding of Christianity as a counter-cultural movement is profound, and he has been able to communicate it with effectiveness in his writings. Everything he has written has been marked by fresh insights into what it means to be a Christian in a society in which cultural Christianity has become the norm.""--Tony Campolo, author of Red Letter Christians""Superb. Disturbing. Challenging. Radical because it is biblical. Being Church is an extremely well-written, theologically profound but easily understood presentation of a hugely important truth: almost everything depends on recovering the revolutionary reality of genuine Christian community. A must-read.""--Ronald J. Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger""Being Church is a comprehensive and winsome invitation to embrace a more radical and holistic vision for the church. It is also a testament to the remarkable story of Church of the Sojourners. John''s voice has the weight of wisdom that comes only from deep reflection and hard-earned experience--it is a voice that we should pay attention to."" --Mark Scandrette, author of Practicing the Way of Jesus ""It took a sixty-year journey before John Alexander could write this book. Eventually he learned that trying harder and doing more is not the way God changes us. Nor is it the good news of the gospel for the world. This book shares the alternative: the culture of grace. It was worth the wait.""--Chris Rice, author of Reconciling All ThingsJohn Alexander earned a degree in philosophy and psychology at Oxford University and a master''s degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and pursued doctoral studies at Northwestern University. He taught at Wheaton College, edited The Other Side magazine, authored Your Money or Your Life and The Secular Squeeze, and was pastor of Church of the Sojourners (a live-together church community in San Francisco) before his death in 2001.

In the 1930s, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer anticipated the restoration of the church after the coming second world war through a new kind of monasticism, a way of life of uncompromising adherence to the Sermon on the Mount in imitation of Christ. Since then, the renewal of Christian monasticism has become a great spiritual movement. Imbued with a love for God and neighbor, and with a healthy self-love, people are going to monasteries to deepen their relationship with God, to pray, and to find peace. While some monastic institutions are suffering a decline in traditional vocations, many Christians are exploring monastic lifestyles. This book introduces The Community of the Transfiguration in Australia, the story of a new monastic community and an inspiring source of hope for the world at another time of spiritual, social, and ecological crisis.""Western civilization was cradled by the monastic movements of the Middle Ages, and many of the discoveries of modern science have their roots in monastic gardens and infirmaries. Paul Dekar gives a glimpse into a Christian movement of our time that promises to provide new energies--from the heart of evangelical Christianity--to enliven the monastic ideal and provide a unique Christian witness to the world. Intentional Christianity, a more intense form of belief and practice, provides all Christians, and indeed all persons, with a window into the possibilities of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the prospect of a world remade.""--Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Memphis Theological Seminary""The Community of the Transfiguration at Breakwater, Victoria, is one of the hidden and unexpected gems of the contemporary Australian Christian scene. Quietly but purposefully it has grown over the past twenty-five years into a vibrant, Spirit-filled Christian community standing in the great tradition of Christian monasticism. What is unexpected but all the more exciting is that this community is firmly grounded in and embraced by the Baptist Church while at the same time being thoroughly ecumenical. Paul Dekar''s book is a most timely contextualization of and tribute to the community.""Rt. Rev. Andrew St. John, DD, Rector, Church of the Transfiguration, New York, and Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York.Paul R. Dekar is Niswonger Professor of Evangelism and Missions, Memphis Theological Seminary. He is author of Creating the Beloved Community: A History of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the United States (2005) and Holy Boldness: Practices of an Evangelistic Lifestyle (2004). He and his wife Nancy are North American members of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Australia.

Description:University is a major way that our society prepares professionals and leaders in education, health, government, business, arts, church--all components of our communal lives. Although the beginnings of the first universities were Christian, academia has become more and more adrift from these foundations. We have lost not only the union, the interwovenness of theological and academic understandings, but also the relational and communal process of learning which teaches students to be other-centered in their practice.A Glimpse of the Kingdom in Academia tells the story of the social sciences department of a small Christian university that took seriously the mandate to prepare their students to be salt and light in a secular society. Here are stories of the transformation in students'' lives, as well as description of classroom practices, and the epistemological theory behind those practices. The book explores academic knowing, Christian worldview, relational epistemology, inner knowing, and wisdom--all ways of knowing that a Christian university should teach. The process of transformation, the context of community, and the bigger picture of life''s journey and changing images of God are identified as important aspects of kingdom life in academia. The institutional setting is also critiqued with the recognition that power practices need to align with the kingdom of the Christ who emptied himself.Endorsements:"This book is an invitation to another way of seeing, but it is also dense in alternative epistemological sources. . . . This book should be read by all those involved with student learning and administration. It can also be read by any teacher or administrator, school or institution hoping to make learning more open and transformational in any discipline or context."--Nicola Hoggard Creegan, Lecturer in Theology, Laidlaw College"[This] is not simply a how-to book. It is a book that will move you into a more profound way of reading and entering the gospel story. It is a book marked by a theology of the Kingdom or reign of God and a holistic vision of God''s redemptive and healing purposes for our world. It is a book also shaped by the newer liberation and feminist theologies. Moreover, it is a book marked by profound spirituality. . . . It is my hope that this book will be a precursor of what is to come, that it will point the way for others to take the shape of their life in Christ into the public sphere."--From the Foreword by Charles Ringma, Emeritus Professor, Regent CollegeAbout the Contributor(s):Irene Alexander is a psychologist and spiritual director. She lectures at Christian Heritage College and the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane, Australia, and in spiritual direction formation. She is the author of several books, including Dancing with God: Transformation through Relationship (2007) and Practicing the Presence of Jesus (2011).

Description:Thomas Merton was arguably the twentieth century''s most widely published and widely read spiritual writer. This book explores Merton''s prophetic writings and experience as they offer guidance for spiritual seekers in their search to experience God, to simplify their lives, to live more humanly, and to shape Christian community in the face of alienation, consumerism, noise, and technology. The book includes parts of three previously unpublished conference contributions by Merton on technology.Endorsements:""Paul Dekar presents us in this book with a manifesto for the future of the Christian community, which he sees being renewed by intentional, contemplative, essentially lay communities that know how to connect classic monastic wisdom with the challenges of our addicted-conflicted culture. He tells us with real passion that we don''t need to fight old battles, but instead need to focus on God''s future. The chapter on Merton and technology is alone worth the price of the book. Warmly recommended, especially to Christians discouraged with the institutional church.""-Donald GraystonPast PresidentInternational Thomas Merton Society""Paul Dekar''s book is a thoughtful and comprehensive summary of Merton''s concerns about our world--ranging from ecological consciousness, war, non violence, and technology to new monasticism and a dialogue with other faiths. It is a timely book offering real guidance. Thomas Merton''s diagnosis of the ills of our time is speaking powerfully still: ''achievement neurosis,'' overspending, overwork, noise, violence, addiction to technology, and an individualism that has lost sight of the common good. The way forward? Creating ''communities of love'' in which God''s presence and the depth of our humanity--which we consistently ignore--are experienced, and where the balance between the inner and the outer life can be restored.""-Sr. MiriamCommunity of the Transfiguration About the Contributor(s):Paul R. Dekar is Professor Emeritus of Evangelism and Mission, Memphis Theological Seminary, member of a new monastic community in Australia, and a prolific author, including Community of the Transfiguration: Journey of a New Monastic Community (Eugene: Cascade, 2008). After thirty-four years of full-time teaching, he continues to teach, write, and work with communities of hope in Dundas, Ontario, Canada.

Description:In the 1930s, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer anticipated the restoration of the church after the coming second world war through a new kind of monasticism, a way of life of uncompromising adherence to the Sermon on the Mount in imitation of Christ. Since then, the renewal of Christian monasticism has become a great spiritual movement. Imbued with a love for God and neighbor, and with a healthy self-love, people are going to monasteries to deepen their relationship with God, to pray, and to find peace. While some monastic institutions are suffering a decline in traditional vocations, many Christians are exploring monastic lifestyles. This book introduces The Community of the Transfiguration in Australia, the story of a new monastic community and an inspiring source of hope for the world at another time of spiritual, social, and ecological crisis.Endorsements:""Western civilization was cradled by the monastic movements of the Middle Ages, and many of the discoveries of modern science have their roots in monastic gardens and infirmaries. Paul Dekar gives a glimpse into a Christian movement of our time that promises to provide new energies--from the heart of evangelical Christianity--to enliven the monastic ideal and provide a unique Christian witness to the world. Intentional Christianity, a more intense form of belief and practice, provides all Christians, and indeed all persons, with a window into the possibilities of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the prospect of a world remade.""--Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Memphis Theological Seminary""The Community of the Transfiguration at Breakwater, Victoria, is one of the hidden and unexpected gems of the contemporary Australian Christian scene.  Quietly but purposefully it has grown over the past twenty-five years into a vibrant, Spirit-filled Christian community standing in the great tradition of Christian monasticism.  What is unexpected but all the more exciting is that this community is firmly grounded in and embraced by the Baptist Church while at the same time being thoroughly ecumenical. Paul Dekar''s book is a most timely contextualization of and tribute to the community.""Rt. Rev. Andrew St. John, DD, Rector, Church of the Transfiguration, New York, and Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of New York.About the Contributor(s):Paul R. Dekar is Niswonger Professor of Evangelism and Missions, Memphis Theological Seminary. He is author of Creating the Beloved Community: A History of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the United States (2005) and Holy Boldness: Practices of an Evangelistic Lifestyle (2004). He and his wife Nancy are North American members of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Australia.

Richard Froude wrote in 1833 to John Henry Newman that "the present state of things in England makes an opening for reviving the monastic system." Seemingly original words at the time. Yet, monasticism is one of the most ancient and enduring institutions of the Christian church, reaching its zenith during the High Middle Ages. Although medieval monasteries were regularly suppressed during the Reformation and the magisterial Reformers rejected monastic vows, the existence of monasticism has remained within the Reformation churches, both as an institution and in its theology. This volume is an examination of Protestant theologies of monasticism, examining the thought of select Protestant authors who have argued for the existence of monasticism in the Reformation churches, beginning with Martin Luther and John Calvin and including Conrad Hoyer, John Henry Newman, Karl Barth, and Donald Bloesch. Looking at the contemporary church, the current movement known as the "New Monasticism" is discussed and evaluated in light of Protestant monastic history.