askesis

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈskiːsɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈskisɪs/, /æ-/
• Rhymes: -iːsɪs
• Hyphenation: aske‧sis

Noun

askesis (countable and uncountable, plural askeses)

1. Alternative form of ascesis
   • 1845 March, “On the Nomenclature of Christian Architecture”, in The Ecclesiologist, volume I (New Series; volume IV overall), number II, Cambridge: John Thomas Walters […]; London: F[rancis] & J[ohn] Rivington […], →OCLC, page 50:

     And this we do find in the Basilican, the Byzantine, and the Romanesque architectures, each more perfect than another, and each lacking in an ever diminishing degree much of the perfect holiness of the Saint of "the most high,"—they came and passed away like different periods in the askesis of a holy soul aiming after the perfection of the spiritual life, and truly therefore they are Christian.

   • 1853 June, “How is Pulpit Power to be Acquired?”, in Abel Stevens, editor, The National Magazine: Devoted to Literature, Art, and Religion, volume II, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Published by Carlton & Phillips, […], →OCLC, page 551:

     The preacher's faith should be nourished by self-discipline, the true askesis. […] What we venture to recommend is that spiritual askesis—self-discipline of all the faculties—which imparts to the preacher's faith the property of being imperturbable, […]

   • 2007, Cressida J. Heyes, “Introduction: The Somatic Individual”, in Self-transformations: Foucault, Ethics, and Normalized Bodies (Studies in Feminist Philosophy), New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10:

     The body of this book consists of three related case studies, which take up particular problematics surrounding the hermeneutics of the transgendered agent, the askeses of organized weight-loss dieting, and attempts to represent the subjectivity of of cosmetic surgery recipients.

   • 2017, Holly Hillgardner, “Longing and Letting Go Together: Comparative Practices of Passionate Non-attachment”, in Longing and Letting Go: Christian and Hindu Practices of Passionate Non-attachment, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 105:

     Their different practices, or askeses, of attachment widen their conceptions of the divine, the self, and longing itself. Looking at their respective askeses, we next consider how each woman hints at the apophatic in her practices, and the tantalizing implications therein.