Monastic Identities: Comparative and Historical Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

This volume aims to address contexts wherein female and male monastics confronted, reinforced, or questioned their own identities, whether individual or collective. In doing so, it builds upon a growing body of literature on monasticism in various traditions, including Catholic, Orthodox, Buddhist, and Jain settings. While many studies have addressed such issues as the origins and development of monastic norms, fewer works have treated the ways monks and nuns have thought intentionally (or perhaps unintentionally) about their own identities. Fewer works still have done so with a comparative focus, actively seeking to juxtapose different monastic traditions in order to underscore similarities and differences in an open, unbiased, and intentional way.

This volume will treat historical rather than contemporary monasticism. However, it aims to be as inclusive as possible within that broad framework and will entertain submissions that examine monastic situations ranking from antiquity through to the nineteenth century. It aims to include studies of various monastic traditions—Catholic, Orthodox, Buddhist, Jain—as well as those that identify and investigate “monastic identities” in traditions which have not traditionally been associated with monasticism as narrowly defined (e.g., Essenes in ancient Judaism, Sufis in historical Islam).

Authors are welcome to submit works that broadly tackle issues of  “identities.” Articles might choose to focus on the dynamics of gender and sexuality; interactions across cultural or religious boundaries; secular or ecclesiastical concerns from outside the cloister or order; currents of reform emerging from within or outside of the community; the discovery, rediscovery, or development of philosophical or theological concepts; or even issues unique to a single individual within a religious community. These areas and more have potentially challenged, reinforced, or otherwise affected monastic identities. The volume is eager to publish studies on any of these or other issues relevant. I am particularly interested in including submissions that adopt a comparative framework, analyzing different monastic situations to draw conclusions about one or more of the comparative foci.

Dr. John D. Young
Guest Editor

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• monasticism
• monks
• nuns
• Catholic
• Orthodox
• Buddhist
• Jain
• Sufi
• Essene
• Hindu
• religious communities
• gender and sexuality
• comparative religions
• cloister
• religious identities