Why was Christianity the only Western religion to develop monasticism?
If you look at the religions of the East, monks are fairly common. There are Jainist monks and Hindu monks and Buddhist monks. I think there are even Shinto monks; forgive my ignorance if that's not the case. But it seems there were monks everywhere.
This isn't the case in the west. The Zoroastrians didn't have monks. The Roman mystery cults were strange and secretive, but they weren't monastic orders. Jews don't have monks. Muslims don't have monks.
The only religion in the West and Near East that developed monasticism, as far as I can tell, was Christianity. Why?
Potentially the nature of the religions?
This is a really good question, I read an article about Islam not needed intermediaries like priests or monks because all are in the same submission to God, but that was just from one Muslims perspective but still.
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Islam-not-have-a-monastic-order
Maybe Christ was the first type of monastic order after Judaism, but if you go back to people like Moses that group of Israelites could be considered monastic in the sense they had total faith in their submission to God. Someone like Ellijah would be considered monastic even though they were not secluded to a community of monks.
why do you think Buddhist monks living in temples away from the world and devoting themselves to spiritual things isn't monsasticism?
>>1288593
I can't really answer for other religions, but at least in modern Judaism, you don't get a monsaticism because you don't really have a monastic ideal.
From my (superficial) understanding of Christianity, there's a view that there's an almost irreconcilable tension between materialism and spirituality, and that in order to be a more spiritual person, one must necessarily withdraw from material pursuits. Hence, monasticism, you gather together a group of like-minded folks who turn away from the material world in order to develop spiritually.
Judaism's conception of spirituality is a bit different, and is usually centered around turning the material pleasure into a spiritual one through moderation, thought, focus on God, etc. You're not really supposed to retreat away from the world, you're supposed to stand tall and impervious from fleshly pleasures, while going through them. Things like celibacy or voluntary poverty don't make you more spiritual, they just at best remove you from temptations. But the ideal is to overcome, not hide away.
That being said, you get quasi monastic groups from individuals who took Nazirite oaths, to the Essenes of the second temple period, to (arguably) the Haredi today, so even then, I wouldn't say Judaism is devoid of monstic traditions.
No idea about Islam, desu.
>>1288593
They also created the trinity. You can't ask why. It's mystics are beyond humanity.
L'Hindous n'avons pas des moines
>>1288898
What does Iowa have to do with this?
>>1288915
moine=monk
>>1288593
>Muslims don't have monks.
They have Sufi mendicants and fakirs.
>>1288593
What were vestals if not proto-nuns?
Isn't diogenes essentially a monk?
I think the western hermits tended to be more solitary and less communal. Possibly because alone you could be mistaken for a god. But with a collection of other swarthy men, you could only be mistaken for one thing, rabble.
>>1288593
In my branch of Judaism we had a monastic order and eunuchs.
The story goes a powerful priest and a prince converted to judaism then brought those things to replenish community.
Israel squashed that though.
>>1288593
>Why was Christianity the only Western religion to develop monasticism?
Monasticism in the West begins from this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
>>1288593
>Why was Christianity the only Western religion to develop monasticism?
The answer was that Christianity was the first religion to develop it full stop and that it spread to other faiths and peoples.
>>1288697
Please read
>>1288593
Shinto doesnt have monkhood. It does have a priesthood though.
But if we're talking about non-Indic based East Asian monks, there's the Taoists and the Manicheans.
>>1288593
Christianity had quite a bit of influence from Buddhism(indirectly), whether Christians would like to believe or not. Manicheism is the direct link between these two. Manicheism is a syncretic of Christianity/Zoroastar/Buddhism. Adoption of monastic lifestyle most likely came from Mani monk order. Christianity had a much stronger link to Buddhism than Judaism/Islam. Judaism is too small to be influential. Islam is vehemently against Buddhism, as they were one of the religions that the muslims tried to wipe.
>>1289524
What's the difference between a monk and a priest?
>>1288593
>Muslims don't have monks.
A friend of mine grew up in a Islamicmonastic order in Somalia.
>What are Sufis.
Kill Yourself
>>1289540
Priests proselytize and minister to a religious community (temple, parish, what have you).
Monks pretty much shut themselves out of the "real world" to contemplate on shit/study religious-philosophical questions/attain a state of purity or what have you.
Though at times distinctions can be blurred in religions or orders in which monks consider it their job to minister to communities. Like some Buddhist or Christian Monastic orders.
>>1289540
Priests spend time doing the rites, monks spend time doing asceticism.
Also, priests can get married(yes, technically even catholic ones. It's not just allowed atm).
Of course, you also have multiclasses like monk-priests, because monasteries need both.
>>1289542
>What are Sufis.
Sufis aren't monks. They can belong to any social class, and can interact with the world in any way they wish.
http://people.opposingviews.com/christian-monks-sufis-3323.html
>>1289548
>and can interact with the world in any way they wish
One of which is being an ascetic.
It's due to the influence of Greco-Roman paganism on Christianity, a lot of which emphasized aspects of asceticism which would eventually lead to institutionalized monasticism with the establishment of the Church.
This didn't really happen with Judaism or Islam because they resisted Hellenization and Greco-Roman pagan influence, unlike Christianity, and held true to the OT commandment of "be fruitful and multiply" or at least get married.
>>1288593
Even in Christianity not every denomination has monks: I am not aware of there being protestant monks.
>>1288593
Maybe it's not necessarily a question of the characteristics of the religion (although a religion / culture that emphasizes introspection would be a big factor, I'd wager), but also of what the societal and environmental conditions were like at the time Western and Eastern monastic orders first appeared?
>>1290459
I know that the Anglicans have monastic orders
>>1288593
Catholic monks are useless to any society.
There are no Christian monks. Search for "monk" in the bible. It ain't there.
>>1288593
because all religions have alittle bit of truth in them, but Christianity has the whole truth, so of course it gets monasticism.
>>1289141
>sufis are muslims
I don't think so mate
>>1290837
>muh book
you may as well be a mudslime. At least catlicks have their works.
>>1290837
>ethically procude good food/beer
>give to the poor
>host retreats
>educate people
>preserve culture
>pray for the world
>useless
>>1290853
If by "works" you mean "tens of millions of slaughtered human beings in their wake", I'm not sure that is something to boast about.
>>1290865
>Sit in jail cell voluntarily.
>Silently.
>Disobey "go forth, be fruitful and multiply".
>Disobey "spread the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth".
Yeah. Useless to the Kingdom of God. As useless as Indian fakirs.
>>1290865
praying is useless though
>>1290889
And shitposting 24/7 isn't? 4chan is basically a monastic order in and of itself.
I know both Orthodox and Catholics have monks, but do protestant sects? If not, is it due to their decentralized nature?
>>1290906
Pretty sure they don't because they were created as a reactionary against the monastic system
>>1288593
>st. francis
>a monk
m8 the mendicant movement was explicitly anti-monastic
>>1289537
No, monasticism started in Egypt prior to the spread of Manichaeism.
>>1289604
There's probably some truth to this.
>>1290837
John the Baptist you illiterate retard
>>1290882
>what is building western civilization
>what is attracting disciples to build towns around monasteries
>what is you're a fucking retard
>>1290906
There are some Protestant monastics.
>>1290865
You also forgot
>Save Roman and Greek texts after the fall of Rome
>>1290906
Pure faggotry.
>>1290882
>muh be fruitful and multiply
So you're disregarding the word of Jesus Christ Himself to commit to celibacy if you can?
>>1290919
John the Baptist was not a monk in any sense of the word, you fucking twit.
He was a prophet, preaching the coming Messiah and baptizing people into repentance.
Fucking papists. Not even once.
>>1290942
He lived in the desert and prayed, you stupid faggot.
>implying monasticism isn't a prophetic lifestyle
>implying they're not literally obligated to take in guests and treat them like Christ
Get over it, you don't fucking know what monasticism, you don't fucking care what monasticism, you're just a reverse SJW wanker who wants to sit around jerking off and feeling good and gets triggered and throws a baby tantrum anytime someone confronts you with facts and bruises your poor wittle fee fees.
>>1288697
Why do you think you can just skim posts?
>>1290852
Sufism is a part of islam and a big one at that.
>>1290895
Kek you're right.
>>1289141
sufis aren't monk
they're more like western free mason.
>>1291754
Maybe in how they do things but aside from that they are like monks.
>>1288593
Sufis are basically muslim monks.
>>1288593
How can we be sure that Europeans did not have monks? What about Druids? Gothi? I'm sure that due to the nature of European paganism there could have been "orders" or groups of people dedicated to following the teachings of a specific god or principle while still fitting the definition of what a "monk" is and not a priest. I.E, an insular religious community or class that is not dedicated to guiding the general public.
>>1291771
a monk is generally a kind of communal hermit. Were there any religious but non-christian hermits/hermitages in Europe?
>>1290836
Weren't anglicans basically catholics with no pope for most of their history? Is there actually any meaningful difference in theology or organization apart from those explicitly destined to substitute the pope for the monarch?
>>1291781
The closest I could think of would be perhaps some Neo-platonists or even Mithraic cultists. but then again, cults were very popular in pagan communities. The concept of a certain group of people within a pagan community setting up an insular sub-community (cult) dedicated to the worship and veneration of one particular god or deity. By that logic, there were tons of monastic orders in pre-Christian Europe. You would just have to use cult and monastic order interchangebly, which I would assume many Historians would vehemently disagree with. The issue is complicated even further when you take into account that different cults had vastly different practices and rules, so one would have to catalog each Pagan cult in Europe and judge by its practices whether it fits the definition of "Monasticism" or "Occult"
>>1290906
There's some iirc. But the whole "everyone can understand the Bible by himself", the base of protestantism, is not very friendly towards monasticism. Or anything else that makes distintinctions between the faithful like priesthood.
>>1291771
Monks practice celibate and isolate themselves from the world, the druids were basically celtic brahmins.
>>1290937
Paul
Jesus
Know your own quotes
>>1290906
Many of the precedents and ideas surrounding Protestantism can only be achievable if one is actively participating in society, usually in the form of commerce and self improvement in a financial sense. There was no value in being a filthy, disgusting swarthy monk who has nothing, does nothing (except pray and think), and takes from people. (In the form of donations and begging.) That is why there are very few protestant "Scholars" or Aquinas-like figures other than the makers of the religion themselves.
Also, Western monasticism is hierarchical with a bishop or deacon or whatever at the head of the whole abbey. Doing that with Protestantism would create a Church hierarchy, which is bad, if you're not an Anglican.
>>1290950
Prophet. Useful. Greatest man born of woman. Talked. Baptized.
Monk. Faggot. Useless.
>>1291862
Amen.
Please call it Christianity. Protestants were Catholics. Martin Luther was a Catholic friar.
>>1291736
Their conception of God is so different and the understanding of their obligations also differ in a major way too. It's like saying Christians and Jews are the same just because they have the same holy book.
>>1288593
>Jews
>Zoroastrians
>western
Zoroastrians mythology is closest to Hindu mythology.
Aside from that the Jews had the Essenes.
