Christian Mission and Poverty

38

Christian Mission and Poverty

the favored religion of Rome under the emperor Constantine, who ruled from AD 306–337. Christians went from being relatively fringe members of society to being in seats of political and ecclesial 1 power. However, alongside the mainstreaming of the church grew an alliance with systems of worldly power and wealth. The sort of economic compromise proposed by Clement of Alexandria was considered problematic by many Christians. They believed it was necessary to pull back from alignment with political and economic power. Some of these Christians went to the “desert” (either literally or metaphorically) and formed counter-culture communities that they believed would protect crucial aspects of the faith. These monastic communities worked together, studied together, ate together, and ministered together. These new monastic communities often needed direction as they formed new societies within the larger society. They began to develop rules , documents that outlined the core commitments and practices of members of the community. The most famous and influential of these rules is the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia , who lived from around AD 480–547. 2 This rule is still practiced today by monastic communities known as Benedictines. It has guided the design of various rules for other monastic orders down through the ages. In general, monastic orders were formed based on the guiding vision and gifts ( charisma ) of visionary leaders. Local monastic communities were often birthed out of a monastic order and were

1 Ecclesial – church 2 See Benedict of Nursia and Basil of Caesarea, Becoming a Community of Disciples: Guidelines from Abbot Benedict and Bishop Basil , edited by Greg Peters, Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics 2 (Wichita, KS: The Urban Ministry Institute, 2021).