The Monastic Footprint in Post-Reformation Movements (Routledge Methodist Studies Series)

This book examines the influence of the monastic tradition beyond the Reformation. Where the built monastic environment had been dissolved, desire for the spiritual benefits of monastic living still echoed within theological and spiritual writing of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a virtual exegetical template. The volume considers how the writings of monastic authors were appropriated in post-Reformation movements by those seeking a more fervent spiritual life, and how the concept of an internal cloister of monastic/ascetic spirituality influenced several Anglican writers during the Restoration. There is a careful examination of the monastic influence upon the Wesleys and the foundation and rise of Methodism. Drawing on a range of primary sources, the book will be of particular interest to scholars of monastic and Methodist history, and to those engaged in researching ecclesiology and in ecumenical dialogues.

Kenneth C. Carveley is a church historian and liturgical scholar. His fields of study include Byzantine and Orthodox history and theology, medieval and early modern ecclesiology, and his own Methodist tradition. For many years he has been engaged in ecumenical dialogue, working with the Anglican and Methodist churches on liturgical writing and revision. His work on monasticism and the Cistercian tradition has been informed by research and teaching in universities and at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.