FINDING MY RELIGION: Meet the New Monastics

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/13/6 | David Ian Miller

[SmithL]

Most religious traditions embrace elements of monasticism, the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to devote one's life to spiritual concerns. In a modern spin on that concept, a growing number of progressive Christians are leaving behind the materialism of Western culture to live communally and serve the poor in some of the nation's most blighted areas.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, a 25-year-old divinity student at Duke University, is one of the leaders of this movement, dubbed "new monasticism." The name comes from a book titled "Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World," written by Wilson-Hartgrove's father-in-law, Jonathan Wilson, a professor of theology and ethics at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia.

I spoke with Wilson-Hartgrove last week by phone from Rutba House, the small, white frame house in Durham, N.C., where he and his wife, Leah, have lived with a group of pilgrims since 2003.

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What is "new monasticism" all about?

The idea is that the way of life in Western culture is fragmented, and as a result Christianity seems to have fallen apart with it. We are trying to put the pieces back together again by rediscovering the early version of the church. We live communally, sharing what we have in common, and we settle in areas that have been abandoned or neglected by American society, where we try to serve the local populations.

[Tax-chick]

I spoke with Wilson-Hartgrove last week by phone from Rutba House, the small, white frame house in Durham, N.C., where he and his wife, Leah, have lived with a group of pilgrims since 2003.

Durm is quite a haven of moonbats, but I'd hesitate to call it "one of the nation's most blighted areas."

And what's new about hippie communes?

[Mrs. Don-o]

I wouldn't be too hard on these people. They're trying to follow Jesus; they're trying to do it in practice and not just in theory (i.e. in their house and not just on the Internet... ooops. talking to myself again); and --- assuming they keep praying, keep thinking, and keep responding to their neighbors--- they will undoubtedly learn many lessons about human nature, shed some of their liberal assumptions, and end up more realistic. And still closer to Jesus.

That's about as much as any of us could hope for.

[TradicalRC]

And what's new about hippie communes?

I think an important distinction to be made here is that a monastic does what he does out of a personal religious calling and because he sees a kinship with fellow human beings. A hippie on the other hand might join a commune out of political/ideological motives and believes that the government should have everyone choose what he chose. There is a world of difference between those who believe in a perfect world in the afterlife and those who want a Utopia in this one.

[Galveston Grl]

These are hippie retirement homes. Hippies never get old; they become holy.:)

[Tax-chick]

Just a little local cynicism ... like, it's Durham, you know :-).

It's entirely possible that these are lovely Christian people, and I certainly wish them the best.