Totally Devoted : An Exploration of New Monasticism

Totally Devoted: the challenge of the New Monasticism by Simon Cross shows us communities and groups which all, in widely different ways, live as new monastics, seeking God and carrying on the traditions of their forebears in a way fitting for twenty-first century living.

The book features interviews with members of various communities, including among others: The Northumbria Community; Safespace; TOM; EarthAbbey; The Community of Aidan and Hilda; SPEAK; The Catholic Worker Movement; Betel of Britain; L'Arche; The Ashram Community; and hOme.

Author, activist and new monastic, Shane Claiborne had this to say about Totally Devoted

: Every few hundred years, it seems that the Church gets infected by the world around us and we forget who we are called to be. And every few hundred years, there are folks on the fringes of the faith who hear a whisper to leave the materialism and militarism and all the clutter of the culture... and to go to the margins, and the desert and the abandoned places to rethink what it means to be Christian. Here is another piece of evidence that there is a movement once again hearing the ancient whisper of God to repair the Church which is in ruins.
-Publisher.

Simon Cross describes himself- I guess I am a husband, father, friend, believer, doubter, anarchist, reader, writer, listener, washer-upper, shorts-wearer, vegetarian, gardener, joker, music lover, scotland rugby fan, and occasional idiot. I live in Grimsby, where I work as a freelance writer, and consultant to people who want to do business in a more ethical way. I have a particular interest in organic cotton, and environmental and social aspects of international development, which I consider to be intrinsically linked to spirituality. I am interested in the movement which is currently known as New Monasticism and last year I wrote a book about New Monastics in the UK, among whom I dare to count myself. The book should be out in May 2010.