Asceticism in Transition: Exploring the Concepts of Memory, Performance and Ambiguity in 20th Century Dutch Monastic Life

Abstract

Asceticism is a topic of interest among a wide range of scholars. In the past two decades the corpus on asceticism has been growing steadily and contributions have been made from a variety of perspectives (for an overview see Wimbusch and Valantasis, Asceticism [1995]). In this article I will focus on the almost unknown history of asceticism in 20th century Dutch monastic life. Th is is a history that, especially after the 1950s, refl ects a period of transition in which a radical erosion of asceticism occurred. In order to understand and explore asceticism in this specifi c period and context, I will discuss the demarcation of asceticism that Gavin Flood outlined in his thought-provoking study of 2004, Th e Ascetic Self: Subjectivity, Memory and Tradition. In this book Flood distinguishes three central parameters of asceticism, in short: memory, performance and ambiguity. Th ese three concepts are applied to research material that is based upon a historical study of Catholic spiritual literature and eighteen interviews with members of Dutch religious communities who personally experienced ascetic practices during their religious lives. I will argue that the memory of ascetic tradition is no longer being appropriated, which has specifi c consequences for examining the two parameters of performance and ambiguity.