Religious Orders, Roman Catholic: Forms of Religious Life

Authors

Sandra Marie Schneiders, Jesuit School of Theology/Graduate Theological UnionFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

9-2010

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Abstract

Religious life has taken many forms. It arose within 60 years of the Crucifixion in response to Jesus' resurrection. Some Christians, predominantly women, convinced of the active presence of the risen Jesus in their lives, and liberated by faith in the resurrection from the fear of personal or social extinction through death, felt personally called to express the totality and exclusiveness of their relationship to Christ by lifelong consecrated virginity*, characteristically interpreted as espousal to him.

Chapter of

The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity

Editor

Daniel Patte

Comments

This material has been published in The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity edited by Daniel Patte. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/religion/church-history/cambridge-dictionary-christianity?format=PB&isbn=9780521527859

Recommended Citation

Schneiders, Sandra Marie “Religious Orders, Roman Catholic: Forms of Religious Life.” The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, 1067-1068. Edited by Daniel Patte. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.