- May 5, 2012
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I just finished reading The Benedict Option, by Rod Dreher, and I wanted to get some thoughts written down before I forgot them all.
Preliminary note: I disagree fiercely with Dreher on some issues related to gender, which means I also don't share some of his motivations for withdrawing from American culture. Nevertheless, the idea of forming an intentional community is intriguing to me, even if my community would look different from Dreher's.
Positives:
1. I like the idea of following a discipline of life that incorporates regular prayer and that sets aside some of the distractions that keep us from focusing on God.
2. I like the idea of forming a Christian community that's a real community, not just coffee and donuts on a Sunday morning.
Negatives:
1. Dreher seems to be reinventing the wheel in several spots. He can't join an ordinary monastic order, because he's married with children, but he could join something like the Third Order Franciscans, or follow a cycle of daily prayers similar to what's in the Book of Common Prayer (morning prayer, noonday prayer, evening prayer, compline). Why not do that? Similarly, in his chapter on education, he seems to be reinventing the Christian liberal arts college, even though a number of fine Christian liberal arts colleges already exist, and have existed for over 100 years. Why not pour resources into making those colleges more affordable (scholarships, financial aid, etc.), instead of founding new colleges?
2. Dreher spends a great deal of time in the book talking about children. He wants to keep his children away from the Internet, away from school, away from other kids, because of the ways these outside influences might draw his children away from Dreher's vision of Christian life. Looking at the dates mentioned in the book, the book was published when his oldest child was 18, meaning that he was writing the book as his children were growing up. So of course how to raise children to believe what their parents believe was prominent in his mind. As a parent, I've been through the same thing. It was alarming when my kids came home from school (or church!) having picked up ideas that I never taught them. Still (and this is why I list this as a "negative"), choosing a monastic life for one's self is different from choosing it for one's children. I don't think that keeping one's children sequestered away from the wider world is as productive a choice as Dreher thinks it is.
3. In these days of fragmenting society and demonizing people on the opposite side of the red/blue divide, I'm concerned that Dreher's approach would strengthen the divide instead of healing it. In my own life, I find it spiritually helpful to be around people who disagree with me on cultural matters, to be able to see them as human beings trying to do the right thing, instead of just faceless evildoers. If Dreher's followers are never around Muslims or atheists or gay couples, how will they develop the practice of seeing them as full human beings beloved by God?
Summary:
Despite the negatives listed above, I still think the idea of forming genuine Christian communities, united by disciplines of prayer and practice and by compassionate support for one another, is an interesting one.
Preliminary note: I disagree fiercely with Dreher on some issues related to gender, which means I also don't share some of his motivations for withdrawing from American culture. Nevertheless, the idea of forming an intentional community is intriguing to me, even if my community would look different from Dreher's.
Positives:
1. I like the idea of following a discipline of life that incorporates regular prayer and that sets aside some of the distractions that keep us from focusing on God.
2. I like the idea of forming a Christian community that's a real community, not just coffee and donuts on a Sunday morning.
Negatives:
1. Dreher seems to be reinventing the wheel in several spots. He can't join an ordinary monastic order, because he's married with children, but he could join something like the Third Order Franciscans, or follow a cycle of daily prayers similar to what's in the Book of Common Prayer (morning prayer, noonday prayer, evening prayer, compline). Why not do that? Similarly, in his chapter on education, he seems to be reinventing the Christian liberal arts college, even though a number of fine Christian liberal arts colleges already exist, and have existed for over 100 years. Why not pour resources into making those colleges more affordable (scholarships, financial aid, etc.), instead of founding new colleges?
2. Dreher spends a great deal of time in the book talking about children. He wants to keep his children away from the Internet, away from school, away from other kids, because of the ways these outside influences might draw his children away from Dreher's vision of Christian life. Looking at the dates mentioned in the book, the book was published when his oldest child was 18, meaning that he was writing the book as his children were growing up. So of course how to raise children to believe what their parents believe was prominent in his mind. As a parent, I've been through the same thing. It was alarming when my kids came home from school (or church!) having picked up ideas that I never taught them. Still (and this is why I list this as a "negative"), choosing a monastic life for one's self is different from choosing it for one's children. I don't think that keeping one's children sequestered away from the wider world is as productive a choice as Dreher thinks it is.
3. In these days of fragmenting society and demonizing people on the opposite side of the red/blue divide, I'm concerned that Dreher's approach would strengthen the divide instead of healing it. In my own life, I find it spiritually helpful to be around people who disagree with me on cultural matters, to be able to see them as human beings trying to do the right thing, instead of just faceless evildoers. If Dreher's followers are never around Muslims or atheists or gay couples, how will they develop the practice of seeing them as full human beings beloved by God?
Summary:
Despite the negatives listed above, I still think the idea of forming genuine Christian communities, united by disciplines of prayer and practice and by compassionate support for one another, is an interesting one.
