Isabelle Jonveaux

Monastic life was an early subject for sociology. Max Weber, one of the founders of sociology, devoted many pages of his major works to Catholic monasteries. Monasteries of different religions appear to be heuristic objects, not just for their own spiritual sake, but as social laboratories and forms of alternative society. While historical studies...

Monasteries, especially Benedictine monasteries, have developed a close relationship with nature based on a respect for creation and a goal of self-sufficiency. There seems to be an elective affinity between monasticism and ecologism. Since the second half of the 20th century, monasteries have been engaging in ecological practices, and in many case...

In 1990 the Cistercian monastery of Vyšší Brod in Czech Republic again welcomed monks within its walls after four decades of absence during the communist regime. The reestablishment of monastic life brought new negotiations about the position of the monastery in society. The Cistercian community seeks to revive the place as the place of Cistercian...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has confronted us with constantly new challenges. We need to browse new inventories of scientific knowledge to reflect on previous experiences and thus facilitate societal learning. In line with the first volume on the COVID-19 pandemic in this series, contributions from different disciplines and fields of practice cre...

L’utilisation des médias numériques pour la pratique religieuse ne fait plus figure d’exception et semble au contraire être devenue pratique courante. Mais parallèlement, apparaissent de plus en plus de démarches de renoncement total ou partiel à l’utilisation d’Internet pendant une période particulière de réintensification de la vie religieuse ou...

Catholic monasticism in Europe is often associated with a crisis of vocations, of credibility and sometimes the question of closing down. Looking at monasteries outside Europe, especially in Asia and Africa, we observe a dynamic of new foundations and young entrants into the communities. What are the challenges for monasteries in Africa in future d...

Die Wirtschaft und die Arbeit haben im Klosterleben seit dessen Ursprung in den Wüsten von Syrien und Ägypten im 4. Jahrhundert immer Spannungen verursacht. Die Klöster haben es im Laufe der Geschichte aber geschafft, eine manchmal sehr erfolgreiche Wirtschaft zu entwickeln. Sie haben sogar aktiv zur sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung Europa...

As religious communities, monasteries have as a particularity to take their subsistence from economic activities they manage themselves. These economic activities are submitted to the civil law, which varies from country to country. Monastic firms are therefore submitted to the same legislation as lay firms. Nevertheless specific elements allow mon...

Handbuch der Religionen - Das Nachschlagewerk für Wissenschaft und Praxis Das Handbuch der Religionen ist ein in Anspruch und Umfang einzigartiges, wissenschaftlich fundiertes Nachschlagewerk über das gesamte Spektrum der Religionen in Deutschland und im deutschsprachigen Raum. Das Handbuch der Religionen bietet: - wissenschaftlich fundiertes Orien...

Handbuch der Religionen - Das Nachschlagewerk für Wissenschaft und Praxis Das Handbuch der Religionen ist ein in Anspruch und Umfang einzigartiges, wissenschaftlich fundiertes Nachschlagewerk über das gesamte Spektrum der Religionen in Deutschland und im deutschsprachigen Raum. Das Handbuch der Religionen bietet: - wissenschaftlich fundiertes Orien...

Entrepreneurial monks. Costs and benefits of being a religious structure when running a business Monks are known in France for producing gastronomical products such as wine, cheese and beer, which are part of the national heritage. The primary goal of monastic life is not to develop businesses, however, as monks are destined to consecrate themselve...

Résumé Alors que la construction sociale des différences sexuelles entre hommes et femmes est remise en question dans la société, le champ économique accentue cette distinction en proposant toujours plus de produits différenciés selon l’identité sexuelle du groupe de consommateurs ciblé. Cette différenciation selon le genre est particulièrement sen...

Monastics and the influence of gender. A study in female Catholic monasteries Catholic monastic life is generally built up on the segregation of men and women as a condition of ascetic life. However, nowadays female monasticism and male monasticism present significant disparities despite the fact that they most often follow the same rules of life....

This paper seeks to investigate the category of virtuality in order to show the affinities it presents with religious practice or tensions it can create with it. This study takes the case of Catholic monasteries and especially different propositions of ‘invisible’ and ‘virtual’ monasteries. The first ones are spiritual and immaterial links which ai...

The “Memorandum 2011” is a petition signed by 300 theology professors in German speaking countries. The analysis of this text and the polemic it triggers reveals a crisis of theology status in a context of redefinition of religious roles. The result of this is an identity crisis of theology when it comes to its scientific status and of theologians...

Although it is often stressed that any attempt to fully understand the workings of religious institutions must take account of their economic dimensions, that of Catholic monasteries has rarely been studied. Monasteries are theoretically a utopia of the Kingdom of God – both here on earth and in heaven – and in this sense it should reject all econo...

Although it is often stressed that any attempt to fully understand the workings of religious institutions must take account of their economic dimensions, that of Catholic monasteries has rarely been studied. Monasteries are theoretically a utopia of the Kingdom of God - both here on earth and in heaven - and in this sense it should reject all econo...

Although Catholic monasteries are theoretically out of the world, monks and nuns more and more use the internet, both for religious and non-religious reasons. While society at large often takes it for granted that monks are out of modernity, monastic communities have been adopted media from relatively early on, and we cannot say that they have come...

We all know stories of women in early monasticism who dressed as men to become monks and live ascetic lives. However, this defeminization is not really a masculinization as men also try to go beyond their sexual identity. So is it necessary to do away with gender identity to become an ascetic? Ancient monks wanted to reach an angelic status and tha...

Although the host, the future body of Christ in the Catholic Eucharist, seems to lie completely outside of the economic system, it needs to be produced and sold. The majority of host producers are female monasteries for which the production process brings double tension: as an economic activity within a religious utopia (the monastery) and as the e...

Belgian Beers and Monastic Image A large part of the market of quality in Belgium refers to the monastic area, given the secular reputation of Trappist beer. The more a product uses the monastic image, the less it keeps a real link with an existing abbey or community. This proves the economic efficiency of this image. In reaction, monks work to dif...

Une grande part du marché de la bière de qualité en Belgique fait référence au monde monastique du fait de la réputation séculaire des bières trappistes. L'utilisation de l'imaginaire monastique est inversement proportionnelle aux liens réels existant avec une abbaye. En reaction, les moines travaillent à la différenciation de leurs produits mais a...

This article seeks to understand the shifts which are affecting monastic asceticism in modern society. Is monastic asceticism really changing and in which terms? Why has the place of the body in religious virtuosity changed? As religious virtuosity is based on ascetic practices, we cannot consider that monastic life nowadays has totally eschewed as...

Amenant le monde a portee du cloitre sans besoin d’en sortir, l’Internet offre aux moines des utilisations variees : lieu de communication, d’information ou d’achat. Accessible dans des lieux identifies du monastere, il conquiert pratiquement toutes les communautes. Si les moines l’utilisent peu pour communiquer personnellement avec ceux qu’ils ont...

For instance of religion in the modern age, we can study a suggest of retreat on Internet, Retraite dans la Ville, at the time of Lent. This event is organized by French Dominicans who hope that in this way they get in touch with individuals who otherwise would not make a retreat. But in fact, participants belong to categories of churchgoers and no...

For instance of religion in the modern age, we can study a suggest of retreat on Internet, Retraite dans la Ville, at the time of Lent. This event is organized by French Dominicans who hope that in this way they get in touch with individuals who otherwise would not make a retreat. But in fact, participants belong to categories of churchgoers and no...

La sociologia delle religioni presenta, come poche altre, dei problemi notevoli sul piano della ricerca. La stessa posizione della dimensione religiosa nel contesto della società moderna apre due fronti di problemi sia per il soggetto credente, sia per il ricercatore che si definisce a partire dalla sua stessa esteriorità rispetto all'oggetto. Al s...

Monastic utopia integrates of necessity economic activities which it tries to deny because off it religious character. Monks spread then an arsenal of strategies of reorganization to reconcile economy and religious life. These tensions between work and prayer are essential of the monastic life, but modernity and secularization of society bring with...