Fraternal Relations in Monasteries

'How do monks and nuns realise the fraternal ideals of "brotherly love" in their everyday monastic life? This is the question that animates Mikaela Sundberg’s study of the social organization of Cistercian monasteries in France. Taking the monastery as an example of a voluntary total institution, Sundberg qualifies and refines Goffman’s influential concept, drawing on rich interview and observational data that tellingly reveal the centrality of what she calls "ascetic responsibilization", a notion capturing how nuns and monks must shape their thoughts, feelings and conduct in approved directions. Monasteries are thus seen as "laboratories" for the cultivation of specific forms of love. Sundberg traces the tensions and conflicts that arise around work, singing and reading, friendship and other everyday activities, offering a fresh and compelling perspective on contemporary monastic life' - Greg Smith, University of Salford, UK.

'In the "total institution" of the monastery, where the commitment of each monk or nun to the following of Christ is supposed to be expressed in perfect obedience to the authority of the abbot or abbess, is there a place for the spontaneous dynamics of interpersonal relations, a space for the expression of individual autonomies, a legitimacy recognized for the right of each person to personal intimacy, a possible opening to collective deliberation and discussion? Mikaela Sundberg's beautiful investigation, conducted in close proximity to male and female Cistercian communities in France, brings to light the variety and complexity of the relational games that are played under the "sacred canopy" of the Rule. It does not only enrich the sociology of monasticism: it opens perspectives of great interest to the reflection on the logics of Christian communalization.' - Danièle Hervieu-Léger, CéSOr, Centre d'etudes en sciences sociales du religieux, at EHESS.