MONK-HISTORIAN PROJECT RETREAT

18 Dec 2019

Dr Benjamin Pohl spent last week living amongst the Benedictine monks of Downside Abbey as part of his ongoing ‘History for the Community: Monk-historians and Communal Heritage’ project.

During this monastic retreat, he had the fantastic opportunity to take part in the community’s daily life and routine – incl. the liturgy of the hours (horarium), to experience the monastic way of life first-hand and, not least, to speak and listen to the monks about the role that history plays in their various activities inside and outside the monastery.

This experience has provided Ben with invaluable insights into the close relationship between history, liturgy, identity and time within a religious communal setting that will feed directly into the project’s research outputs (incl. my forthcoming monograph).

Whilst he was here at Downside, Ben also ran a workshop with the monastic community and students from the University of Bristol, which you can read about by clicking here.