Law & Culture Forum | Program in Monastic Studies
Program in Monastic Studies
Monastic communities have occupied a distinct and important place in history, but these institutions remain poorly known and understood in academia today, let alone among the broader public. The Lumen Christi Institute's Program in Monastic Studies seeks to foster a deeper understanding of the monastic intellectual tradition, to promote renewal within contemporary monastic communities, and to help make the rich resources of monasticism available to scholars and theologians of the Church.
In addition to academic conferences, the Monastic Studies Program offers events of a pastoral nature, which facilitate the appropriation of monastic insights in scholarly and pastoral work. Programs for priests, religious, and laity support the restoration of spiritual life through the prayerful search for communion with God. Retreats organized by the program enable reflection and study in a monastic setting, while sacred study groups introduce lectio divina and other forms of contemplative reading to students and others interested in the monastic way of life.
The Carmelite and Ignatian orders--represented by figures such as St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross--are traditions of special importance to the Institute. Through the Program in Monastic Studies, the Institute has welcomed to the University Chicago numerous international figures, such as the Most Reverend Jean Benjamin Sleiman, Latin Archbishop of Baghdad, and the Most Reverend Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, both Carmelites. The program is in collaboration with the Province of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of the Discalced Carmelite Friars in Wisconsin and the Edith Stein House of Studies in Hyde Park.