The Journey of a New Monastic Community by Paul R. Dekar
For over a millennium, if Christians wanted to read theology, practice Christian spirituality, or study the Bible, they went to the monastery to do so. There, people who inhabited the tradition and prayed the prayers of the church, copied manuscripts and offered fresh reflections about living the gospel in a new era. Two thousand years after the birth of the church, a new monastic movement is stirring.
Imbued with a love for God and neighbour, and with a healthy self-love, people are going to monasteries to deepen their relationship with God, to pray, and to find peace. While some monastic institutions are suffering a decline in traditional vocations, many Christians are exploring monastic lifestyles.
This book introduces the Community of the Transfiguration in Australia, telling the story of this new monastic community and disclosing the most intimate aspects of the spiritual journey of its members.
Dekar provides an accessible and entertaining radical witness of the new monastics. The book is an account of the author’s experience as a guest of this dispersed community, which is an inspiring source of hope at another time of spiritual, social, and ecological crisis.
Notes to editors:
Paul R. Dekar is Niswonger Professor of Evangelism and Missions at Memphis Theological Seminary. He is the author of Creating the Beloved Community: A History of the Fellowship of the Reconciliation in the United States and Holly Boldness: Practices of an Evangelistic Lifestyle. Paul and his wife, Nancy, are North American members of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Australia.
About the publisher:
The Lutterworth Press has been trading since the eighteenth-century and is one of the longest-established and best-known independent publishers in the United Kingdom.
Review copies are available directly from the publisher. For more information please contact:
Antoaneta Ouzounova, Sales & Publicity Department
The Lutterworth Press, PO Box 60, Cambridge CB2 1NT, United Kingdom
Email: sales@lutterworth.com
Tel: 0044 (0)1223 350 865
Also available:
Small Communities in Religious Life. How to Make Them Work a self-help manual with practical advice for those involved in the running of small religious communities, by Catherine Widdicombe
Visit our catalogue at www.jamesclarke.co.uk / www.lutterworth.com
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