Religious Vows

Psalms of lament characteristically include affirmations of trust and sometimes a vow to praise God in the future. This paper questions the motivation behind such vows by looking carefully at whether future praise is conditional on God's positive response, and what other rhetorical devices are linked to the promise (or vow) he makes.

Testamento e rinuncia ai beni sono due istituti giuridici previsti dal diritto civile che l’ordinamento canonico assume come legge sussidiaria per regolare la posizione patrimoniale dei religiosi. L’esame del can. 668 ci mostra che i religiosi, pur appartenendo alla stessa forma di vita consacrata, possono differenziarsi radicalmente per il voto di povertà che in alcuni istituti permette al professo perpetuo di continuare a essere proprietario di beni personali fino al termine della vita disponendo di essi tramite il testamento (can. 668 §1). Altri religiosi, invece, prima della professione perpetua devono fare la rinuncia piena di quanto possiedono perché viene loro richiesto il voto di povertà radicale (can. 668 §4) che li rende inabili a possedere e a porre ogni atto contrario a esso (can. 668 §5). Il testamento è uno strumento giuridico incompatibile con il voto di povertà radicale perché lascia il professo perpetuo nella proprietà dei beni fino alla morte. Il criterio per distinguere tra voto di povertà in genere e voto di povertà radicale è dato dalla “natura dell’istituto” quale punto di discrimine (can. 668 §§4 e 5).
ABSTRACT: The making of a will and the renunciation of goods are two legal arrangements valid in civil law, which canon law incorporates as a subsidiary law to regulate questions of ownership in the case of religious. An analysis of canon 668 shows that religious, while living the same consecrated life, differ radically as to their vow of poverty, which in some cases allows the perpetually professed to continue to own personal goods until death, and to make dispositions concerning them by the making of a will (canon 668 §1). Conversely, other religious must renounce their goods totally before their perpetual profession, as required of them by their vow of radical poverty (canon 668 §4), whereby they lose the capacity to acquire goods or to validly act in any way contrary to the vow (canon 668 §5). A will is a juridical instrument incompatible with the vow of radical poverty because it leaves the perpetually professed in ownership of goods until death. The criterion for distinguishing between a vow of poverty in a broad sense and a vow of radical poverty is to be found in the “nature of the institute” (canon 668 §§4; 5).

The treatise Nedarim is published in the Jerusalem Mishnah Series which aims to provide its readers with a reliable text and an accurate translation. As the first complete edition of the Mischnah it passes on the two different versions of the Mishnah, the Babylonian and the Palestinian, in their main representatives.

In foro conscientiae Csepregi Zoltán "Az én lelkiismeretem szabad és meg van váltva" Luther és a szerzetesi fogadalom -ben "Szüzességet fogadni nem egyéb-mondta Martinus doktor-, mint elátkozni és kárhoztatni a házasság szent intézményét. Mert a pápaságban mindenki, aki lelketlen [geistlos], akarom mondani, lelkész [geistlich] lesz, amikor felszentelik, körülcicomázott és elpalástolt szavakkal lemond a házasságról, és nem egy bizonyos időre fogadja meg, hogy tartózkodik a nősüléstől, hanem örökre. Hát nem irtózatos irtózat ez?" 1 Az evangéliumi mozgalom kibontakozása Amikor Luther 1521. április 26-án elhagyta a wormsi birodalmi gyűlést, világos volt számára, hogy a birodalmi átok várható kihirdetése miatt nem térhet viszsza Wittenbergbe, ezért már útközben megírta Lucas Cranach polgármesternek (1472-1553), hogy maga helyett tanítványát, Bartholomaeus Bernhardit (1487-1551) és professzortársát, Nicolaus Amsdorfot (1483-1565) javasolja a városi templom szószékére. 2 Wartburg várából pedig szeptemberben azt kérte, hogy a megsokasodott kihívásokra tekintettel Philipp Melanchthonnak (1497-1560) adjanak prédikátori megbízást: 3 "Örülök, hogy Wittenberg megnőtt, főleg azért örülök, hogy a távollétemben nőtt meg, hadd tajtékozzék ezt látva a Gonosz, és eméssze magát!" 4 De hogy Luther tíz hónapos kényszerű távolléte alatt mi történjék a wittenbergi egyházban, az elsősorban nem személyi kérdés volt, ahogyan azt Wartburgban Luther is fokról fokra, levélváltásról levélváltásra megtapasztalta, hanem az itt spontán kibontakozó ún. evangéliumi mozgalom belső dinamikáján múlott. 5

Local churches in several countries are courting their own problems. There are clamours for reforms from within and without. Specifically referring to some of the latest scandals within the Church in India, the author discusses the thorny issue of obedience, especially religious obedience. Using the New Zealand movie Whale Rider as an interpretive lens and drawing lessons from it, the author argues that a fidelity that seeks to rebel must fight the system from within, with faithfulness to the original source, with an empathic love that alone can link obedience and prophetism. He argues that "Love, love alone justifies an obedience that rebels at the service of prophesy. Love, love alone ensures that it does so not to hurt, but to heal; not to exclude, but to embrace; not to shame, but to redeem; not to kill, but to give life."


[Suggested citation: Veliyannoor, P. (2019). A fidelity that rebels: Lessons from the movie Whale Rider. Sanyasa Journal of Consecrated Life 14(1), 71-85.]

La critica radicale che Martin Lutero prima, e poi tutti gli altri riformatori mossero ai voti, alla professione, alla vita monastica e più in generale all'idea stessa di una via privilegiata alla perfezione cristianadistinta tanto dallo stato laicale quanto dal sacerdozio secolare -fu senza dubbio una delle innovazioni più gravide di conseguenze per l'Occidente cristiano. L'abolizione degli Ordini religiosi che ne fu la realizzazione pratica, infatti, a partire dai primi anni Venti del Cinquecento produsse un massiccio esodo di uomini e donne che si allontanarono o vennero cacciati dai rispettivi conventi, mentre le casse di principi, monarchi e repubbliche che avevano abbracciato la Riforma vennero riempite con l'acquisizione delle cospicue proprietà del clero regolare 1 . Lutero stesso, d'altra parte, venne identificato dai suoi avversari cattolici non solo come un eretico propagatore di dottrine pericolose, ma anche e soprattutto come l'apostata che aveva gettato la tonaca alle ortiche e aveva preso moglie, spingendo gli altri a seguire il suo esempio 2 . Ancora nel 1904 Heinrich Denifle * Sigle e abbreviazioni usate Allen = Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, denuo recognitum et auctum per P. S. Allen, 12 voll., Oxford 1906-1958; LWA = D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 109 voll., Weimar 1883-1993 (Tr = Tischreden; Br = Briefwechsel); PR = Laurentii Vallae De professione religiosorum, edidit M. Cortesi, Padova 1986; PRIt = L. Valla, Scritti filosofici e religiosi, a cura di G. Radetti, Firenze 1953, 377-427. 001 Una brevissima sintesi in E. Cameron, The European Reformation, Oxford 2 2012, 254-255 (con bibliografia aggiornata alle pp. 512-513). Un ottimo quadro generale delle soppressioni dei conventi nell'Europa della Riforma, anche nei loro aspetti quantitativi, in F. Landi, Storia economica del clero in Europa. Secoli XV-XIX, Roma 2005, 34-60. 002 Si veda ad es. O. Niccoli, Il mostro di Sassonia. Conoscenza e non conoscenza di Lutero nell'Italia del Cinquecento (1520-1530 ca.), in Lutero in Italia. Studi storici nel V centenario della nascita, a cura di L. Perrone, Casale Monferrato 1983, 5-25.

Religious profession belongs to an interesting list of rites that were for one reason or another ultimately excluded from the list of Seven Sacraments. Although it is not a Sacrament per se, it is very sacramental and emulates almost all of the Seven Sacraments in its purpose and effects. This paper will explore Religious profession as a Sacramental with a permanent character. This will be done in three sections.

1) The Monk and His profession
2) Christ the Sacrament to the Seven Sacraments
3) Sacramental Permanent Character

Those who are keenly interested in religious life in the Roman Catholic Church may want to understand the exciting experiences behind the religious vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. The vowed life in the Roman Catholic Church is a response to God's call to follow Christ poor, celibate and obedient. It bears witness to the Kingdom of God preached and lived by Jesus of Nazareth who rejected for human authentic fulfillment wealth, pleasure, prestige and power. By living poor, celibate and obedient, religious, male and female, share the life of the poor, open their heart to the plight of the needy and serve God's people in friendship and in communion with all. In which historical and theological contexts, emerged the religious vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience? What are the human and biblical foundations of the religious vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience? How do we understand in our postmodern and multicultural world the religious vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience? We will explore the values of the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience by reflecting about the manners in which they are lived according to the Church's statutes concerning religious life and to the various religious communities' Constitutions. The aim of this reflection has a practical purpose. It relates the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience to the radical following of Christ in order to build up the Kingdom of God. The vowed life is also a concrete and privileged expression of religious project of life. The religious project of life is a lifestyle that frees the vowed person for God's service in a community involved in Christ's mission.

After considering different religious communities, two lay women decide to affiliate with a particular religious institute. Over a period of many years, they learn the ways of the institute and actively participate in its life to the degree that is allowed. Both have a desire to enter the institute. However, their health prevents them from being admitted. They speak to a pastor about their situation. He allows them to profess private vows during Mass. They purchase real estate, give the building a religious name, wear clothing that is similar to a habit and live together. Parishioners like them and begin calling them "Sisters". Sometime later the pastor dies. This situation then comes to the attention of the bishop. He asks for advice.

Arguing from within a Thomistic framework, this paper is a defense of the language and concept of state of perfection as an apt way by which to understand religious. The exposition focuses on the interaction between the virtue of religion (and its acts) and the virtue of charity in the context of this ecclesial state.

Based on the statistics from CARA, there are numerous canonical issues facing institutes and societies in the USA.  Similar issues are facing those who live in other countries.  This PowerPoint presentation explores those issues by giving an overview of consecrated life and presenting  the statistics for women and men religious.  Then it looks at the way to address the situation in a wholistic manner.  The PowerPoint is an outline of the presentation given at the Midwest Canon Law Society Conference that was held from Aug. 31 - Sept. 1, 2021.  The conference was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The initial presentation to the Michigan Bishops and Religious Superiors focuses on the communal and solitary forms of consecrated life that currently exist in the Code of Canon Law. It also explores an openness to new foundations and innovative movements of consecrated life that are evolving. The second presentation explores the possibilities of fostering the communal and solitary forms in ways that provide hope to our troubled world. Questions for discussion follow each presentation. Footnotes and a bibliography allow the reader to do more research on the topics presented. All rights reserved. Ask the presenter for permission to distribute this paper to others ([email protected] or 517-393-8164).

Analysis of the five accounts of the making of a vow in the biblical texts reveals that the essential requirement of returning to the place in which the vow was made finds expression in almost all the cases in the obligations undertaken in its framework. The vow thus serves as a tool for achieving the fundamental wish of returning home safely, as well as elucidating how Absalom justified his appeal to David to let him go to pay his vow in Hebron and why this request failed to arouse David’s suspicions

This course will examine aspects of gender in the Jewish tradition. Students are expected to develop a sense of the historical evolution of Judaism, and hence an understanding of its plurality. The first half of the course will focus on the canonical sources of ancient Judaism, namely the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature. Themes will include the constructions of gender through narrative, metaphor, and law, as well as the problem of the gender of God. The second half of the course will explore topics i Jewish mysticism and asceticism, and finally the challenges of modernity, especially as they relate to egalitarian worship, feminist theologies, and Judaism as it is constructed as part of an ethno-national identity, in Israel and the United States.

In addition to developing an historical understanding of Judaism (in contrast to an essentialist dogmatic understanding of it), students will also reflect on the construction of gender identities as a social-political product. The diversity of readings will suggest that both Judaism and gender are not stable unified essences, found in a person by virtue of their birth, but rather a complex set of performative choices, resulting in the identity including what a person chooses to make of it. Students will be invited to question the validity of any specific example or claim found in a text, and to consider its relevance to present-day discourse in their own lives.

The tale of the generous prince in the versions written, painted, read, told, heard, and viewed among the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley is a complicated one, marked both by unique narrative developments and an unexpected convergence between story and ritual. The Newar language version is striking in as much as it ends with Vessantara persisting in blissful renunciation, dramatically emulated by his father, with kingship casually passed on to the grandson. This is a plotline that may help complicate models conceiving of Newar Buddhism, and Buddhism beyond Nepal, as centered on a certain idea of the domestic and may help us look at their reverse side: what kind of literary domus are we talking about in which the husband protagonist remains ascetic? How, for his public, does the ascetic resist home and through that allow for imagining life beyond the family? What does that mean for the family, particularly the wife and how does she make sense of the story both affectively and ritually? And how did such an ending come to be told in the first place, what is its historical and thematic location in the larger network of variants of the story? This study  tries to answer these questions through a closer reading of the 1980 documentation by Siegfried Lienhard of one manuscript’s text and illuminations and a comparison of it with further Newar and Sanskrit variants. It will further do so by exploring how this story and its oral and visual commentarial field may have been transformed by the purposes and circumstances of its ritualized telling.

In Syria, there are two dominant scholarly opinions on ritual self-flagellation, which rest on different understandings of health and healing, and which form the topic of the first part of this chapter. The second examines miracle stories and ritual practices, which are both symbolic and productive of healing and sustain the legitimacy of the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab. The chapter looks at how Twelver Shi'is in Syria prior to the Arab Spring responded to the ambiguities surrounding the female Shi'is saint Sayyida Zaynab. Proponents of self-flagellation draw on 'traditional' medicine and argue that self-flagellation derives from cupping and constitutes a miraculous healing practice. Donating blood focuses on the community-not on individual devotees and the question of sainthood. The transactional aspect of the relationship between saints and Shi'is is highlighted in the ritual of nidhr (making religious vows) and in the sponsorship of majalis 'aza'.

O opúsculo Contra doctrinam retrahentium a religione 2 (ou simplesmente Contra retrahentes), escrito entre a Quaresma e o Natal de 1271, em Paris, 3 cuja tradução do capítulo III aqui oferecemos, representa um dos marcos na interpretação desenvolvida por São Tomás de Aquino a respeito da vida religiosa, vocação à qual ele próprio se entregou desde muito jovem. Neste texto, e mais especificamente no mencionado capítulo, o Aquinate refuta as doutrinas contrárias à entrada de jovens num instituto religioso, propugnadas por um coetâneo seu, o teólogo secular da Universidade de Paris Gerardus de Abbatisvilla (Gerardo ou Gérard d'Abbeville) e seus sequazes, os chamados geraldinos. 4 Entre as obras deste último sobre o presente tema, destaca--se o Quodlibet XI datado em 1267. 5 Dado o contexto histórico -procurara ele expulsar os mendicantes da Universidade e apropriar-se de seus privilégios -e inclusive pelo conteúdo de seu testamento, 6 é notório que o Mestre de Abbeville possuía uma enérgica aversão à vida religiosa considerada

Prima facie, St. Benedict’s monasticism and John Calvin’s Geneva don’t seem have anything to do with each other. However, I argue that the Benedictine conversatio morum is present in Calvin’s Geneva that adopted the practice of censura morum. Proceeding with an understanding of monastery as a utopian city, I argue that in Calvin’s Geneva, the monastery has become a city. I also suggest a way forward to embrace the call of life reform for the Reformed Christians who live in the 21st century urban context. This life reform I call reformatio morum, which is regulative but not intrusive.

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It's NOT that you gave your word.. It's [to] whom (or to what) you give it to is the qualifier and caveat for the inherent virtuous value of your "sacred" word or vow.-From 'The Wild Bunch' (1969). Loyalties based on less than reasoned altruism leads to the kind of zealotry and nihilism which is wrongly equated with the natural and the spontaneous.

The genetic instincts of the pre-neolithic era have become corrupted by the layers of culture which prostitute the instincts for projected fictions than imminent signals of the moment. Much of the self-righteousness of contemporary preconceptions finds its basis here.

Any designs of "liberating progress" come with an analytical deconstruction of the contemporary presumptions, which are a necessary, concurrent process for any aspirations we presume for ourselves or for others. 

https://beyondtribalism.blogspot.com/2022/03/its-not-that-you-gave-your-word.html

"The present volume offers the translation of tractates Nedarim and Nezirut, accompanied by a rich commentary in form of footnotes; the Hebrew text will be published separately. A very succinct general introduction of one page for each tractate offers only a brief summary of the contents and their relationship with the Mishnah, rather independent in the case of Nedarim, but very close in Nezirut. The translation is extremely literal and generally very reliable; in justified cases, indicated in the footnotes, it deviates from Erfurt in favor of other textual witnesses." From the review by G. Stemberger in JSJ 47 (2016): 146

ABSTRACT This article takes a deep look into the heart and soul of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and sheds light on her mystical communion with God. It discusses the Saint's impressive private vow of 1942, her momentous inspiration or 'call within a call' of 1946, and her long and painful experience of interior darkness.

This book review begins by looking at what is transpiring today in religious life within the Catholic Church.  It then asks the question:  Why would young women want to commit themselves to a vowed life?  The book answers that critical question in thirteen chapters.  Each one is reviewed by the author.  The author then evaluates the book and looks at what is missing in the formation of young women in religious life.

Today in religious life, we face an uncertain and changing future. It has become commonplace to say that we do not know where religious life is going. Yet many things are becoming clear. We know that we will be smaller groups and that our various networks will become more important. For this reason, we know that we will need different skills and that we will be less institutional and closer to those we serve. The seeds of these changes have been present for decades, and are becoming more important moving forward.
In this book, I explore the contemporary movements in religious life and I have sought to draw attention to emerging currents, particularly among the smaller cohorts of younger religious in mainstream communities of women religious.

HUMBERT Z ROMANS: Dopis o třech základních řeholních slibech [Humbertus de Romanis: De tribus votis substantialibus religionis], předmluva Bruno Cadoré OP, překlad a poznámky Efrem Jindráček OP, Krystal OP: Praha 2021, 76 pp. [ISBN 978-80-7575-107-2].

In the Modern Era, devotional practices at sanctuaries in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula left an economic trail associated with fulfilment of promesas or vows, which tended to be local in nature. Behind this devotion or curiosity, the Church and its lay and ecclesiastical administrators found a religious universe in which local devotion in the form of offerings or ex-votos obtained validation from the community, which accepted it as a bridge between the earthly and the divine. The administration of the material goods left at the sanctuaries in thanks was governed and managed hierarchically. Material profit often took precedent over spiritual gain, detracting from religious aspects in favour of internal control groups based on economic factors.

Yemin, gelecekte yapılacak ya da yapılmayacak bir davranış ile ilgili olarak kişinin kararlılığını güçlendirmek için değer atfettiği bir varlık adına verdiği sözü ifade etmektedir. Manastır literatüründe ise yemin, en temel anlamıyla Tanrı’ya verilen bir söz olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Ahlakî anlamda, verilen bir sözün yerine getirilmesi o sözü veren kişinin sosyal çevresiyle ilişkisini etkilerken, dini anlam yüklendiğinde yemin, yerine getirilecek vaadin gerçekleştirilme olasılığını ve kişi üzerindeki sorumluluğu da arttırmaktadır. Bu sebeple manastır hayatı yaşayacak bir keşiş, manastır hayatındaki zorluklar karşısında insânî birtakım zaaflardan korunmak gayesiyle, terk edildiğinde belirli sonuçları olan manastır yeminleri etmektedir. Yemin çeşitleri farklı dinî tarikatlara göre değişkenlik gösterse de hepsinin özü bir şeylerden feragat etmeye indirgenmiştir. Bu vazgeçiş duyusal zevklerden, cinsel hazlardan ve benmerkezcilikten feragat etme şeklinde sıralanabilir. Böylece Hristiyanlığın ilk dönemlerinden itibaren asketik bir yaşam sürme çabasında olan keşişlerin yazılı olmayan kurallar çerçevesinde kendilerine birtakım mesuliyetler yükleyerek bu hayatı daha yaşanılabilir kılmaya çalıştıkları görülmüştür. Nitekim her insanın belirli ölçüde hayatını sürdürebilmesi için mal mülk edinme ve doğuştan getirdiği cinsellik gibi birtakım ihtiyaçları olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu noktada kişinin birtakım doğal ihtiyaçlarını yeminler aracılığıyla belirli bir otoritenin buyruğu altında köreltebileceği ya da en azından bastırabileceği düşünülmektedir. Hristiyanlık özelinde bakıldığında manastırlar bu amaç için daima en doğru yer olmuştur. Çünkü manastır yaşamının nihai hedefi, ruhun tutkulardan ve nefsin kötü arzulardan arındırılmasıdır. Bu arınma somutlaştırıldığında keşişin asıl hedefi yoksulluk, bekarlık, itaat ve istikrar kavramları çerçevesinde bir hayat sürmek olmaktadır. Böylece İsa Mesih’in öğretilerinden hareketle kusursuz olmak isteyen dindar kimselerin takip etmesi gereken birtakım ilkelerin zamanla manastır yeminlerine dönüştüğü görülmektedir. Hristiyanlığın erken dönemlerinden itibaren asketik bir hayatı benimseyen münzeviler, kendilerini dini hayata bağlayan ve her birinin ihlal edildiğinde açık hukuki sonuçları olan itaat, istikrar ve conversatio morumdan oluşan Benedikten Yeminleri’ni ve 13. yüzyıldan itibaren de yoksulluk, bekarlık/iffet ve itaat yeminlerinden oluşan Evanjelik nasihatleri yerine getirme sözü vermektedirler. 6. yüzyılda Aziz Benedikt ile sistemli ve kurumsal bir kimliğe bürünen Hristiyan manastırlarının bu döneme kadar sistemli bir şekilde uyguladıkları manastır yeminlerinden söz edilememektedir. Bu sebeple manastır yeminlerinin Benedikt Kuralı ile manastır literatürüne girdiğini söylemek mümkündür. Bu noktada manastırların kurumsallaşması ve varlığını yüzyıllar boyu sürdürmesinde Benedikt’in benimsediği manastır yeminlerinin büyük etkisi olmuştur. Nitekim manastır iş ve işleyişinin sekteye uğramaması için alınan koşulsuz itaat yemini, manastırda ölene dek kalmayı taahhüt eden istikrar yemini ve manastır yaşamına sadakati ifade eden conversatio morum yemini ile bu kurumların sağlam bir altyapıya sahip oldukları görülmektedir. Aziz Benedikt’i bu yeminleri resmîleştirmeye iten sebepler arasında dönemin sosyal, siyasi ve kültürel gelişmelerinin de etkili olduğu bilinse de aynı zamanda bu yeminlerin manastıra adanan bir keşişin manevi hedefine ulaşması amacına da uygun hizmet ettiği görülmektedir. 6. yüzyıldan 13. yüzyıla kadar Avrupa’da en yaygın kullanılan manastır nizamnamesi olan Benedikt Kuralı’nın Fransisken ve Dominiken tarikatları gibi dilenci ve gezgin vaiz tarikatların ortaya çıkmasıyla etkinliğini kaybettiği bilinmektedir. Dönemin şartlarına göre reforme edildiği anlaşılan ve “Evanjelik nasihatler” denilen bu yeni manastır yeminleri sadece manastırlar değil, Kilise tarafından da tanınmıştır. Buna göre, yoksulluk yemini ile Tanrı’ya odaklanmanın önünde önemli bir engel olarak görülen para ve maddi mülklerden feragat edilmesi istenmektedir. Özdenetim ve fedakârlık pratiği gerektiren bekarlık/iffet yemini ile cinsellik ve ebeveyn olma arzularının Tanrı’ya armağan olarak sunulması beklenmektedir. İtaat yemini ile de tamamen Tanrı’nın iradesine teslim olunması istenmektedir. Günümüzde Katolik Kilisesi, bu üç yeminini “kutsanmış yaşamın” tanımlayıcı unsuru olarak resmen kabul etmektedir. Ancak Kilise’nin Evanjelik nasihatleri benimsemesi ve bu yeminlerin Kilise kanonu içerisinde yer alması manastırlarda uygulanan yeminlerden farklıdır. Kilise bu yeminleri tüm Hristiyanlardan beklememekte, ancak gönüllü olanların uygulayabileceği, kusursuz bir yaşamı hedefleyenlerin hayatlarında tatbik etmeleri gereken erdemler şeklinde görmektedir. Manastır yeminlerinin ele alındığındı bu çalışmada öncelikle manastırlarda yaşayan keşişlerin ne tür sorumluluklar alarak ve nelerden feragat ederek bu hayatı sürdürdükleri, daha sonra manastır nizamnamelerinin manastırların kurumsal varlığını sürdürebilmesi için keşişleri yeminler bağlamında nasıl motive ettiklerini anlamaya çalışmak başlıca hedefler olmuştur.

Vows, dedications and promissory oaths were an important category of language for people in the ancient Mediterranean. Using various formulae, people promised the gods (in the case of vows and dedications), or each other (in the case of oaths), that they would perform certain acts in the future, giving more than usual force to their words. The purpose of this article is to investigate the mechanics and hermeneutics of promises backed by divine power in the ancient Mediterranean.

This article analyzes a social and linguistic mechanism -the nederdevised by the authors of the Hebrew Bible. Neder (pl. nedarim) can be translated by the English word "vow" or "pledge" in the religious sense of the term -a person who pronounces a neder establishes a norm that applies both to the person and to their worldly goods. 1 In the traditions based on the Hebrew Bible (Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism) vows are essentially understood and used in an ascetic context -individuals pronounce them to renounce a given foodstuff or action in order to show their devotion to God. But this pious use of nedarim, which is expressed to the highest degree in the figure of the nazir (a person who has taken a vow of abstinence), represents just one aspect of the biblical vow. The neder is also a political institution -a speech act that determines the speakers' relationship to the objects and individuals in their family and community.