Greg Peters on the nature of medieval monastic theology as a model for contemporary Christian catechesis. Delivered at Christ Church Waco on February 23, 2022.

ABOUT

Since the publication of Jean Leclercq’s groundbreaking book, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, there have been two main of ways of thinking about the theological methods that prevailed in the Middle Ages: monastic versus scholastic.

While many Christians are more familiar scholastic theology—characterized by the disputation method and question-and-answer format of luminaries like St. Thomas Aquinas—monastic theology is less well known or is thought to deal with practical monastic affairs like prayer, purity of heart, and asceticism.

However, monastic theology has a unique theological sensibility of its own. Monastic theology was done by monks living in monasteries. It was highly dependent on the Apostolic Fathers and sought to provide a robust theological reflection on the articles of Christian faith. In monastic theology, the principal task of the theologian is to transmit and explain the Bible not, for example, to reconcile the many conflicting theological perspectives that exist in Christian history. The end of monastic theology was prayer and ultimately union with God.

This talk will investigate the nature of “monastic theology,” retrieving its methodology as a way of conducting contemporary Christian catechesis. For both monastic theology and for catechesis, the goal is to reform of catechumen ab verbo et exemplo—in both word and deed, in mind and action.

Rev. Dr. Greg Peters (PhD, St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto; SMD, Pontificio Ateneo di Sant’Anselmo) is Associate Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology at the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, the Servants of Christ Research Professor of Monastic Studies and Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, an ordained Anglican priest, and Benedictine oblate. He studies the history of monasticism and spiritual and ascetical theology, and has written numerous books on the retrieval of monasticism for the contemporary Church, including The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality (Baker Academic, 2018); The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality (Baker Academic, 2015); and Reforming the Monastery: Protestant Theologies of Religious Life (Cascade, 2014).