Reflections on The Benedict Option

The Benedict Option is in one respect (despite the Eastern Orthodoxy of the author) a kind of reformation cry to the modern church. Taking its title from the 6th-century monastic Saint Benedict who established the Benedictine monastic order in Italy, the central premise, and thesis of the Benedict Option is that Christians today need to become 'lay' monastics.

The author Rod Dreher begins the book by laying out the historical background that has led to the secularism that is now besieging the church. Interestingly, Dreher doesn't just go back to the Enlightenment, which would be somewhat of a natural starting point in many peoples' minds, but to the dismantling of the medieval worldview of Christian metaphysical realism. Dreher attributes the phenomenon of 'nominalism' spearheaded by William of Ockham as breaking the prevailing medieval metaphysical worldview leading inadvertently to a more subjective worldview in its place. He claims;

But if the infinite God reveals Himself through finite matter, does that not imply limitation? Ockham thought so. He denied metaphysical realism out of a zeal to protect God's sovereignty. He feared that realism restricted God's freedom of action... This idea implies that objects have no intrinsic meaning, only meaning assigned to them and therefore no meaningful existence outside the mind. p.27-28

Now, I have not read what other scholars may have to say about Dreher's evaluation, whether it is generally accepted as accurate or not; but taking Dreher's analysis at face value, I think it shows the providence of God in allowing nominalism with all its good intentions to take hold in the late middle ages despite sowing the seeds for the anti-Christian secularism that was to be reaped from it several hundred years later. That is both an encouraging thought, but also perplexing as well.

Dreher uses the Benedictine Rule, created by Benedict himself upon establishing his monastic order, to derive principles for modern 'Benedict Option Christians' to follow. His chapter on politics I thought was quite insightful. Though, as the book is heavily American-centric I would be interested to hear how one of you might react to or interpret his views. Dreher, drawing upon Eastern bloc dissidents during Communist rule calls for Christians to engage in what has been called 'antipolitical politics'. Dreher drawing upon the work by political theorist Patrick Deneen writes,

Enlightenment liberalism, from which both U.S. parties are descended, is built on the premise that humans are by nature "free and independent," and that the purpose of government is to liberate the autonomous individual... This is contrary to what both Scripture and experience teach us about human nature. p.90

 I found this particularly thought-provoking as it cuts to the heart of why political activism by Christians is not enough to stop the moral and cultural damage to society of secularism: the entire philosophical framework of modern politics is based on a fundamentally unChristian view of Man. None of us believe Man to be fundamentally good, but nonetheless to recognize that both parties in America have as their starting point the same basic premise of human nature and just reach different conclusions about arriving at a shared goal, is helpful to re-evaluating our expectations of governments to uphold Christian principles. We are working within a flawed system not just because of sinful Man, but also because of a misguided anthropology. We shouldn't just assume that the political system is value neutral by itself.

What does this mean for us here in Japan? Well, modern Japanese politics has been taken from the West and so probably suffers from the same problem. However, the emphasis on politics as community-focused rather than legislative-focused is something we can practically do. We can seek to create a community within our churches and reach out to the local communities surrounding us with our values and beliefs so as to begin building a parallel society to the prevailing secular or anti-Christian one.

Later in the book when discussing the concept of the Christian Village, Dreher contends;

In fact, as the threat to orthodox Christianity grows at the hands of hostile government, Christians should take seriously a Tocquevillian contention made by the sociologist Robert Nisbet, who said that religious liberty itself depends on strong religious communities. p.123

Dreher goes to great pains to stress the importance of building strong Christian networks and church communities. He even advocates the advantages of members living in close proximity to their churches in order to strengthen the community bond and play a more active part in church life. Towards the end of the book, he also encourages Christians whenever and wherever possible to buy from Christian businesses, shops, and other services and give them priority even if they are more expensive than their secular counterparts. However, this may be difficult here in Japan, given the tiny percentage of Christians.

In his chapter on education, he candidly calls for Christian parents to remove their children from public schools and either homeschool them or find good Christian schools, preferably Classical Christian Academies, which are based on the trivium model of grammar, logic, and rhetoric as well as a focus on teaching Western Civilization. Speaking of parents who seek for their children to be salt and light in the public school system, he opines;

As popular culture continues its downward slide, however, this rationale begins to sound like a rationalization. It brings to mind a father who tosses his child into a whitewater river in hopes that she'll save another drowning child. p.157

Whatever your reaction to his analogy whether you think it crass or even offensive, Dreher does have a point about the torrent of unbiblical morality and anti-Christian social philosophy that is flowing through our present day education system.  I have also heard him use the metaphor of not taking a candle out into a gale force storm in responding to some of his critics. The chapter on education definitely made me reflect on my own employment at KIUA and our mission as a Christian school. I think we are doing a better job of combining the moral formation of our students as well as achieving high academic grades and standards. However, we can do better and I hope to be able to help the school achieve the level of biblical worldview integration required.

In various iterations, the book returns to the central theme of living out the Christian life and faith in strong Christian communities. The Benedictine Order through its Rule and monasticism preserved a strong 'Christian' community down through the centuries. Naturally, there is a strong emphasis in monasticism on asceticism. Benedictine monks fast regularly. Dreher calls Christians to rediscover fasting in its traditional form but also applies the principle of fasting and asceticism in his chapter on technology.

Monks find true liberty by submitting to a rule of life, which is to say by ordering themselves to God in a structured way... The woodworker who has given himself over to learning the traditions of his craft has far more liberty to exercise his creativity within the craft than the foolish amateur who thinks he can make it up as he goes along. p.227

If you don't control your own attention, there are plenty of people eager to do it for you. The first step in regaining cognitive control is creating a space of silence in which you can think. p.227-228

He then proposes something dubbed a "digital Sabbath" (p.228) whereby for one day a week we disconnect from all technology, particularly computers, iPads, and smartphones. This immediately appealed to me, but I also thought it is highly impractical given our modern dependence on technology. If it is a case of merely using technology for entertainment or communication one day is definitely manageable and practical. But, for those of us who rely on it for studying and work, committing one day a week could be difficult and problematic. Nevertheless, if I could manage my time and plan far enough ahead in advance of deadlines etc. then I think I may try experimenting with keeping a digital Sabbath.

There is a chapter on sex and the importance of sexual purity against the ravages of pornography and abstinence until marriage. The book also calls upon the church and Christian parents to teach children about sex and the dangers of pornography at age appropriate levels. Obviously, monks are celibate, but the point is made that monks voluntarily take a vow of celibacy not because they think the body evil or hate sex, but to testify to the beauty and gift of sex in its right God ordained and designed place - marriage. I found this quote interesting,

Why should Christians pay attention to the teachings on sexuality of monastics, who live in chastity? Don't they hate sex? Of course they don't, any more than they hate good food because they often fast, hate words because they live in great silence, hate families because they don't marry, or hate material things because they live simply... their asceticism is a testimony to the goodness of those divine gifts. p.196 

 

Dreher doesn't push Eastern Orthodoxy over and above Protestantism or Roman Catholicism and he is very careful throughout the book to provide examples from all three traditions of 'Benedict Option Christians'. He wants all Christians to go back to the roots of their respective traditions. This may end up kicking over a hornet nest as far as the Calvinist vs. Arminian debate again, but perhaps we could think as a church which creeds and catechisms we could agree on to incorporate into our Sunday morning worship and Sunday school curriculum. Naturally, we want to be completely biblical and Scripture-centred in our Christian culture, but there is much for us to celebrate in our Protestant tradition. As this year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it may be a good time to think about how our church can be more 'reformational'.

There's a lot more I could say about the book, but I hope some of you will read it for yourselves and that we can engage in dialogue about our personal reflections. Overall, I think Dreher is arguing that we as Christians need to rediscover the beauty and goodness of Christian community as we seek to live as lay monastics in our homes, churches, schools and communities. Again, I have heard him retort to his critics that he is not advocating running to the hills in a negative sense, but running positively towards Christ. And I do think there is a critical and important distinction between the two. In essence, I agree with Dreher that we need to run towards Christ and a biblical way of life and community not out of fear of secularism or society, but out of love for Jesus and the joy found in knowing Him and belonging to Him and being His bride.

To conclude, a general thought and takeaway from the book for me were the idea of the beauty of the teaching of the gospel. If we love Christ and value Him and the beauty of the gospel above all other things that this world has to offer then we will become more attractive to people outside the church. Titus 2:9-10 says,

9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

 The NIV translates v.10 as make attractive the teachings of God. The ESV and NASB both translate it adorn. In this case, the NIV is a little more impactful for me, at least conceptually for me to grasp. In many ways, we today are like bondservants in society in the sense that we hold a low position in terms of societal influence and power. Now, I know we are not to be submissive when our governments start demanding we disobey God & Scripture, but the principle I think applies. We are to make the teachings of God and the gospel attractive to people. We do this by living out our faith in the right way scripturally and by reordering our lives and affections around biblical priorities.