This book examines the economy of contemporary Catholic monasticism from a sociological perspective, considering the ways in which monasteries engage with the capitalist world economy via a model which aims less at ‘performance’ per se, than at the fulfilment of human and religious values.
Based on fieldwork across several countries in Europe, Africa and South America, it explores not only the daily work and economy in monastic communities in their tensions with religious life, but also the new interest from society in monastic products or monastic management. With attention to present trends in monastic economy, including the growth of ecology and the role of monasteries in the social and economic development of their localities, the author demonstrates that monastic economy consists not solely in the subsistence of religious communities outside the world, but in economic activity that has a real impact on its local or even more global environment, in part through transnational networks of monasteries.
As such, Contemporary Monastic Economy: A Sociological Perspective will appeal to scholars of religious studies and sociology with interests in contemporary monasticism.
Author(s): Isabelle Jonveaux
Series: Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Religion
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 244
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Research
1 Monastic Economy in its Sociological and Historical Context
1 How Can We Define the Monastery From a Sociological Point of View?
2 Monastic Economy: A Deep Contradiction in Monastic Life?
3 History of the Monastic Economy
A: Origin of Work in Christian Monasticism
B: Evolution of the Forms of Monastic Work Throughout History
C: Development of the Monastic Economy in Europe
2 Models of Monastic Economy: Organisation and Sources of Revenue
1 Is Autarky Still Possible?
2 Presentation of Different Models
A: Direct Work of Monastics with an Internal Economy of Production
B: Economy of External Activities or an Externalised Economy
C: Economy of Patrimony
D: Economy of Donation
E: Economy of Aging
3 External Influences on the Monastic Economy
A: Factors of Influence
B: Origin of the Differences
3 Work and Prayer in Monastic Life
1 Necessity of Work in Monastic Life?
A: Sense of Work in Monastic Life
B: Specificities of Work in Monastic Life
2 The Right Balance Between Work and Prayer
A: Time Balance in Monastic Life
B: Body, Work and Stress
C: Between Priests and Monks: Which Identity?
4 Integration of Economic Activity Into Monastic Life
1 Models of Integration of Economic Activity Into Monastic Life
A: Denying Economic Activity
B: Distance From Economic Activity
C: Integrating Economic Activity: Strategies of Recomposition
D: Ex-Post Legitimation: Managing the Money
2 Between Negation and Affirmation of Economics
A: To Speak About the Econony in Monastic Life
B: Balancing Performance: Between Economic and Religious Determinants
C: Is the Monastic Economy a Performant Economy?
3 Integrating Lay Employees in Monastic Activities
5 Daily Life Economy: What does Monastic Poverty Mean Today?
1 Objective Poverty in Monastic Life
A: Criteria of Objective Poverty in Monastic Communities
B: Expenditure of Monasteries: Influence of Asceticism?
2 Perception of Poverty by Society
A: Poverty in European Monasteries: Perception of Society
B: Europe: The Question of Household
C: Africa: Which Perception of Poverty?
3 Lived Poverty in Daily Monastic Life: A Subjective Dimension?
A: Monastic Poverty on the Individual Level
B: Subjective Poverty in Europe
C: Africa: Living in Monastic Poverty in a Poor Country
D: Subjective Poverty: Poverty as Spirituality?
6 Specificities of Female Monasteries
1 Nuns in the Economic History of the Monastery, Near and Far
2 Inequalities Between Male and Female Monasteries Concerning Economic Activities
3 Characteristics of the Female Monastic Economy
A: Rentability and Innovation
B: A Dependence on (Male) Laypeople?
7 Monastic Products and Interactions with The World Economy
1 The Success of Monastic Products
A: Quality, Tradition and the Economy of Beauty
B: Charismatic Economy
C: Use of Monastic Image by Lay Firms and Protection of Monastic Brands
2 The Shop: How Can Mercantile Activity Be Justified?
A: Trade: A Forbidden Activity for Monastics?
B: A Place for Meetings and Pastoral Care
C: The Choice of Products and Organisation of the Shop
D: Integration of the Shop Into Monastic Time and Space
3 High Prices and Luxury: Paradoxes of Monastic Products
A: Determining a Fair Price
B: Does Quality Mean Luxury Products?
C: Monastic Products in Africa: A Hiatus with Customers
4 E-Commerce: Selling Without Leaving the Enclosure?
A: Timid Beginnings
B: International Sales Networks Without Leaving the Monastery
C: The Economic Enclosure Online
5 Dependency of the World Economy
A: Norms and Standards
B: Crises and Monastic Economic
C: Monastic Economy in the African Context: Dependency on the Infrastructure
8 Tourism, Visitors, Lay People in the Monastery
1 The Boom of Monastic Visitors: Different Profiles
2 Lay People in the Monastery: Between Welcoming and Preservation
A: Pilgrims and Tourists: Position of Lay People in the Monasteries
B: Tensions Caused by Monastic Guesthouses
3 Heritagisation of Monasteries and Cultural Goods
9 Monastic Economy And (Sustainable) Development
1 Impact of the Monastic Economy: Towards an Alternative Economy
A: A Utopian Economy for the World?
B: Social Dimension of the Monastic Economy in Europe
C: Monasteries as Places of Innovation
2 Sustainable Development and Ecology
A: Elective Affinity Between Monasticism and Ecology
B: Monastics; Rational Pioneers of Ecology
C: A Systemic Approach or Rational Ecology
3 Towards a Secularisation of the Ecological Discourse or Integration of the Ecological Discourse Into the Monastic Sphere?
4 Development in Africa
A: A 'Pro-Poor' Economy?
B: The Impulse Behind Monastic Development
C: Direct and Indirect Development: Social Activities of Monasteries
D: From Development to Ecology
Conclusion
Appendix
Reference
Index
