Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism.

• Author: Crislip, Andrew
• Position: Reviews of Books

Ascetics, Society, and the Desert Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism. By JAMES E. GOEHRING, Studies in Antiquity and Christianity. Harrisburg, Pa.: TRINITY PRESS INTERNATIONAL, 1999. Pp. 287. $29.00.

This volume collects twelve essays written in the last two decades, from 1980 through 1997, including two essays published here for the first time. As the title indicates, the essays offer a "selective study" of the formative period of Egyptian monasticism, the fourth century An. Goehring's main interest focuses on the complex dialectical relationship between the early ascetic movement and the literary sources, usually of later generations and of a tendentious character, which represent it. Traditional histories of monasticism have generally relied on orthodox ecclesiastical sources from the late-fourth and early-fifth centuries in presenting a bipolar typology of anchoritic and koinobitic monasticism, both of which are located away from civilization, in the desert. Newly published sources, however, such as the documentary papyri of Egyptian monasteries, reflect a far different monastic landscape than do the descriptions of Jerome or Athanasius. As Goehring's description and analysis make abundantly clear, ea rly Egyptian monasticism comprised a variety of ascetic types, ranging from various urban monastic forms, to groups living in the arable land along the Nile or in the "suburban" outskirts, and finally to the isolated hermits of the desert. For theological and political reasons, most ancient literary sources documented only selective types of monasticism. In order to get at the monastic world underlying the later literary portrayals, Goehring draws into his analysis the abundant, newly discovered documentary papyri, which provide, through receipts, contracts, and letters, a far different, and far more faithful, representation of early Egyptian monasticism. In short, Goebring offers a nuanced portrait of the structural and theological diversity of Egyptian monasticism in the fourth century.

The book begins with an introduction in which Goehring summarizes the contents of the twelve essays and comments retrospectively on the development of his historical project, as well as on some of the ways in which he has revised his thinking since his earlier essays (pp. 1-12). In principle, each essay is presented in its original form, with only bibliographical revisions when necessary. Thus, the essays themselves demonstrate an evolution of thought...