When we examine the ideological premises of virtuosity and of the virtuoso–society relation in Western Christianity, the overriding fact, in contrast to Theravada Buddhism, is how ambiguous the doctrinal status of monasticism originally was. Undeniably, the Gospels include both a powerful world-rejecting strand and very strong “virtuoso orientations,” that is, orientations encouraging the emergence of religious rigorism and perfectionism. However, neither monasticism itself nor a definite, specific pattern of interaction with the laity enjoyed unequivocal doctrinal anchoring. Much of the ambiguity in the theological status of monasticism may be traced to a Christian mode of managing the tension between otherworldly and worldly orientations very different from that characteristic of Theravada Buddhism. As we shall see, in fact, Christianity may even be said to pose serious obstacles to the type of virtuoso–society relation found in Theravada Buddhism.

Notwithstanding the doctrinal ambiguities and obstacles, monastic life did come to represent the foremost ideal and the surest way to salvation for many Christians. The relationship between virtuosi and the rest of the Church gradually received ideological articulation. Underpinning this ideological incorporation of monasticism, however, was a conception of the Christian collective, and of religious authority, that has no equivalent in canonical Buddhism and can even be said to go against its grain.