A New Kind of Monasticism: A Monk-Inspired Daily Routine

A schedule for spiritual survival

Over the last few months, we’ve been exploring the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of “a new kind of monasticism."

Bonhoeffer envisioned a way of life that incorporated the practices of dedicated monks into the average person’s day-to-day existence.

He field-tested this modern monasticism at Finkenwalde, an underground seminary in Nazi-controlled Germany, and then wrote a treatise — Life Together — sharing how it could be practiced by any follower of the Christian faith.

We’ve been expanding the application of “a new kind of monasticism" even further, using Life Together as an existential survival manual, with insights for everyone who wishes to cultivate the strength to bear up under the disorienting, shallowness-inducing, soul-crushing weight of our age.

We’ve talked about the “container” that supports a commitment to this countercultural way of life: community and friendship.

In this final installment of the series, we’ll unpack the heart of Bonhoeffer’s conception of modern monasticism: a monk-inspired daily routine.

A Daily Routine, With Purpose

“You can hardly imagine how empty, how completely burnt out most of the brothers are when they come to the seminary. Empty not only as regards theological insights and still more as regards knowledge of the Bible, but also as regards their personal life.”

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When Bonhoeffer assembled two dozen seminarians at Finkenwalde, he instituted a daily routine that was quite foreign to the Lutheran ordinands.

Inspired by the “Liturgy of the Hours,” a structured schedule of daily devotions practiced by Catholic monks, the routine set specific times for specific spiritual disciplines — prayer, scripture study, singing, meditation, and more. This routine served the same purpose at Finkenwalde as it did at true monasteries: establishing rhythms that developed discipline and consistency in spiritual life and sanctified each ordinary day.

Everyone has a daily routine, whether established by intention or constructed by defaults born of necessity or the unexamined influences of the world.

For many, their daily routine feels merely tiresome, another run on the hamster wheel.

Repetition itself is not necessarily a problem. Routine can either deaden or enliven the spirit; it depends on whether its components are connected to a greater purpose, especially one that extends outside the self and beyond the confines of workaday responsibilities. The same repetition that can stultify the soul, can also be used to inspire, to ingrain the highest instincts — to daily reorient oneself to noble aims.

Bonhoeffer believed that, when pointed towards the divine, a set cycle of prayer, work, and rest — a consistent schedule of concrete disciplines and repeated rhythms — could paradoxically make a disenchanted world more mystical. Rather than being an endless exercise in running in place, one’s daily routine could be another step in a journey of spiritual progress.

The Day at Finkenwalde

The schedule Bonhoeffer established at Finkenwalde took the following form: