ASCETICISM IN WESTERN SCHOLARLY THOUGHT: HISTORICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

Abstract

This article examines the formation and development of scholarly approaches to asceticism within Western academic thought from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. Drawing on the works of prominent anthropologists, theologians, philosophers, and sociologists such as Theodor Waitz, Adolf von Harnack, Otto Zöckler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber, the study analyzes diverse interpretations of asceticism as a religious, moral, social, and cultural phenomenon. Particular attention is given to the role of asceticism in early Christianity, its relationship to monasticism, and its reassessment in modern theological and sociological research. The article also highlights contemporary methodological shifts toward comparative and interdisciplinary studies of ascetic traditions, while pointing out the persistent lack of systematic comparative analysis in both popular and academic literature. By synthesizing classical and modern perspectives, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of asceticism as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon.