ABSTRACT

Christian asceticism assumes that human beings can profoundly transform themselves over years of systematic training, with divine aid. This contribution joins recent scholarship in stressing the therapeutic and transformative dimensions of asceticism, but argues that it was not solely or primarily through bodily training that asceticism implemented this program. In the Eastern monastic tradition of late antiquity, it was primarily the mind that needed to be transformed and renewed through ascetic practice. The form of asceticism at the center of this study thus involves a disciplined and systematic attempt to purify the mind and train attention, in the service of contemplation.

摘要

基督教苦行主义假设人类可以通过多年的系统训练，在神的帮助下深刻地改变自己。这一贡献与最近的学术研究一起强调了禁欲主义的治疗和变革层面，但认为禁欲主义实施这一计划并不仅仅是或主要通过身体训练。在古代晚期的东方寺院传统中，主要需要通过苦行来改造和更新思想。因此，本研究中心的禁欲主义形式涉及一种有纪律和系统的尝试，以净化思想和训练注意力，以服务于沉思。