Missionary Monks

An Introduction to the History and Theology of Missionary Monasticism

Edward L. Smither

foreword by Thomas O’Loughlin

MISSIONARY MONKS

An Introduction to the History and Theology of Missionary Monasticism

Copyright © 2016 Edward L. Smither. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Cascade Books

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-4982-2416-1

hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-2418-5

ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-2417-8

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Names: Smither, Edward L. | O’Loughlin, Thomas (foreword)

Title: Missionary monks : an introduction to the history and theology of missionary monasticism / Edward L. Smither, with a foreword by Thomas O. Loughlin.

Description: Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: isbn 978-1-4982-2416-1 (paperback) | isbn 978-1-4982-2418-5 (hardcover) | isbn 978-1-4982-2417-8 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Monasticism and religious orders—History | Monastic and religious life—History | Missions—History | Religious Missions—history

Classification: BV2100 S665 2016 2016 (print) | BV2100 (ebook)

Manufactured in the U.S.A.09/17/15

Table of Contents

• Title Page

• Foreword

• Acknowledgments

• Introduction

• Chapter 1: Early Christian Mission

• Chapter 2: Rise of Monasticism

• Chapter 3: Basil of Caesarea

• Chapter 4: Martin of Tours

• Chapter 5: Patrick of Ireland

• Chapter 6: Celtic Monks

• Chapter 7: Gregory the Great and Augustine of Canterbury

• Chapter 8: Willibrord and Boniface

• Chapter 9: Anskar

• Chapter 10: Cyril and Methodius

• Chapter 11: Church of the East

• Chapter 12: The Mendicants

• Chapter 13: The Jesuits

• Epilogue: Toward a Monastic Theology of Mission

• Bibliography

Foreword

Christians are always remembering, and Christians are always forgetting! That we are always remembering is obvious: all Christians read the anthology of texts we call the Bible and remember events that happened (the most recent of them) nearly two thousand years ago. And in those texts—such as one of the most recent of them: Acts—they read about things that happened even earlier: they are remembering Christians remembering the time before the Christ (Acts 2:14–36). They have made this remembering part of their worship: there is no group of Christians who do not have some readings from the Scriptures at their assemblies. Some Christians take a real pride in their remembering and set great store by “tradition”: and proudly boast that what they are doing now is what was done in the past. Indeed, the way they justify what they are doing now—no matter how crazy it might appear to outsiders—is that “this is the way we have always done it!” Remembering becomes ...