The Rebirth of Religious Communities in Reformation Churches

The essay offers a historical retrospective and an overview of the rebirth of religious or monastic communities within, or at the margins of, the churches bearing the marks of the Reformation, since the second half of the 19th century and especially during the 20th. In other words, the essay proposes to focus how, after four centuries of an apparently unanimous - or at least extensive - rejection of this forma vitae in general, and of religious vows in particular, Protestantism ended up gradually welcoming and once again gradually accepting the various manifestations of a rule based community life. Particular attention is therefore paid to the ecumenical significance and implications of this recovery of cenobitic life in the Protestant sphere.