Christian Monastic Life in Early Islam

Explores the relationship between monastic communities and Muslim society in the early centuries of Islam

• Presents a survey of Christian monastic life under Muslim political hegemony
• Explores the reasons behind Muslim latitude towards, and support of, Christian monasteries
• Draws on a variety of medieval Syriac, Greek and Arabic texts as well as modern scholarship
• Shows how core spiritual values, embodied in the monastic tradition, helped to facilitate an ecumenical environment in the early Islamic centuries

During the rise of Islam, Muslim fascination with Christian monastic life was articulated through a fluid, piety-centred movement. Bradley Bowman explores this confessional synthesis between like-minded religious groups in the medieval Near East. He argues that this potential ecumenism would have been based upon the sharing of core tenets concerning piety and righteous behaviour. Such fundamental attributes, long associated with monasticism in the East, likely served as a mutually inclusive common ground for Muslim and Christian communities of the period. This manifested itself in Muslim appreciation, interest and – at times – participation in Christian monastic life.