Tracing Early Monastic Culture: Books and Authority in New Textual Communities

Dear Colleagues,

While it is well known that medieval monasteries functioned as centers of education and learning, it is typically the High and Late Middle Ages that are associated with academic achievement. On the other hand, monastic life in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages—sometimes referred to as the “dark ages”—is thought to have been characterized by obedience to ancient authorities and compilation of their works, as opposed to innovation and development. However, as scholarship in recent decades has shown, transmission does not exclude creativity, and this period has gained increasing attention for its scholarly and ecclesiastical activities. Examples include the translations of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, as well as early monastic rules, into new languages.

How, then, could we best understand and describe the transmission of ancient learning and ideals to a medieval context? The intellectual field of textual culture, which forms a framework for the present issue of Religions, takes into account material processes and ideological concerns in textual production and use. On the border between book history and literary criticism, this implies an understanding of reading and writing as cultural practices in themselves. The concept of textual communities, referring to groups gathered around the reading and interpretation of a textual corpus, is instrumental in examining how certain texts were promoted in specific contexts and how practices of reading, sharing, and publishing texts had both the function of transmitting ancient monastic ideals and reinterpreting them in the service of new communities. By including studies of monastic texts and their transmission from one context to another—for example, from East to West, from Greek to Latin—this issue will contribute to our understanding of the importance of material culture in the transmission of monastic ideals, as well as in reshaping them, with a particular focus on the construction of monastic authority.

This Special Issue seeks contributions on textual practices and their role in the development of monastic ideals, particularly relating to authority, in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (c. 300–800). Studies on monastic rules, which typically deal with obedience, have a place in this issue, alongside other kinds of texts by early ascetic writers, in which ascetic ideals and ideas of spiritual authority are expressed—for example, in exegetical and hagiographical works.

In this Special Issue, original research articles are welcome on areas that may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Textual communities in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages;
• Early sources (monastic and non-monastic) for Western monasticism and their reappropriation;
• The transmission of the Greek paideia and the idea of the monastery as a school;
• Reception of ancient texts, including practices of reading, translating, and rewriting;
• Different ideas and expressions of monastic authority;
• Reinterpretation of philosophical and theological inheritance.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and abstract of 200–300 words, summarizing their intended contribution. Please send these to the Guest Editors, Dr. Andreas Westergren (andreas.westergren@ctr.lu.se) and Dr. Katarina Pålsson (katarina.palsson@ctr.lu.se), and cc the Assistant Editor of Religions, Margaret Liu (margaret.liu@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring a proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review.

Tentative deadlines:

Deadline for abstract submission: December 1, 2024
Deadline for full manuscript submission: June 1, 2025

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

Alciati, R., “The Invention of Western Monastic Literature: Texts and Communities”, in: A.I. Beach & I. Cochelin (eds.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, p. 144–161.

Bray, J. & Evans, R., “Introduction: What is Textual Culture?”, Textual Cultures: Texts, Contexts, Interpretation 2 (2007), p. 1–8.

Contreni, J. J., “Carolingian Monastic Schools and Reform”, in: A.I. Beach & I. Cochelin (eds.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, p. 450–465.

Haines-Eitzen, K., Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian Literature, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Heath, J., “Textual Communities: Brian Stock’s Concept and Recent Scholarship on Antiquity”, in: F. Wilk (ed.), Scriptural Interpretation and the Interface Between Education and Religion, Leiden: Brill, 2018, p. 5–35.

Hörning, K. H., “Kultur als Praxis”, in: F. Jaeger and B. Liebsch (eds.), Handbuch der Kulturwissenschaften, vol 1: Grundlagen und Schlüsselbegriffe, Stuttgart: Metzler, 2004, p. 139–151.

Johnson, W.A., “Toward a Sociology of Reading in Classical Antiquity”, The American Journal of Philology 121.4 (2000), p. 593-627.

Larsen, L. & Rubenson, S. (eds.), Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: the Transformation of Classical Paideia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Schatzki, T. R. et al., The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory, London: Routledge, 2001.

Stock, B., Listening for the Text: On the Uses of the Past, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

Wallis, F. & Wisnovsky, R. (eds.), Medieval Textual Cultures: Agents of Transmission, Translation and Transformation, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.

Dr. Andreas Westergren
Dr. Katarina Pålsson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.