All Christians Are Monks

The Monastery, the Parish and the Renewal of the Church

George Guiver

• Publisher: Sacristy Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781789593488
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The contemporary Church has much to learn from monastic communities—things it has lost and needs to rediscover, including community, mutual submission, the benefits to be gained from a repertoire of physical and other practices, the fundamental importance of a sense of the Church and the living Christian tradition, and of the Eucharist and daily prayer. Much else is revealed, as George Guiver leads his readers through a detailed repertoire of monastic life, and they will be surprised to discover how much of it belongs to all Christians.

All Christians are Monks looks at difficulties of believing and praying in the highly secular context of today, with an urge to be real, rather than fudging things. All of this can and does lead to a greater confidence in the Christian enterprise, and to our greater flourishing as persons. Examples from contemporary church life illustrate ways in which we can allow the gospel to be distorted by secular values, while at the same time we fail to make sufficient use of the gifts of our modern secular society.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Monasteries and parishes—a shared world
• A day in the life of . . .
• Things, people, practices
• Community and communion
• It’s genetic
• Practices
• More practices
• Going for effect
• Coming into focus
• Monastery and parish
• For further reading
• “Can these stones come alive?”