"Shenoute of Atripe led the White Monastery, a community of several thousand male and female Coptic monks in Upper Egypt, between approximately 395 and 465 C.E. His letters, sermons, and treatises - one of the most detailed bodies of writing to survive from any early monastery -…
An in-depth examination of the asceticism practiced at the White Monastery in Upper Egypt in the fifth century, using diverse sources, including monastic rules, theological treatises, sermons, letters, and material culture.
Evagrius Ponticus is the living link through whom the ascetic principles of Hellenistic philosophers passed into the mainstream of Christian monaticism. Although not known by name for generations, Evagrius molded the ideals of Western asceticism through his own widely-disseminat…
"All religions describe spiritual experience as pleasant, and the goal of the religious pursuit as profoundly joyful. But many religions also condemn sensory pleasures and the desire for objects of pleasure. In this book, Ariel Glucklich resolves this apparent contradiction by s…
This book provides an account of the organisation, practices and history of the Da?an?m?-Sa?ny?s?s, one of the largest sects of s?dhu-s ('holy men') in South Asia, founded, according to tradtion, by the legendary philosopher?a?kar?c?rya.
Female ascetics in Hinduism
by Collins, Steven, Denton, Lynn Teskey
fromSUNY series in Hindu studies
"Female Ascetics in Hinduism provides an account of the lives of women renouncers - women who renounce the world to live ascetic spiritual lives - in India. The author approaches the study of female asceticism by focusing on features of two dharmas, two religiously defined ways …