L’économie dans l’utopie monastique : les stratégies d’adaptation

Abstract

Although it is often stressed that any attempt to fully understand the workings of religious institutions must take account of their economic dimensions, that of Catholic monasteries has rarely been studied. Monasteries are theoretically a utopia of the Kingdom of God – both here on earth and in heaven – and in this sense it should reject all economic activity. The need for monks to make a living, however, unavoidably involves them in such activity, which they try to justify in terms that are in keeping with the idea of a religious utopia. This article seeks to explore the strategies of redefinition developed by monks to integrate the economic and the religious spheres.