The Benedict Option

I first heard about this book a little over a year ago when I attended a book club meeting at my former church in Tulsa.   They were choosing the books they would read and discuss over the coming year and so I got to hear a little about each book recommended by the various women in attendance.  The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher was one of the one they chose. 

I would have liked to have been able to join them when they discussed it but alas Tulsa is too far to commute to for a Saturday morning.  By the time I read it it seemed that everyone else on the internet who had read it had finished it and was done discussing it. 

I enjoyed the book although there was much that made me think the author has missed some of the main problems and solutions.  As I read the first half, I kept saying to myself, "Yes, but...."    I was saying yes to his identifying many of the problems we see in Western and particularly American society but disagreeing with some of his conclusions or solutions.   The real solution is the gospel.  Transformed, renewed people are - or are supposed to be - salt and light in a society.  And the gospel message, "repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ" is sadly absent in all too many churches today.   So I'd say we need to get back to basics first of all. 

Looking at the reviews on Goodreads it seems that many people take his advice (mostly contained in the second half of the book) as saying Christians should just close themselves off from society completely.   I did not get that out of the book.  Rather, he seemed to me to be saying a lot of things that are already encouraged in the churches and Christian ministries I hear from a lot - build up your church, be involved, realise that current society may limit your business options so plan accordingly, be self-controlled in the use of all of God's common graces (food, technology, etc), and make disciples (starting with yourself and your children).  He uses a lot of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox terminology and examples but it's easy enough to take the Biblical ideas he presents and think of them in a Reformed or Evangelical context. 


I enjoyed the book, and recommend it. 

2018 - here already. And hope springs eternal.

Hope does spring eternal in the human breast and with optimism I return to this blog!   I continue to try to read more.  I don't read as much as I'd like to and think I ought to.

I meant to do the Reading Challenge from Tim Challies last year.   I crashed and burned yet I'm trying again this year!  New year, new start, renewed enthusiasm, fresh optimism and all that. 

I tend to do the same thing with reading as I do with knitting. That is, I start a load of things throughout the months, and so I have things in different stages of completion at any given time.  Then I decide to work on finishing things so I curtail the beginning of new projects or books and go through a period of completing them.  Then I start the process all over again.

Currently on the needles and hooks are:
2 blankets
1 jumper (sweater) for the little girl of some friends
1 jumper, barely begun, for my oldest son
1 lace doily
Several crochet coasters
Several pairs of socks

Currently in the "Reading" stack are:

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano
The Complete Father Brown Stories by G. K. Chesterton
It Happens After Prayer by H. B. Charles Jr
The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson (still - yes it's still not finished.  In fact I can't find it. So it's not really in the stack.  But then some of these books are on Kindle so they can't be on a stack, really, either.)
None Like Him by Jen Wilkin (I highly recommend this one, even though I haven't finished it.)
Sicily by Julian Norwich
Let's Study Mark by Sinclair Ferguson
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin

And a few others.

Read over the last few months:
Binge Drinking (Pocket Puritan Series) by John Flavel
A Ransom for Many (commentary/devotional on the gospel of Mark) by Steve Wilmshurst
Murder Gets A Life by Anne George
Church History 101 by Sinclair Ferguson
Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy S Lane
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
La Forma dell'Acqua by Andrea Camilleri


I have a whole bunch of Pocket Puritan books published by the Banner of Truth Trust which I want to read.  They were a (requested) Christmas present.
My children got me a book on Abraham Lincoln for Christmas
In the post-Christmas sale I bought a number of Puritan Paperbacks, again, from Banner of Truth. 
And there are many others lurking in my room and on other bookshelves that I would like to read. 

One of the things I struggle with is feeling anti-social if I read.  Because we are a large (less large now, but still rather large) in a small home it's hard to read if I don't go to my room.  But that feels like I am saying "I don't want to be with you" which is not what I feel.  Another issue is that I am no longer a very fast reader as I once was.  

But onwards and upwards!