The everyday life of monks: English Benedictine identity and the performance of proximity

Richard D.G. Irvine

doi:10.4324/9781315595986

The everyday life of monks: English Benedictine identity and the performance of proximity

Richard D.G. Irvine^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Social Anthropology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The idea that Christianity can be understood as a discontinuity between this-worldly and other-worldly, transcendent and immanent, has been called into question within the anthropology of Christianity by Cannell (2005, 2006). Drawing our attention to ‘the juxtaposition of the numinous and the banal’ (2005: 346), she challenges what she sees as a narrowly ascetic model. Indeed, as Webster (2013) has set out to show in his ethnography of Scottish Protestants, transcendence and immanence are rarely understandable as two opposed poles; rather, transcendence comes to be experienced as immanent, a presence in the everyday fabric of life.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Monasticism in Modern Times
Editors	Isabelle Jonveaux, Stefania Palmisano
Publisher	Taylor and Francis
Pages	191-208
Number of pages	18
ISBN (Electronic)	9781317094395
ISBN (Print)	9781472463548
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315595986
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2016

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The everyday life of monks: English Benedictine identity and the performance of proximity

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