Monasticism in the East

Ines Murzaku of Seton Hall University e-mailed me the other day to say she has a new book coming out next year with Peeters, part of their Eastern Christian Studies series, whose other titles you may read here.The publisher lists it as still in production, so there is no Amazon link yet, but the book is entitled Monastic Tradition in Eastern Christianity and the Outside World: a Call for Dialogue. Here is the description from them:

This volume's focus is threefold, thus corresponding to its tri-partite topical division: to analyze Eastern monasticism's unique place in the life transforming journey to theosis; Eastern monasticism's hospitality and mutual encounters with culture; and Eastern and Western monasticism's hospitality to Christian and non-Christian religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam (even though Islam does not have any monastic institution, its adherents have been historically in dialogue with Christian monastics and have the potential to achieve a spiritual affinity with monks of other religious traditions). The three parts of the volume share one unifying argument: monasticism's special call to spiritually symbiotic relationship or impact on the very socio-politic-historic structures of reality. The topics are explored from historical, theological, and literary standpoints. The volume's overall intention is to help make monastic ecumenical engagement or its potential for inter-faith dialogue better known, appreciated, and relevant within inter-religious dialogue.