Another Doubtless Very Different Book Launch | The American … – The American Conservative

Last night I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a panel discussion with our own Rod Dreher about his new book, The Benedict Option, hosted by Plough magazine, TAC and First Things.

It was a fascinating evening, and all four of Drehers co-panelistsmade cogent points in response to the central thesis of the book, to whit:

Im not a Christian, so I came at the debate from the perspective of an outsider. But nonetheless, the most interesting question to me remains what the Benedict Option would do to Christianity and I dont think so much in terms of walls as gates.

The thing about intentional communities is that you have to earn your way in, and you can also be driven out. To become a monk, you have to take vows;to stay a member of the monastic community, you have to keep them (or thats the way its supposed to work). The requirements for membership are much more stringent than they have usually beenfor membership in the Christian fellowship generally.

Which is entirely fine: every Christian community isnt supposed to be a monastery, nor is every Christian supposed to be a monk. And even if the Bruderhof, for example, do believe that every Christianought to follow their example, theyrecognize the Christians who are not doing so as fellow Christians just Christians who arent following Jesus as fully as they ought.

But Im curious about how this works within Drehers framework. Specifically, Im curious, if mainstream Christian denominations put more emphasis on building and supporting intentional communities of various kinds (and if Dreher isnt calling for that then I really dont know what hes calling for), how does that change the nature of the larger communion?

Dreher has frequentlyand sometimes testily responded to critics by saying hes not calling for anybody to head for the hills. But thats not what Im asking about. The Lubavitch hasidim are as in the world as any strictly observant Jewish group I can think of. They sendshlichim to the four corners of the earth to minister to Jews wherever they may be. They are all about outreach, and they try in a host of ways to meet the people they are reaching out to where they are. And they arecertainly making sure that theyhave something to give the world before they give it they are ferocious about deeply educating their kids, and traditional Judaism is all about imbuing every single action of every day with the sacred. If you wanted to point to a Benedict Option-like group that had unquestionably not withdrawn into itself and fled for the hills, theyd be a perfect candidate.

But they are also a group apart within a people apart, and they believe themselves to be precisely that. And I can assure you, that has a real impact on how other Jews perceive them and relate to them. Im curious to know whether that is a dynamic the Benedict Option would inculcatewithin Christianity, and whether Dreher thinks that would be a problem if it did.

If you want tohear the panel discussion, you can do so here.

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Another Doubtless Very Different Book Launch | The American ... - The American Conservative