The Literature of Early Western Monasticism

AbstractThe Latin literature of early monasticism was created within much tighter personal networks than that of the East, but these networks spanned considerable geographical distances. The use of a single language for both the composition of ascetic literature and the translation of many important Greek writings further strengthened the unifying role of the literary corpus. Latin monasticism was particularly marked by theological controversy (Priscillianist, Origenist, Pelagian), and came to be dominated theologically by Augustine of Hippo. Augustine also played a key role in developing the genre of the monastic rule (regula), which would become normative in Western monastic practice, as evident in the regulae of Gaul and Italy that became the foundations for medieval monasticism.