Monasticism (from Greek ''μοναχός'', ''monachos'', derived from Greek ''monos'', alone) is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work. The origin of the word is from Ancient Greek, and the idea originally related to Buddhist monks in 550 B.C.

In the Christian tradition, males pursuing a monastic life are usually called ''monks'' or ''brethren'' (brothers), and if females ''nuns'' or ''sisters''. Both monks and nuns may also be called ''monastics''. Some other religions also include monastic elements, most notably Buddhism, but also Hinduism and Jainism, though the expressions differ considerably.

Buddhist monasticism

The Sangha or community of ordained Buddhist bhikkhus (similar to monks) and original bhikkhunis (similar to nuns) was founded by Gautama Buddha during his lifetime over 2500 years ago. This communal monastic lifestyle grew out of the lifestyle of earlier sects of wandering ascetics, some of whom the Buddha had studied under. It was initially fairly eremetic or reclusive in nature. Bhikkhus and bhikkunis were expected to live with a minimum of possessions, which were to be voluntarily provided by the lay community. Lay followers also provided the daily food that bhikkhus required, and provided shelter for bhikkhus when they were needed.

After the Parinibbana (Final Passing) of the Buddha, the Buddhist monastic order developed into a primarily cenobitic or communal movement. The practice of living communally during the rainy vassa season, prescribed by the Buddha, gradually grew to encompass a settled monastic life centered on life in a community of practitioners. Most of the modern disciplinary rules followed by bhikkhus and bhikkhunis—as encoded in the Patimokkha—relate to such an existence, prescribing in great detail proper methods for living and relating in a community of bhikkhus or bhikkhunis. The number of rules observed varies with the order; Theravada bhikkhus follow around 227 rules. There are a larger number of rules specified for bhikkhunis (nuns).

Buddhist monasticism, with its tradition of councils and missions, spread from India to the Middle East and eventually west. It proved to be a significant force for literacy wherever it spread. Christian monasticism followed in its footsteps in the areas where Emperor Ashoka sent missions.

The Buddhist monastic order consists of the male bhikkhu assembly and the female bhikkhuni assembly. Initially consisting only of males, it grew to include females after the Buddha's stepmother, Mahaprajapati, asked for and received permission to live as an ordained practitioner.

Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are expected to fulfill a variety of roles in the Buddhist community. First and foremost, they are expected to preserve the doctrine and discipline now known as Buddhism. They are also expected to provide a living example for the laity, and to serve as a "field of merit" for lay followers—providing laymen and women with the opportunity to earn merit by giving gifts and support to the bhikkhuss. In return for the support of the laity, bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are expected to live an austere life focused on the study of Buddhist doctrine, the practice of meditation, and the observance of good moral character.

A bhikkhu (the term in the Pali language) or Bhikshu (in Sanskrit), first ordains as a ''Samanera'' (novice). Novices often ordain at a young age, but generally no younger than eight. Samaneras live according to the Ten Precepts, but are not responsible for living by the full set of monastic rules. Higher ordination, conferring the status of a full Bhikkhu, is given only to men who are aged 20 or older. Bhikkhunis follow a similar progression, but are required to live as Samaneras for longer periods of time- typically five years.

The disciplinary regulations for bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are intended to create a life that is simple and focused, rather than one of deprivation or severe asceticism. However, celibacy is a fundamental part of this form of monastic discipline.

Christian monasticism

Monasticism in Christianity provided the origins of the words "monk" and "monastery" which comprises several diverse forms of religious living that are in response to the call of Jesus of Nazareth to follow him. It began to develop early in the history of the Church, modeled upon Old and New Testament examples and ideals, but not mandated as an institution in the Scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules (e.g. the Rule of St Basil, the Rule of St Benedict) and, in modern times, the Church law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living.

The Christian monk embraces the monastic life as a vocation from God. His goal is to attain eternal life in his presence. The rules of monastic life are codified in the "counsels of perfection". In his exposition of the Beatitudes (the right way of living according to the law of God) during his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorted the large crowd listening to him to be "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (). When speaking to his men, Jesus also extended an invitation to celibacy to those "to whom it has been given" (); and when asked by a wealthy man what else is required in addition to observing the Commandments to "enter into eternal life", he advised to sell all earthly possessions in favour of the poor and to follow him, "if you wish to be perfect" (cf. = = ). Already in the New Testament there is evidence of Christian monastic living, namely the lives of service rendered by the Widows and the Virgins. In the beginning, in Syria and then in Egypt, Christians felt called to a more reclusive or eremitic form of monastic living (in the spirit of the "Desert Theology" of the Old Testament for the purpose of spiritual renewal and return to God). Saint Anthony the Great is cited by Athanasius as one of these early "Hermit monks". Especially in the Middle East, eremitic monasticism continued to be common until the decline of Syrian Christianity in the late Middle Ages.

The need for some form of organized spiritual guidance was obvious; and around 318 Saint Pachomius started to organize his many followers in what was to become the first Christian cenobitic or communal monastery. Soon, similar institutions were established throughout the Egyptian desert as well as the rest of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Notable monasteries of the East include:

Monastery of Saint Anthony, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.

Mar Awgin founded a monastery on Mt. Izla above Nisibis in Mesopotamia (~350), and from this monastery the cenobitic tradition spread in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia and even India and China.

St. Sabbas the Sanctified organized the monks of the Judean Desert in a monastery close to Bethlehem (483), now known as Mar Saba, which is considered the mother of all monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai was founded between 527 and 565 in the Sinai desert by order of Emperor Justinian I.

In the West, the most significant development occurred when the rules for monastic communities were written, the Rule of St Basil being credited with having been the first. The precise dating of the Rule of the Master is problematic; but it has been argued on internal grounds that it antedates the so-called Rule of Saint Benedict created by Benedict of Nursia for his monastery in Monte Cassino, Italy (c. 529), and the other Benedictine monasteries he himself had founded (cf. Order of St Benedict). It would become the most common rule throughout the Middle Ages and is still in use today. The Augustinian Rule, due to its brevity, has been adopted by various communities, chiefly the Canons Regular. Around the 12th century, the Franciscan, Carmelite, Dominican, Servite Order(see Servants of Mary) and Augustinian mendicant orders chose to live in city convents among the people instead of being secluded in monasteries.

Today new expressions of Christian monasticism, many of which ecumenical, are developing in places such as the Bose Monastic Community in Italy, the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem throughout Europe, and the Taizé Community in France, and the mainly Evangelical Protestant New Monasticism movement of America.

Hindu monasticism

In their quest to attain the spiritual goal of life, some Hindus choose the path of monasticism (Sannyasa). Monastics commit themselves to a life of simplicity, celibacy, detachment from worldly pursuits, and the contemplation of God. A Hindu monk is called a s''anyāsī, sādhu'', or ''swāmi''. A nun is called a ''sanyāsini'', ''sadhavi'', or ''swāmini''. Such renunciates are accorded high respect in Hindu society, because their outward renunciation of selfishness and worldliness serves as an inspiration to householders who strive for ''mental'' renunciation. Some monastics live in monasteries, while others wander from place to place, trusting in God alone to provide for their physical needs. It is considered a highly meritorious act for a lay devotee to provide sadhus with food or other necessaries. Sādhus are expected to treat all with respect and compassion, whether a person may be poor or rich, good or wicked. They are also expected to be indifferent to praise, blame, pleasure, and pain. A sādhu can typically be recognized by his ochre-colored clothing. Generally, Vaisnava monks shave their heads except for a small patch of hair on the back of the head, while Saivite monks let their hair and beard grow uncut.

A ''Sadhu's'' vow of renunciation typically forbids him from:

owning personal property apart from a bowl, a cup, two sets of clothing and medical aids such as eyeglasses;

having any contact with, looking at, thinking of or even being in the presence of women;

eating for pleasure;

possessing or even touching money or valuables in any way, shape or form;

maintaining personal relationships.

Islam and monasticism

Islam does not allow the practice of monasticism. The stand of Islam is, on the one hand, against sexual license; consequently it prohibits fornication and adultery, and blocks all ways leading to them. On the other hand, Islam is also against suppressing the sexual urge; accordingly, it calls people toward marriage, prohibiting renunciation and castration.

As long a Muslim possess the means to marry, he is not permitted to refrain from marriage on the grounds that he has dedicated himself to the service or the worship of Allah and to a life of monasticism and renunciation of the world.

It has been reported that Abu Qulabah narrated;

"Some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be on him) decided to relinquish the world, forsake their wives, and become like monks. The Prophet (peace be on him) told them with asperity, People before you perished because of their asceticism; they made excessive demands on themselves until Allah brought hardships on them: you can still see a few of them remaining in monasteries and temples. Then worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him, perform the Hajj and the ‘Umrah, be righteous, and all affairs will be set right for you." (Reported by ‘Abdur Razzaq, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn al-Mundhir)

Abu Qulabah said the following verse was revealed concerning them:

"O you who believe! Do not make haram (forbidden) the good of things which Allah has made halal (Lawful) for you, and do not transgress; indeed, Allah does not like transgressors." (Surah 5: Verse 87)

In another narration we read that one day the son of 'Uthman ibne Maz'un died which so aggrieved him that he declared his house to be a mosque and (abandoning all other work) engaged himself in worship. When the Noble Prophet (S.) came to know of this, he summoned him and said: يَا عُثْمَانَ بْنَ مَظْعُونٍ إِنَّ اللٌّهَ لَمْ يَكْتُبْ عَلَيْنَا الرَّهْـبَانِيَّةَ إِنَّمَا رَهْـبَانِيَّةُ أُمَّتِي الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللٌّهِ

“O 'Uthman! Surely, Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted has not ordained monasticism for us; monasticism of my ummah is only jihad in the way of Allah.”

In at least one other place The Quran forbids Monasticism explicitly and states it is an invention and Allah did not prescribe it to the Muslims.

"Then We caused Our messengers to follow in their footsteps; and We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow, and gave him the Gospel, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. But monasticism they invented - We ordained it not for them - only seeking Allah's pleasure, and they observed it not with right observance. So We give those of them who believe their reward, but many of them are evil-doers" ( Surah 57: Verse 27)

The famous expression "لاَ رَهْبَانِيَّةَ فِي الإِسْلاَمِ" “There is no (room for) monasticism in Islam”, is witnessed in numerous Islamic sources.

Judaism and monasticism

Judaism does not encourage the monastic ideal of celibacy and poverty. In fact, the Torah and various corresponding Judaic philosophies encourage the pursuit of permitted physical pleasures as a means to "serve God with joy" (Deut. 28:47).

However, until the Destruction of the second temple, about two thousand years ago, taking Nazirite vows was a common feature of the religion. Nazirite Jews (in Hebrew: נזיר) abstained from grape products, haircuts, and contact with the dead. However, they did not withdraw from general society, and they were permitted to marry and own property; moreover, in most cases a Nazirite vow was for a specified time period and not permanent. In Modern Hebrew, the term "Nazir" is most often used to refer to non-Jewish monastics.

Unique among Jewish communities is the monasticism of the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, a practice believed to date to the 15th century.

A form of asceticism was practiced by some individuals in pre-World War II European Jewish communities. Its principal expression was ''prishut'', the practice of a married Talmud student going into self-imposed exile from his home and family to study in the kollel of a different city or town. This practice was associated with, but not exclusive to, the Perushim.

The Essenes (in Modern but not in Ancient Hebrew: אִסִּיִים, Isiyim; Greek: Εσσηνοι, Εσσαίοι, or Οσσαιοι; Essēnoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi) were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests.[1] Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time), the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including (for some groups) marriage. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic, and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judæa.

The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to be their library -- though there is no real proof that they are the writers thereof. These documents include preserved multiple copies of the Hebrew Bible untouched from as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars, however, dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.[2] Rachel Elior, a prominent Israeli scholar, even questions the existence of the Essenes.

Jain monasticism

Jainism has two branches, each with differing views of monasticism. Digambara monks do not wear clothing, symbolic of their refusal to give in to the body's demands for comfort and private property. But only Digambara ascetics are required to forsake clothing. Digambara ascetics have just two possessions: a peacock feather broom and a water gourd. They also believe that women are unable to obtain moksha. As a result, of the total of approx. 6000 Jain monks, barely 100 are Digambaras. The Shvetambaras are the other main Jainist sect. Svetambaras, unlike Digambaras, neither believe that ascetics must practice nudity, nor do they believe that women are unable to obtain moksha. Shvetambaras are commonly seen wearing face masks so that they do not accidentally breathe in and kill small creatures.

Monasticism in other religions

Ananda Marga has both monks and nuns (i.e. celibate male and female acharyas or missionaries) as well as a smaller group of family acharyas. The monks and nuns are engaged in all kinds of direct services to society, so they have no scope for permanent retreat. They do have to follow strict celibacy, poverty and many other rules of conduct during as well as after they have completed their training.

Bön is believed to have a rich monastic history. Bön monasteries exist today, and the monks there practice Bön-Buddhism.

Manichaeism had two types of followers, the auditors, and the elect. The elect lived apart from the auditors to concentrate on reducing the material influences of the world. They did this through strict celibacy, poverty, teaching, and preaching. Therefore the elect were probably at least partially monastic.

Scientology maintains a "fraternal order" called the Sea Organization or just Sea Org. They work only for the Church of Scientology and have signed billion year contracts. Sea Org members live communally with lodging, food, clothing, and medical care provided by the Church.

Sikhism and the Bahá’í Faith both specifically forbid the practice of monasticism. Hence there are no Sikh or Bahá’í monk conclaves or brotherhoods.

The Transcendental Meditation movement sponsors two monastic groups: the Thousand-Headed Purusha for men and the Mother Divine for women. The US residences for the groups were in Heavenly Mountain, North Carolina. There is also a Purusha program at an ashram in Uttarkashi, India. The Global Mother Divine Organization is described as the women's wing of the Global Country of World Peace.

Zoroastrianism holds that active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaotic influences at bay. This ''active'' participation is a central element in Zoroaster's concept of free will, and Zoroastrianism rejects all forms of asceticism and monasticism.

See also

Carmelite Rule of St. Albert

"Into Great Silence"- Documentary of life within the Carthusian monastery of La Grande Chartreuse by Philip Groning.

Matha

Order (religious)

References

Further reading

Fracchia, Charles. ''Living Together Alone: The New American Monasticism''. Harper & Row, 1979. ISBN 0060630116.

Gruber, Mark. 2003. ''Sacrifice In the Desert: A Study of an Egyptian Minority Through the Lens of Coptic Monasticism''. Lanham: University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-2539-8

Johnston, William M. (ed.). 2000. ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism''. 2 vols., Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.

Knowles, David. Christian Monasticism. London: World University Library, 1969

Lawrence, C. H. 2001. ''Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages'' (3rd Edition). New York: Longmans. ISBN 0-582-40427-4

Zarnecki, George. 1985. "The Monastic World: The Contributions of the Orders". Pp. 36–66, in Evans, Joan (ed.). 1985. ''The Flowering of the Middle Ages.'' London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

External links

The Hermits by Charles Kingsley (Gutenberg)

Links to Coptic Orthodox Monasteries of Egypt and the world

Historyfish.net: texts and articles regarding the Western Christian monastic tradition.

Abbot Gasquet's English Monastic Life. Full Text + Illustrations.

Public Domain Photochrom photographs, Abbeys, Cathedrals, Holy Sites and the Holy Land.

History of Monasticism

Monasticism Immaculate Heart of Mary's Hermitage

"Woman" – The correct perspective for the monastic – An eastern point of view

Korean Franciscan Brotherhood

Orthodox Monasticism Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monaster

Category:Religious behaviour and experience

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Coordinates	21°10′″N94°53′″N
Region	Continental Philosophy
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Color	#B0C4DE
Name	Giorgio Agamben
Birth date	April 22, 1942
Birth place	Rome
School tradition	Aesthetics
Main interests	Aesthetics Political philosophy
Notable ideas	''Homo sacer''"State of exception""Whatever singularity"
Influences	Aristotle Foucault Benjamin Derrida Heidegger Arendt Bruno Nietzsche Warburg Schmitt
Influenced	}}

Giorgio Agamben (born 22 April 1942) is an Italian political philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception and ''homo sacer''.

Agamben teaches at the Università IUAV di Venezia, the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris, and the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland; he previously taught at the University of Macerata and at the University of Verona, both in Italy. He also has held visiting appointments at several American universities, from the University of California, Berkeley, to Northwestern University, Evanston, and at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf.

Agamben received the Prix Européen de l'Essai Charles Veillon in 2006.

Biography

Agamben was educated at the University of Rome, where he wrote an unpublished thesis on the political thought of Simone Weil. Agamben participated in Martin Heidegger's Le Thor seminars (on Heraclitus and Hegel) in 1966 and 1968. In the 1970s, he worked primarily on linguistics, philology, poetics, and topics in medieval culture. During this period, Agamben began to elaborate his primary concerns, although their political bearings were not yet made explicit. In 1974–1975 he was a fellow at the Warburg Institute, University of London, due to the courtesy of Frances Yates, whom he met through Italo Calvino. During this fellowship, Agamben began to develop his second book, ''Stanzas'' (1977).

Agamben was close to the poets Giorgio Caproni and José Bergamín, and to the Italian novelist Elsa Morante, to whom he devoted the essays "The Celebration of the Hidden Treasure" (in ''The End of the Poem'') and "Parody" (in ''Profanations''). He has been a friend and collaborator to such eminent intellectuals as Pier Paolo Pasolini (in whose ''The Gospel According to St. Matthew'' he played the part of Philip), Italo Calvino (with whom he collaborated, for a short while, as counsellor of the publishing house Einaudi and developed plans for a journal), Ingeborg Bachmann, Pierre Klossowski, Guy Debord, Jean-Luc Nancy, Jacques Derrida, Antonio Negri, Jean-François Lyotard and others.

His strongest influences include Martin Heidegger and Walter Benjamin. Agamben edited Benjamin's collected works in Italian translation until 1996, and viewed Benjamin's thought as "the antidote that allowed me to survive Heidegger." In 1981, Agamben discovered several important lost manuscripts by Benjamin in the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Benjamin had left these manuscripts to Georges Bataille when he fled Paris shortly before his death. The most relevant of these to Agamben's own later work were Benjamin's manuscripts for his theses ''On the Concept of History''. Agamben has engaged since the nineties in a debate with the political writings of the German jurist Carl Schmitt, most extensively in Agamben's study ''State of Exception'' (2003). His recent writings also elaborate on the concepts of Michel Foucault, whom he calls "a scholar from whom I have learned a great deal in recent years".

Agamben's political thought was originally founded on his readings of Aristotle's ''Politics'', ''Nicomachean Ethics'', and treatise ''On the Soul'', as well as the exegetical traditions concerning these texts in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. In his later work, Agamben intervenes in the theoretical debates following the publication of Nancy's essay ''La communauté désoeuvrée'' (1983), and Maurice Blanchot's response, ''La communauté inavouable'' (1983). These texts analyzed the notion of community at a time when the European Community was under debate. Agamben proposed his own model of a community which would not presuppose categories of identity in ''The Coming Community'' (1990). At this time, Agamben also analyzed the ontological condition and "political" attitude of Bartleby (from Herman Melville's short story) – a ''scrivener'' who does not react, and "prefers not" to write.

In the ''Homo Sacer'' series, Agamben responds to Hannah Arendt's and Foucault's studies of totalitarianism and biopolitics. Since 1995 he has been best known for this ongoing project, the volumes of which have been published out of order, and which currently includes :

''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1995),

''State of Exception. Homo Sacer II, 1'' (2003),

''The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government. Homo Sacer II, 2'' (2007),

''The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath. Homo Sacer II, 3'' (2008),

''Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive. Homo Sacer III'' (1998).

In the projected final volume of the series, Agamben intends to address "the concepts of forms-of-life and lifestyles." "What I call a form-of-life," he explains, "is a life which can never be separated from its form, a life in which it is never possible to separate something like bare life. [...] [H]ere too the concept of privacy comes in to play."

Work

In ''The Coming Community'' (1993), Giorgio Agamben writes:

This reduction of life to 'biopolitics' is one of the main threads in Agamben's work, in his critical conception of an ''homo sacer'', reduced to 'bare life', and thus deprived of any rights. Agamben's concept rests on a crucial distinction in Greek between 'bare life' (''la vita nuda'', Gk.ζωή: ''zoê'') and 'a particular mode of life' or 'qualified life.' In Part III, section 7 of ''Homo Sacer'', “The Camp as the 'Nomos' of the Modern”, he evokes the concentration camps of World War II. “The camp is the space that is opened when the state of exception begins to become the rule.” Agamben says that "What happened in the camps so exceeds (is outside of) the juridical concept of crime that the specific juridico-political structure in which those events took place is often simply omitted from consideration." The conditions in the camps were "conditio inhumana," and the incarcerated somehow defined outside the boundaries of humanity, under the exception laws of Schutzhaft. Where law is based on vague, unspecific concepts such as "race" or "good morals," law and the personal subjectivity of the judicial agent are no longer distinct.

“In United States criminal law, people accused of committing crimes cannot be compelled to incriminate themselves verbally, but can be compelled to incriminate themselves physically.” In the process of creating a state of exception these effects can compound. In a realized state of exception, one who has been accused of committing a crime, within the legal system, loses the ability to use his voice and represent themselves- the individual has can not only be deprived of their citizenship, but also of any form of agency over their own life. “Agamben identifies the state of exception with the power of decision over life.” Within the state of exception, the distinction between ''bios''(citizen) and ''zoe''(homo sacer) is made by those with judicial power. For example, Agamben would argue that Guantánamo Bay exemplifies the concept of 'the state of exception' in the United States following 9–11.

Agamben mentions that basic universal human rights of Taliban individuals while captured in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2001 were negated by US laws. In reaction to the removal of their basic human rights, detainees of Guantánamo Bay prison went on hunger strikes. Within a state of exception, when a detainee is placed outside of the law, he is according to Agamben, reduced to 'bare life' in the eyes of the judicial powers. Here, one can see why such measures as hunger strikes can occur in such places as prisons. Within the framework of a system that has deprived the individual of power, and their individual basic human freedoms, the hunger strike can be seen as a weapon or form of resistance. “The body is a model which can stand for any bounded system. Its boundaries can represent any boundaries which are threatened or precarious.” Within a state of exception the boundaries of power are precarious and threaten to destabilize not only the law, but one’s humanity, as well as their choice of life or death. Forms of resistance to the extended use of power within the state of exception as suggested in Guantánamo Bay prison also operate outside of the law. In the case of the hunger strike, the prisoners were threatened and endured force feeding not allowing them to die. During the hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay prison, accusations and founded claims of forced feedings began to surface in the autumn of 2005. In February 2006, ''The New York Times'' reported that prisoners were being force fed in Guantánamo Bay prison and in March 2006, more than 250 medical experts, as reported by the BBC , voiced their opinions of the forced feedings stating that this was a breach of the government’s power and was against the rights of the prisoners.

''The Coming Community'' (1993)

In ''The Coming Community'', published in Italian in 1990 and English translation by Michael Hardt in 1993, Agamben describes the social and political manifestation of his philosophical thought. The beauty and brevity of the text is augmented by the book layout, filled with design, white space and random dots. Employing diverse short essays he describes the nature of “whatever singularity” as that which has an “inessential commonality, a solidarity that in no way concerns an essence”. It is important to note his understanding of “whatever” not as being indifference but based on the Latin translation of “being such that it always matters”

He starts off by describing ''“The Lovable”''

Following the same trend, Agamben employs, amongst others, the following to describe the “watershed of whatever”:

Example – Particular and Universal

Limbo – Blessed and Damned

Homonym – concept and idea

Halo – Potentiality and Actuality

Face – common and proper, genus and individual

Threshold – inside and outside

Coming Community – State & Non-state (humanity)

Other themes addressed in ''The Coming Community'' include the commodification of the body, evil, and the messianic.

Unlike other continental philosophers he does not reject the age-old dichotomies of subject – object, potentiality – actuality etc. outright, but rather turns them inside-out, pointing out the zone where they become indistinguishable.

The political task of humanity, he argues, is to expose the innate potential in this zone of indistinguishability. And although criticised as dreaming the impossible by certain authors , he nonetheless shows a concrete example of ''whatever singularity'' acting politically:

''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1998)

In his main work ''"Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life"'' (1998), Giorgio Agamben analyzes an obscure figure of Roman law that poses some fundamental questions to the nature of law and power in general. Under the Roman Empire, a man who committed a certain kind of crime was banned from society and all of his rights as a citizen were revoked. He thus became a ''"homo sacer"'' (sacred man). In consequence, he could be killed by anybody—while his life on the other hand was deemed "sacred", so he could not be sacrificed in a ritual ceremony.

Roman law no longer applied to someone deemed a ''Homo sacer'', although they would remain "under the spell" of law. Agamben defines it as "human life...included in the juridical order solely in the form of its exclusion (that is, of its capacity to be killed)". ''Homo sacer'' was therefore ''excluded'' from law itself, while being ''included'' at the same time. This figure is the exact mirror image of the sovereign (''Basileus'') – a king, emperor, or president – who stands, on the one hand, ''within'' law (so he can be condemned, e.g., for treason, as a natural person) and ''outside of'' the law (since as a body politic he has power to suspend law for an indefinite time).

Giorgio Agamben draws on Carl Schmitt's definition of the Sovereign as the one who has the power to decide the state of exception (or ''justitium''), where law is indefinitely "suspended" without being abrogated. But if Schmitt's aim is to include the necessity of state of emergency under the rule of law, Agamben on the contrary demonstrates that all life cannot be subsumed by law. As in ''Homo sacer'', the state of emergency is the inclusion of life and necessity in the juridical order solely in the form of its exclusion.

Since its origins, Agamben notes, law has had the power of defining what "bare life" (''zoe'', as opposed to ''bios'': qualified life) is by making this exclusive operation, while at the same time gaining power over it by making it the subject of political control. The power of law to actively separate "political" beings (citizens) from "bare life" (bodies) has carried on from Antiquity to Modernity – from, literally, Aristotle to Auschwitz. Aristotle, as Agamben notes, constitutes political life via a simultaneous inclusion and exclusion of "bare life": as Aristotle says, man is an animal born to life (''zen''), but existing with regard to the good life (''eu zen'') which can be achieved through politics. Bare life, in this ancient conception of politics, is that which must be transformed, via the State, into the "good life"; that is, bare life is that which is supposedly excluded from the higher aims of the state, yet is included precisely so that it may be transformed into this "good life". Sovereignty, then, is conceived from ancient times as the power which determines what or who is to be incorporated into the political body (in accord with its 'bios') by means of the more originary exclusion (or exception) of what is to remain outside of the political body—which is at the same time the source of that body's composition ('zoe'). According to Agamben, biopower, which takes the bare lives of the citizens into its political calculations, may be more marked in the modern state, but has essentially existed since the beginnings of sovereignty in the West, since this structure of ''ex-ception'' is essential to the core concept of sovereignty.

Agamben would continue to expand the theory of the state of exception first introduced in ''"Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life"'', ultimately leading ''"State of Exception"'' in 2005. During 2003, he delivered a lecture at European Graduate School describing the eclipse that politics has undergone. Instead of leaving a space between law and life, the space where human action is possible, the space that used to constitute politics, he argues that politics has “contaminated itself with law” in the state of exception. Because “only human action is able to cut the relationship between violence and law”, it becomes increasingly difficult within the state of exception for humanity to act against the State.

''State of Exception'' (2005)

In this book, Agamben traces the concept of 'state of exception' (''Ausnahmezustand'') used by Carl Schmitt to Roman ''justitium'' and ''auctoritas''. This leads him to a response to Carl Schmitt's definition of sovereignty as the power to proclaim state emergency.

Giorgio Agamben’s text ''State of Exception'' investigates the increase of power structures governments employ in supposed times of crisis. Within these times of crisis, Agamben refers to increased extension of power as states of exception, where questions of citizenship and individual rights can be diminished, superseded and rejected in the process of claiming this extension of power by a government. Agamben explores the effect of the state of exception on the individual by looking at the ideas of ''bios'' and ''zoe''.

The state of exception invests one person or government with the power and voice of authority over others extended well beyond where the law has existed in the past. “In every case, the state of exception marks a threshold at which logic and praxis blur with each other and a pure violence without ''logos'' claims to realize an enunciation without any real reference" (Agamben, pg 40). Agamben refers a continued state of exception to the Nazi state of Germany under Hitler’s rule. “The entire Third Reich can be considered a state of exception that lasted twelve years. In this sense, modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system" (Agamben, pg 2).

The political power over others acquired through the state of exception, places one government – or one form or branch of government – as all powerful, operating outside of the laws. During such times of extension of power, certain forms of knowledge shall be privileged and accepted as true and certain voices shall be heard as valued, while of course, many others are not. This oppressive distinction holds great importance in relation to the production of knowledge. The process of both acquiring knowledge, and suppressing certain knowledge, is a violent act within a time of crisis.

Agamben’s ''State of Exception'' investigates how the suspension of laws within a state of emergency or crisis can become a prolonged state of being. More specifically, Agamben addresses how this prolonged state of exception operates to deprive individuals of their citizenship. When speaking about the military order issued by President George W. Bush on 13 November 2001, Agamben writes, “What is new about President Bush’s order is that it radically erases any legal status of the individual, thus producing a legally unnamable and unclassifiable being. Not only do the Taliban captured in Afghanistan not enjoy the status of POW’s as defined by the Geneva Convention, they do not even have the status of people charged with a crime according to American laws" (Agamben, pg 3). Many of the individuals captured in Afghanistan were taken to be held at Guantánamo Bay without trial. These individuals were termed as “enemy combatants.” Until 7 July 2006, these individuals had been treated outside of the Geneva Conventions by the United States administration.

''Auctoritas'', "charisma" and ''Führertum'' doctrine

Agamben shows that ''auctoritas'' and ''potestas'' are clearly distinct – although they form together a binary system". He quotes Mommsen, who explains that ''auctoritas'' is "less than an order and more than an advice".

While ''potestas'' derives from social function, ''auctoritas'' "immediately derives from the ''patres'' personal condition". As such, it is akin to Max Weber's concept of charisma. This is why the tradition ordered, at the king's death, the creation of the sovereign’s wax-double in the ''funus imaginarium'', as Ernst Kantorowicz demonstrated in ''The King's Two Bodies'' (1957). Hence, it is necessary to distinguish two bodies of the sovereign in order to assure the continuity of ''dignitas'' (term used by Kantorowicz, here a synonym of ''auctoritas''). Moreover, in the person detaining ''auctoritas'' – the sovereign – public life and private life have become inseparable. Augustus, the first Roman emperor who claimed ''auctoritas'' as the basis of ''princeps'' status in a famous passage of ''Res Gestae'', had opened up his house to public eyes.

The concept of ''auctoritas'' played a key-role in fascism and Nazism, in particular concerning Carl Schmitt's theories, argues Agamben:

Thus, Agamben opposes Foucault's concept of "biopolitics" to right (law), as he defines the state of exception, in ''Homo sacer'', as the inclusion of life by right under the figure of ex-ception, which is simultaneously inclusion and exclusion. Following Walter Benjamin's lead, he explains that our task would be to radically differentiate "pure violence" from right, instead of tying them together, as did Carl Schmitt.

Agamben concludes his chapter on "''Auctoritas'' and ''potestas''" writing:

Agamben’s thoughts on the state of emergency leads him to declare that the difference between dictatorship and democracy is thin indeed, as rule by decree became more and more common, starting from World War I and the reorganization of constitutional balance. Agamben often reminds that Hitler never ''abrogated'' the Weimar Constitution: he ''suspended'' it for the whole duration of the 3rd Reich with the Reichstag Fire Decree, issued on 28 February 1933. Indefinite suspension of law is what characterizes the state of exception. Thus, Agamben connects Greek political philosophy through to the concentration camps of 20th century fascism, and even further, to detainment camps in the likes of Guantanamo Bay or immigration detention centers, such as Bari, Italy, where asylum seekers have been imprisoned in football stadiums. In these kinds of camps, entire zones of exception are being formed: the state of exception becomes a status under which certain categories of people live, a ''capture'' of life by right. Sovereign law makes it possible to create entire areas in which the application of the law itself is held suspended, which is the basis of Bush administration's definition of an "enemy combatant".

''Interregnum'', ''justitium'' and ''nomos empsuchos'' (the sovereign as "living law")

In the chapter preceding "''Auctoritas'' and ''potestas''", Agamben advances an explanation of the transformation of ''justitium'', a technical term referring to the state of exception, declared to cope with ''tumultus'' state (rebellion, uprising, riots...), at the end of the Roman Republic, into a term simply referring to the mourning of the sovereign's death during ''interregnum'' periods:

The first formulation of the thesis according to which "the sovereign is a living law" found its first formulation on the treatise "On law and justice" by pseudo-Archytas, conserved by Stobaeus with Diotogene's treatise on sovereignty. It is the first attempt to conceive a form of sovereignty completely enfranchised from laws, being itself the source of legitimacy. This theory must be radically distinguished from natural rights theory or Antigone's appeal to the "eternal and unwritten laws" by which even monarchs must abide, as it is a theory of sovereignty (in fact, it is quite the reverse of Antigone's rebellion).

Pseudo-Archytas distinguished the sovereign (''basileus''), who is the law, from the magistrate (''archōn''), who limits himself to observing the law. "Identification between law and sovereign has as consequence, writes Agamben, the scission of law into a "living" law (''nomos empsuchos''), hierarchically superior, and a written law (''gramma''), which is subordinate to the first one". He then quotes A. Delatte's ''Essais sur la politique pythagoricienne'' (Paris, 1922), himself quoting the pseudo-Archytas:

:"I say that all communities are composed of an ''archōn'' (the magistrate who commands), a commanded one, and, as tierce party, laws. Among those ones, the living one is the sovereign (''ho men empsuchos ho basileus''), and the inanimate one is the letter (''gramma''). Law is the first element, the king is legal, the magistrate accorded to law, the commanded free and all of the city happy; but, in case of corruption ("dévoiement"), the sovereign is a tyrant, the magistrate is not accorded to law and the community is unhappy."

Criticism of US response to "9–11"

Giorgio Agamben is particularly critical of the United States' response to 11 September 2001, and its instrumentalization as a permanent condition that legitimizes a "state of exception" as the dominant paradigm for governing in contemporary politics. He warns against a "generalization of the state of exception" through laws like the USA PATRIOT Act, which means a permanent installment of martial law and emergency powers. In January 2004, he refused to give a lecture in the United States because under the US-VISIT he would have been required to give up his biometric information, which he believed stripped him to a state of "bare life" (''zoe'') and was akin to the tattooing that the Nazis did during World War II.

However, Agamben's criticisms target a broader scope than the US "war on terror". As he points out in ''State of Exception'' (2005), rule by decree has become common since World War I in all modern states, and has been since then generalized and abused. Agamben points out a general tendency of modernity, recalling for example that when Francis Galton and Alphonse Bertillon invented "judicial photography" for "anthropometric identification", the procedure was reserved to criminals; to the contrary, today's society is tending toward a generalization of this procedure to all citizens, placing the population under permanent suspicion and surveillance: "The political body thus has become a criminal body". And Agamben notes that the Jews deportation in France and other occupied countries was made possible by the photos taken from identity cards. Furthermore, Agamben's political criticisms open up in a larger philosophical critique of the concept of sovereignty itself, which he explains is intrinsically related to the state of exception.

Endnotes and references

Bibliography

Agamben's major books are listed in order of first Italian publication (with the exception of ''Potentialities,'' which first appeared in English), and English translations are listed where available. There are translations of most writings in German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. There is also an updated list of publications including translations to other languages and links to texts available at his faculty page.

''L'uomo senza contenuto'' (1970). Translated by Lisa Albert as ''The Man without Content'' (1999). 0-8047-3554-9

''Stanze. La parola e il fantasma nella cultura occidentale'' (1977). Trans. Ronald L. Martinez as ''Stanzas: Word and Phantasm in Western Culture'' (1992). 0-8166-2038-5

''Infanzia e storia: Distruzione dell'esperienza e origine della storia'' (1978). Trans. Liz Heron as ''Infancy and History: The Destruction of Experience'' (1993). 0-86091-645-6

''Il linguaggio e la morte: Un seminario sul luogo della negatività'' (1982). Trans. Karen E. Pinkus with Michael Hardt as ''Language and Death: The Place of Negativity'' (1991). ISBN 0-8166-4923-5

''Idea della prosa'' (1985). Trans. Michael Sullivan and Sam Whitsitt as ''Idea of Prose'' (1995). ISBN 0-7914-2380-8

''La comunità che viene'' (1990). Trans. Michael Hardt as ''The Coming Community'' (1993). ISBN 0-8166-2235-3

''Bartleby, la formula della creazione'' (1993, with Gilles Deleuze). Agamben's essay trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen in ''Potentialities,'' below (1999). ISBN 0-8047-3278-7. Deleuze's essay trans. in Deleuze, ''Essays Clinical and Critical'' (1997). ISBN 0816625697

''Homo Sacer: Il potere soverano e la vita nuda'' (1995). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1998). ISBN 0-8047-3218-3

''Mezzi senza fine. Note sulla politica'' (1996). Trans. Vincenzo Binetti and Cesare Casarino as ''Means Without End: Notes of Politics'' (2000). ISBN 0-8166-3036-4

''Categorie italiane. Studi di poetica'' (1996). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''The End of the Poem: Studies in Poetics'' (1999). ISBN 0-8047-3022-9

''Quel che resta di Auschwitz. L'archivio e il testimone (Homo sacer III)'' (1998). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive. Homo Sacer III'' (2002). ISBN 1-890951-17-X

''Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy.'' (1999). First published in English translation and edited by Daniel Heller-Roazen. ISBN 0-8047-3278-7. Published in the original Italian, with additional essays, as ''La potenza del pensiero: Saggi e conferenza'' (2005).

''Il tempo che resta. Un commento alla Lettera ai Romani'' (2000). Trans. Patricia Dailey as ''The Time that Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans'' (2005). ISBN 0-8047-4383-5

''L'aperto. L'uomo e l'animale'' (2002). Trans. Kevin Attell as ''The Open: Man and Animal'' (2004). ISBN 0-8047-4738-5

''Stato di Eccezione. Homo sacer, 2,1'' (2003). Trans. Kevin Attell as ''State of Exception'' (2005). ISBN 0-226-00925-4

''Profanazioni'' (2005). Trans. Jeff Fort as ''Profanations'' (2008). ISBN 189095182X

''Che cos'è un dispositivo?'' (2006). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). ISBN 0-8047-6230-9

''L'amico'' (2007). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). ISBN 0-8047-6230-9

''Ninfe'' (2007).

''Il regno e la gloria. Per una genealogia teologica dell'economia e del governo. Homo sacer 2,2'' (2007). Trans. Lorenzo Chiesa with Matteo Mandarini as ''The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government'' (forthcoming August 2011). ISBN 978-0804760164

''Che cos'è il contemporaneo?'' (2007). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). ISBN 0-8047-6230-9

''Signatura rerum. Sul Metodo'' (2008). Trans. Luca di Santo and Kevin Attell as ''The Signature of All Things: On Method'' (2009). ISBN 978-1-890951-98-6

''Il sacramento del linguaggio. Archeologia del giuramento. Homo sacer 2,3'' (2008). Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath'' (2011).

''Nudità'' (2009). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella as ''Nudities'' (2010). ISBN 978-0804769501

''Angeli. Ebraismo Cristianesimo Islam'' (ed. Emanuele Coccia and Giorgio Agamben). Neripozza, Vicenza 2009.

''La Chiesa e il Regno'' (2010). ISBN 978-887452-226-2.

''La ragazza indicibile. Mito e mistero di Kore'' (2010, with Monica Ferrando.) ISBN 978-8837077174.

''Altissima povertà. Regola e forma di vita nel monachesimo'' (2011). ISBN 978-8854505452.

''Opus Dei. Archeologia dell'ufficio'' (2011). ISBN 978-8833922478.

Various articles published by ''Multitudes'', available here.

''The State of Emergency'', extract from a lecture given at the Centre Roland Barthes-University of Paris VII, Denis Diderot

Further reading

Calarco, Matthew and Steven DeCaroli, eds. ''Giorgio Agamben: Sovereignty and Life.'' Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007.

Clemens, Justin, Nicholas Heron, and Alex Murray, eds. ''The Work of Giorgio Agamben: Law, Literature, Life.'' Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008.

de la Durantaye, Leland. ''Giorgio Agamben: A Critical Introduction.'' Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009.

Derrida, Jacques. ''The Beast and the Sovereign, Volume 1''. Ed. Michel Lisse, Marie-Louise Mallet, and Ginette Michaud. Trans. Geoff Bennington. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. 91-96, 315-334.

Dickinson, Colby. ''Agamben and Theology.'' London and New York: T&T; Clark International, 2011. [Forthcoming.]

Geulen, Eva. ''Giorgio Agamben zur Einführung.'' Hamburg: Junius Verlag, 2005.

Kishik, David. ''The Power of Life: Agamben and the Coming Politics''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. [Forthcoming.]

LaCapra, Dominick. "Approaching Limit Events: Siting Agamben". In ''History in Transit: Experience, Identity, Critical Theory''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004. 144-194.

Mills, Catherine. ''The Philosophy of Giorgio Agamben.'' Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009.

Murray, Alex. ''Giorgio Agamben.'' London and New York: Routledge, 2010.

Murray, Alex and Jessica Whyte. ''The Agamben Dictionary.'' Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. [Forthcoming.]

Norris, Andrew, ed. ''Politics, Metaphysics, and Death: Essays on Giorgio Agamben’s Homo Sacer.'' Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005.

Ross, Alison, ed. ''The Agamben Effect.'' A special issue of the ''South Atlantic Quarterly,'' Volume 107, Number 1, Winter 2008.

Wall, Thomas Carl. ''Radical Passivity: Lévinas, Blanchot, and Agamben.'' New York: State University of New York Press, 1999.

Watkin, William. ''Literary Agamben: Adventures in Logopoiesis.'' London and New York: Continuum, 2010.

Zartaloudis, Thanos. ''Giorgio Agamben: Power, Law and the Uses of Criticism.'' London and New York: Routledge, 2010.

Video lectures

Agamben, Giorgio. Aristotle's De Anima and the Division of Life. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. Forms of Power. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio (and Judith Butler). Eichmann, Law and Justice. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. The Problem of Subjectivity. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. Liturgia and the Modern State. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. The Process of the Subject in Michel Foucault. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. Literature and the Paradox of Monasticism. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. The Relation of Rule and Life. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. A Genealogy of Monasticism. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. The Sacrifice in Liturgy. European Graduate School. 2009

Agamben, Giorgio. On Contemporaneity. European Graduate School. 2007

Agamben, Giorgio. The Power and the Glory. Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). 01/11/2007

Agamben, Giorgio. What is a Dispositive? European Graduate School. 2005

Agamben, Giorgio. The State of Exception – Der Ausnahmezustand. European Graduate School. 2003.

Agamben, Giorgio. What is a Paradigm. European Graduate School. 2002

See also

Agamben's explanation of Auctoritas

Agamben's response to Carl Schmitt's definition of sovereignty as the power to decide state exception

''Basileus''

''Homo sacer''

''Interregnum''

''Justitium''

Unlawful combatants

External links

Giorgio Agamben Faculty Page at European Graduate School

Agamben Entry at Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Review of Agamben, ''Profanations'', by Daniel Ross

On Giorgio Agamben's ''Profanations'', by Mehdi Belhaj Kacem

Interview with Giorgio Agamben – Life, A Work of Art Without an Author: The State of Exception, the Administration of Disorder and Private Life

Review of ''State of Exception'', by Brett Neilson

/ The Ripe Fruit of Redemption, by Toni Negri

French

''"État d'exception" de G. Agamben'', by Sandra Salomon

Italian

filosofico.net Italian page dedicated to Agamben

Polish

Projekt Agamben

Hebrew

Review of ''State of Exception'', Yehouda Shenhav, Sfarim Haaretz, 23.11.2005.

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:People from Rome (city) Category:20th-century Italian philosophers Category:Italian political theorists Category:Academics of the Warburg Institute Category:Political philosophers Category:Emergency laws Category:University of Düsseldorf alumni Category:University of Verona faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Northwestern University faculty Category:European Graduate School faculty

ca:Giorgio Agamben cs:Giorgio Agamben de:Giorgio Agamben et:Giorgio Agamben es:Giorgio Agamben fa:جورجو آگامبن fr:Giorgio Agamben gl:Giorgio Agamben ko:조르조 아감벤 it:Giorgio Agamben la:Georgius Agamben nl:Giorgio Agamben ja:ジョルジョ・アガンベン pl:Giorgio Agamben pt:Giorgio Agamben ru:Агамбен, Джорджо sk:Giorgio Agamben fi:Giorgio Agamben sv:Giorgio Agamben

Shane Claiborne (born July 11, 1975) is one of the founding members of The Simple Way in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This community was featured on the cover of ''Christianity Today'' as a pioneer in the New Monasticism movement. Claiborne is also a prominent activist for nonviolence and service to the poor.

Biography

Claiborne grew up in east Tennessee. A graduate of Eastern University, where he studied sociology and youth ministry, Claiborne did his final academic work for Eastern University at Wheaton College in Illinois. While at Wheaton, Claiborne did an internship at Willow Creek Community Church. He has done some graduate work at Princeton Theological Seminary, but took a leave of absence, and now is a part of The Alternative Seminary in Philadelphia.

Claiborne's outlook on ministry to the poor is often compared to Mother Teresa, whom he worked alongside during a 10-week term in Calcutta. He spent 3 weeks in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team (a project of Voices in the Wilderness and Christian Peacemaker Teams). He was witness to the military bombardment of Baghdad as well as the militarized areas between Baghdad and Amman. As a member of IPT, Claiborne took daily trips to sites where there had been bombings, visited hospitals and families, and attended worship services during the war. He also continues to serve as a board member for the nation-wide Christian Community Development Association which was founded by the authors and community developers, John Perkins and Wayne Gordon.

On Wednesday, June 20, 2007, a seven-alarm fire at the abandoned warehouse across the street destroyed The Simple Way Community Center where Claiborne lived. He lost all of his possessions in the fire. The Simple Way immediately set up funds to accept donations to help those who lost their homes in the fire.

In October of 2010, Shane proposed to longtime love Katie Jo Brotherton in Philadelphia's Love Park. They were joined in marriage on May 7th, 2011, at Saint Edward's Cathedral in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Claiborne is featured in the documentary ''The Ordinary Radicals'', and co-directed the three volume Another World is Possible DVD series. Claiborne wrote the foreword to Ben Lowe's 2009 book ''Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation''.

In 2011 he has appeared as both a guest and co-host of the TV show "Red Letter Christians" with Tony Campolo.

Authorship

''Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals'', with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) ISBN 0310326192

"What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?" (Esquire Magazine, November 18, 2009)

''Follow Me To Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical'', with John Perkins (Regal Books, 2009) ISBN 0830751203

''Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals'', with Chris Haw (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008) ISBN 0310278422

''Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals'', with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (InterVarsity, 2008) ISBN 0830836225

'' The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical'' (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) ISBN 0310266300

''Iraq Journal 2003'' (Doulos Christou, 2006) ISBN 0974479675

See also

Christian radicalism

Simple living

References

External links

Claiborne's official page at the Simple Way

The Ordinary Radicals official website

The Another World is Possible DVD series

Shane Claiborne's sermon on radical discipleship

Category:American Christian pacifists Category:American Christians Category:Christian writers Category:Eastern University (United States) alumni Category:Pennsylvania political activists Category:People from Tennessee Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Living people Category:1975 births Category:Environmentalism and religion Category:Nonviolence advocates Category:Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Category:Christian radicals

cs:Shane Claiborne de:Shane Claiborne ru:Клайборн, Шейн