The “New Monasticism” as Ancient-Future Belonging

Abstract

Self-consciously postmodern Christians in the postevangelical, emerging church, or so-called “emergent conversation” in North America and the United Kingdom, are redefining the Christian community in monastic terms and reimagining it using premodern forms. Rediscovering how to exhibit the Christian faith as a way of life has prompted a variety of historical retrievals of ancient patterns and practices that seem to make their originative faith communities more authentic and compelling to postmodern sociocultural contexts. These “ancient-future” pursuits inspire not only an eclectic array of historical inquiries but also a distinctive historical consciousness that stresses the importance of imaginative reconstruction and “indwelling” of ancient Christian praxis. After a brief survey of the New Monasticism, the theological promises and perils of this diverse movement will be considered.