The Necessity of Monastic Asceticism: A Case for Retrieval in Contemporary Evangelicalism

Within the contemporary evangelical church, there is often little discussion of asceticism despite an emphasis on spiritual disciplines and formation. This article argues that not only does the evangelical church need to embrace and adopt ascetic practices, but these should be based in monastic asceticism, based around the practices of poverty, chastity and obedience. The article first puts forward suggestions as to why the evangelical church does not embrace asceticism, in spite of it being part of its heritage, but then moves to a constructive argument, using an array of ecumenical sources, demonstrating that a monastic asceticism is a biblical asceticism and should be a fundamental feature in evangelical faith and practice.