333 - Angelic Monks and Earthly Men. Monasticism and Its Meaning to Medieval Society

Angelic Monks and Earthly Men. Monasticism and Its Meaning to Medieval Society
By Ludo J. R. Milis
Woodbridge, England, Boydell, 1992.170 pp. $50.00.

Milis, a prominent Belgian Medievalist, argues that monasticism, strictly defined, had little influence upon the daily life of the common people of medieval society. This revisionist thesis depends upon an extremely narrow definition of monasticism. Milis excludes not only the Franciscans and Dominicans as mendicant friars, not monks, but also the activities of Benedictines, Cluniacs, and Cistercians as scholars, artists, farmers, or landlords, because such roles were not proper to their monastic vocation of seeking perfection in prayer before God. Since less than one percent of the general population was thus engaged, and they behind closed doors, no wonder this "elitist and escapist viewpoint" had little effect on the daily life of the common people, their values, thoughts, culture and even their religion. Milis argues this provocative thesis skillfully and aggressively, almost hostilely, but his definition of monasticism is so restricted that the book is unlikely to produce a major revision in monastic studies.

Paul Rorem
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, NJ.