Schools of Asceticism: Ideology and Organization in Medieval Religious Communities

by Lutz Kaelber

Overview

Max Weber argued that medieval religious movements were an important source for the distinctive rationality of Western civilization. He intended to study precisely this theme but died before he could do so. In Schools of Asceticism, Lutz Kaelber builds on Weber's ideas by presenting a fresh historical and theoretical analysis of orthodox and heretical religious groups in the Middle Ages. He explores how doctrine and social organization shaped ascetic conduct in these groups from the twelfth century on.

Kaelber first examines monastic and mendicant groups, correcting common misperceptions about the nature of their ascetic practices and their significance for the emergence of a Protestant work ethic. Then he turns to two of the largest and most widespread heretical groups in the Middle Ages, the Waldensians and the Cathars. For the most part, Waldensians and Cathars practiced a form of "other-worldly asceticism" resembling that of monks and nuns. For the Austrian Waldensians, however, Kaelber documents a type of "inner-worldly asceticism" that resembled what Weber described for early modern Protestant groups. Both types of asceticism originated in distinctive heretical establishments: Waldensian schools and Cathar "houses of heretics." As these establishments disappeared, the boundaries separating Waldensianism and Catharism from Catholicism collapsed. Kaelber is therefore able to link organizational aspects of heretical communities to the tenacity of heresy in the Middle Ages.

Based on exhaustive research into both primary and secondary sources, Schools of Asceticism is a bold and original book that bridges the disciplines of comparative historical and theoretical sociology, medieval history, and religious studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271028927
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	04/15/1998
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Lutz Kaelber is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Lyndon State College in Vermont.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	vii
	Introduction	1
Part 1	A Sociology of Medieval Religion: Weber, Troeltsch, and Beyond
1	Medieval Religion and the Roots of Rationalism: Weber's Lacuna	11
2	Monastic Asceticism and the Secular Spheres	59
3	Magic, Religion, and the Development of Lay Asceticism	101
Part 2	Asceticism in Lay Religious Movements in the Middle Ages: Two Case Studies
4	Other- and Inner-Worldly Asceticism in Medieval Waldensianism	129
5	Dualism and Asceticism in Catharism	175
	Conclusion	225
	Bibliography	235
	Index	265

Editorial Reviews

Rather than write another of the countless studies in the Weberian tradition, Lutz Kaelber has attempted nothing less than to be Max Weber’s ghost writer and to produce one of the great studies he did not live to undertake—The Christianity of the Occident. The result is a fascinating and engrossing work that adds immensely to our understanding of both then and now.”

—Rodney Stark, University of Washington

From the Publisher

Explores the Weberian theme of religious asceticism in the context of medieval religion, concentrating on the Cathars and Waldensians in southern France. Analyzes how the ideology and social organization of religious groups shaped rational ascetic conduct of their members and how the different forms of asceticism affected cultural and economic life, combining a sociological approach to the analysis of medieval history with an original analysis of primary sources. For scholars of comparative historical and theoretical sociology, medieval history, and religious studies. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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