Dreher, Rod, The Benedict Option. A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, New York: Sentinel, 2017, 262pp

Abstract

Rod Dreher’s last book, The Benedict Option, is written as a call for Christians who feel that “Western society is post-Christian and that absent a miracle, there is no hope of reversing this condition”. A conservative himself, Dreher urges Christians to give up politics—specifically, Republican politics—focusing instead in developing Christian communities. Following Alasdair MacIntyre’s thought, Dreher sees liberal democracies as the battleground between two traditions of thought: emotivist liberalism and Christian virtue ethics. Given that the former has the upper hand, the latter can only survive, Dreher affirms, by promoting tight local communities living Christianity passionately. The model of this community is found in the rule of Benedict of Norcia, who revitalized monkish life in the sixth century. The rule of Benedict promotes the sanctification of everyday life, balancing manual work and prayer with the help of asceticism and discipline. Dreher’s book is an attempt to transpose the monkish rule to the lives of contemporary laypeople.