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Ulterior Lives: The Outsider Politics of Monasticism
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The Abbot and the Priest
A further look into the Rule of St Benedict reveals both an idealistic and wary stance towards authority and the figures who wield it.
6 hrs ago
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
1
1
St Benedict's Three Ingredients
St Benedict may be relatively well-known, in theory, for a historical figure of his ilk; but what does his Rule of Life actually contain?
Dec 5
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
5
1
The world of St Benedict
A first step into the monastic Rule that has become something of a standard in the modern era, a short-hand for monasticism in general.
Dec 3
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
3
St Augustine's Exceptions
The necessary paradox of every hierarchical power structure is this: that the person in charge has at least a toe outside the law.
Nov 12
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
6
Rules, Laws, what's the difference?
Is a Rule of Life more or less a microcosm of state law? Or is it more like an art form, that transfigures life into something truly 'other'?
Nov 4
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
7
2
Everything withers without mercy
In order to stay vital, a Rule of Life keeps trapdoors in every room.
Oct 21
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
6
Obedience as a virtue
Did the 'vow of obedience' appear with the first monastic Rule of Life? What of the wild, autonomous spirit of obedience among the hermits?
Oct 3
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
6
1
Gains and losses in the first Rule of Life
Some things get lost in the first monastic Rule of Life; but the associated gains are pretty compelling.
Sep 9
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
4
Organising the monastic community
The first monastic 'rule of life' appeared not that long after the original desert hermits. What do these first steps of formalisation show us?
Aug 27
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
7
The troubled days of St Jerome
Or, the reassuring complexity of the 'Patron Saint of Difficult Personalities'
Aug 12
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
4
Turning free competition into a joke
The undercurrent of hermits 'competing' to be the lowest and the least parodies the Roman world of power, prestige and privilege.
Jul 28
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
4
On the absence of children
On the face of it, the most long-running anarchist commune in Western history had no investment in what it was building: the end was wired in.
Jul 8
•
The Passio Project
and
David Benjamin Blower
3
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