If there’s any chance of creating Maurin’s vision anywhere in this world before Jesus returns, it’s worth striving for with all our being.
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Today I present another End Times post.
Today I’m talking about Peter Maurin, a name I hope you know. I reviewed his book Easy Essays in The Christian Book Corner. But that’s not how I hope you know him. I hope you know his name because he was an important Christian (Catholic) in our modern era.
Today I’m actually introducing a booklet by Joe Holland about Peter Maurin. It’s about Maurin’s vision for recreating society in a more Godly way. A vision based on the society the Disciples had in Acts 2 and 4, and on the actions of Irish missionaries after the fall of the Roman Empire.
It’s a vision for a fair, equal, sustainable, and Pious society. Certainly something all the peoples of the world are interested in today.
So what’s this vision like?? And is there any point to it now, here in the End Times?? Well, read on and let’s consider the words of Peter Maurin and Joe Holland.
Peter Maurin’s Ecological Lay New Monasticism
I recently read a fifteen-page booklet by Joe Holland titled, “Peter Maurin’s Ecological Lay New Monasticism.” If that title isn’t long enough for you, it has a beefy subtitle too: “A Catholic Green Revolution Developing Rural Ecovillages, Urban Houses of Hospitality, & Eco-Universities for a New Civilization.” What a mouthful, eh??
I didn’t know when I ordered this that it was only a booklet, only fifteen pages long. Turns out this booklet is an excerpt from Joe Holland’s 2015 book, “Toward the Dawn of Postmodern Catholic Ecological Spirituality: The Twilight of Modern Psychological Spirituality, the Dark Night of Modern Industrial-Colonial Civilization, & Peter Maurin’s Call for a New Lay Monasticism.”
I see this guy has a thing for long titles. But when you open the cover, his writing is … mostly clear and concise enough.
Since this booklet is only fifteen pages, there’s no way I would ever give it a book review in The Christian Book Corner. But I’ll be talking about it today in this End Times post, because the booklet covers an End Times topic.
And that topic would be the collapse of modern society, and Peter Maurin’s call for creating a new, Godly society in its place (which is actually not new, but so old that it seems new).
Peter Maurin’s Program
If you don’t know Peter Maurin, that’s a name you should know. Please go check out my review on Easy Essays to learn more, as Easy Essays lays out Peter Maurin’s social philosophy.
But I’ll tell you briefly what that philosophy is. The booklet I’m writing about today, Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, does an excellent job of summing it up. That said, it sums up his philosophy differently than I do. Here’s what I wrote in my book review on Easy Essays: (Quoted in Teal)
If there’s any over-arching point to Easy Essays and what Maurin wrote, it’s this. We need to create a new society based on the old values of the earliest Christians.
[…] to create a new society
Peter Maurin, Easy Essays, Page 37
within the shell of the old
with the philosophy of the new,
which is not a new philosophy,
but a very old philosophy,
a philosophy so old
that it looks like new.
Peter Maurin uses repetition, like a teacher, saying the same thing over and over to make his point. So over the course of the book, his proposal for how to create this new society comes down to the following. These aren’t the only points he has. But I’d say these are the core of his argument and his method for building his vision of a more Christian society.
- Embrace the philosophy of the first Christians
- Live in a community of believers like in Acts 2:44-46 and Acts 4:32
- Perform the Works of Mercy (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, […]) daily, at a personal sacrifice
- Outlaw loaning money at interest (usury) in agreement with the teaching of the Prophets of Israel and the Fathers of the Church
- Build houses of hospitality and farming communes for doing this work
I said Joe Holland sums it up differently. In Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, Holland explains it like this:
Its three-point practical program included what he called “rural communes” and urban “houses of hospitality,” with both linked to what he called “agronomic universities.” […]
[…] we might reframe the three points of Peter’s program for this “new monasticism” as follows:
1. Rural Ecovillages, planting seeds for a post-capitalist and post-Marxist ecological society, yet one with ancient communitarian roots in rural bioregions;
2. Urban Houses of Hospitality, ministering to people marginalized by the ‘progressive’ breakdown of Modern Industrial-Colonial Civilization;
3. Integrating Eco-universities, seeking intellectual clarification for the historical transition to the new society.
Joe Holland, Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, Pages 6-7
Yikes. If you didn’t follow that, don’t worry. Let’s just stick with “farming communes, for producing food,” “houses of hospitality, where Christian volunteers perform the Works of Mercy,” and “agricultural universities that provide a new kind of practical ecological-oriented education.” And no that’s not exactly what Holland is saying, but it’s alright.
Anyway, why is Peter Maurin’s vision important?? Why would we talk about creating a new society now, in the End Times??
Well … there’s always that small chance that the End isn’t as close as we think. That Jesus isn’t returning as soon as we think. There are historical parallels between the events we see today and earlier periods of chaos and collapse. If society only collapses, but LORD Jesus doesn’t return, then Peter Maurin’s vision becomes very relevant ….
We Might Need This
This is something I wrote about in Part 75. In End Times Part 75, I looked at a few catastrophic events in history, such as World War 2. And I imagined how for the Christians of the day, these things must have seemed like the End of the world.
But let’s cast our imagination back even farther. Try to imagine what it must have been like to witness the decay and collapse of the Roman Empire. What do you think the people of that era, especially the Romans, felt at the time?? They too must have thought the world was ending.
When the Roman Empire fell, that was more or less the collapse of Western Civilization as it existed it at the time. It would have been a terrifying time to live through, one full of threats everywhere. Writing during the Great Depression, a time of great social distress not only in the U.S. but also the world, Peter Maurin saw parallels between the fall of Rome and the fall of modern empires.
Peter said that his three-point program was necessary because “this age is very much like the age of the fall of Rome.” He thus linked the contemporary late modern Western period with the ancient fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Joe Holland, Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, Page 13
It’s been more than 70 years since Peter Maurin’s time. And the scenario he envisioned—the collapse of modern empires—is even closer now than it was when he was alive. Though I can by no means put a date on it, the collapse of our system, our civilization, is inevitable. And when it collapses, it’s going to have worldwide consequences, same as the fall of the Roman Empire did.
If that’s the case, is there still hope?? Peter Maurin thought so. He looked to the Irish missionary monks who evangelized to Europe in Rome’s absence. They evangelized, educated, fed, clothed, and sheltered people while the world around them went crazy. By living out the Gospel and performing the Works of Mercy during this chaotic time, they laid the groundwork for Western Civilization to recover.
Peter Maurin thought very highly of these Irish missionaries and discusses them often. But here’s what Holland has to say:
In response to this breakdown, Peter’s vision of planting seeds for a “new society” calls to us today even more powerfully than when he first proclaimed it.
Peter understood his prophetic vision as a contemporary reenactment of the seventh-century work by Irish missionary monks who, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, evangelized the migrating ‘barbarian’ tribes and laid the intellectual-spiritual foundation for regenerating Western Civilization.
Joe Holland, Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, Page 5
Let’s think about this, Reader. Please check out End Times Part 75. Remember that since no one knows the day nor the hour, it’s always possible that, sadly, the Second Coming of Christ is not close at hand, and this world’s torture must continue. It’s always possible that this is not The End, and that it’s only history repeating itself (war, depression, chaos, etc.).
If that’s the case, then Peter Maurin’s vision for a new society becomes very needed and relevant. A Godly society based on what the Disciples had in Acts 2 and 4 would be the best society our imperfect human race is capable of. And though it would never be perfect, because humans are imperfect, a society like that would correct many of the injustices that are leading to the collapse of our current society.
If it’s not The End, then yes, we will need ideas like Peter Maurin’s when we rebuild.
Worth Our Best Shot
Today, at the “End of the Modern World,” […] Can contemporary visionary pioneers plant humble and authentically postmodern seeds for regenerating the creative communion of ecological, social, and spiritual life across our loving Creator’s beloved garden-planet Earth?
Joe Holland, Peter Maurin’s Ecological New Monasticism, Page 15
That’s how Joe Holland ends his booklet. Can we do it?? Can we save humanity, regenerating and healing from the ashes after the collapse??
If what’s happening now is not The End depicted in Revelation, and the Second Coming of Christ is not close at hand, then sure, Christians can heal the world after it blows up and civilization collapses. Christians did it once (the Irish), there’s no reason they can’t do it again.
But I, and many others take it on Faith that this is The End. Here on my blog, the view is that The End is Now, and this is a matter of Faith. But even if we know this is The End of the world, does that mean Maurin’s ideas are irrelevant to us?? Are they meaningless??
No, absolutely not. Not at all. Just because the End is Now doesn’t mean his ideas aren’t worth trying. If we could achieve his vision, it would be the best job our imperfect human race could ever do of living in this fallen world the way God wants us to. Living in harmony with our neighbors, and helping each other out. Mutual aid. The Works of Mercy. It would never be perfect, because humans are imperfect. But it would be the best we can do.
If there’s any chance of creating Maurin’s vision anywhere in this world before Jesus returns, it’s worth striving for with all our being.
We have no reason not to try to right the problems and injustices in this world while we’re here. Even if we know that nothing will ever be perfect until Christ returns, and the LORD destroys this world so He can create His perfect new world. We still have no reason not to try for Peter Maurin’s vision, or other things like it. Trying to solve problems and help this world is better than simply waiting for the LORD. And what better way for Him to find us when He returns than seeing us trying to make a difference like this??
Maybe it won’t matter in The End, because Christ is returning soon. (We take that on Faith.) And yet, if it could be done on a large-scale, things would be so much better here on Earth. So if we have the means … let’s go for it. Sounds like an excellent way to spend the precious little time we have left.
Just something to think about, Readers.
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Until next time, be strong and do good!
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