BOOKS & CLASSICS – ADVANCED

The Life of Moses

by Gregory of Nyssa (c. 332-395) (New York: Paulist Press, 1978). This is an interesting explanation of spiritual growth based on an allegorical interpretation of Moses’ life. Gregory of Nyssa is one of the great fathers of the Eastern Orthodox church, especially in the area of spirituality. If one just ignores his allegorical method and considers the truth of what Gregory is saying then the book is helpful. Gregory is famous for his emphasis on the unknowability of God that mature Christians experience. He teaches that believers eventually come to realize how transcendent and transrational God is in his truest nature. Moses experienced this when he met God in darkness in Exodus 20:21 “The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.” Gregory expounds on this in Book II, paragraphs 162-169. This teaching is known as the via negativa or apophatic spirituality and is a contrast to the emphasis on light and love found in other writers such as Augustine or Pseudo-Macarius. Gregory also emphasizes the mind’s path to God in contrast to approaching God with one’s affections. Gregory was a devout and profound Christian and a defender of the Nicene faith when it was under attack in the 4th century. This book is an historically important work on spiritual theology.

The Brazos Introduction to Christian Spirituality

by Evan Howard. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2008, 496 pages. This is a comprehensive textbook on spiritual formation. It is arguably the best historically orthodox, non-sacramental, text for spiritual formation and a remarkable and long-awaited achievement. It is evangelical in the broad sense of the word. There is much helpful discussion on human dynamics and processes. It could be criticized for being too light on the way of the Cross; that is, that it underrepresents the scriptural and historical emphasis on death to self. Hence, one could argue that it doesn’t challenge the narcissistic and conviction-resistant attitudes of our day. It can also be criticized for a lack of scriptural analysis and not making the scriptural foundations explicit. If one supplements this text to fill in the weaknesses (e.g. for the way of the Cross see Bruce Demarest’s Seasons of the Soul or Susan Muto’s John of the Cross for Today (Ascent and Dark Night editions)) then one would have a fairly well-rounded set of texts. However, at this time there is no good text or work that fully develops the scriptural foundations of spiritual formation.

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation,

by Rod Dreher. New York: Sentinel/Penguin, 2017. Dreher has some helpful ideas for preserving healthy Christianity. However, naming his movement the Benedict Option seems strange because the Benedictines intentionally isolated themselves from the world. Dreher proposes subcultures that can actively engage and attract people in the world. His model is the Czech resistance prior to the fall of the Soviet empire which is much different from the Benedictine approach. If he gave the movement another name he might find it more welcomed by evangelicals and other biblically oriented Christians.

IN THE INTRODUCTION Dreher presents more than enough evidence that America has chosen against Christianity and that Christian values are in serious decline. On page 3 he states “The culture war that began with the Sexual Revolution in the 1960’s has now ended in defeat for Christian conservatives.”

However, he does not want to focus on the decline but rather on “creative ways to live out the faith,” p. 4. Later on page 18 he says “This is not just about our own survival. If we are going to be for the world as Christ meant for us to be, we are going to have to spend more time away from the world, in deep prayer and substantial spiritual training.” And: “Today we can see that we’ve lost on every front and that the swift and relentless currents of secularism have overwhelmed our flimsy barriers,” p.8.

I wonder if our Christian barriers are always flimsy. Is it realistic to think we can create a Christian society? His ideas here seem like an overstatement and mislead people into thinking that we are in an unusual situation in which we have lost. I don’t recall Dreher mentioning any societies in history that were Christian, except possibly the European Middle Ages discussed below. Even in the 1970’s Christian musician Barry McGuire sang about “materialistic pleasure slaves looking for another thrill.” For most of its history America could not be considered a Christian nation (Deists helped found it). Is it biblical to think that our public interaction will lead to a Christian society, or rather will it leads to a few receiving Jesus and many rejecting him. In other words, I think the broad and narrow ways hold true in every society. This is normal in history.

IN CHAPTER ONE beginning on page 9 the author rightly criticizes moralistic therapeutic deism, which is the idea that God mostly wants to: make us feel better, help people to be nice to each other, solve our problems, and bring the good people to heaven when they die. Obviously, this is a widespread philosophy in America.

IN CHAPTER TWO Dreher discusses the philosophical roots of our current decline. He mourns the victory of nominalism over realism and recounts how society slowly became more human-centered and less God-centered. He traces this through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment.

Dreher quotes statistics about the decline of Christian values among young adults which are sad, although I was a little encouraged by the fact that significant minorities were faithful.

Overall, his discussion of the weakness of American Christianity should open the eyes of those who are not aware, but it assumes the questionable ideal of a sustainable Christian society.

On page 12 Dreher summarizes his proposal by saying that we should not continue to fight to influence society rather we should “work on building communities, institutions, and networks of resistance that can outwit, outlast, and eventually overcome the occupation,” p. 12. He recounts the story of Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century who developed a set of guidelines for committed Christians that helped establish communities that preserved some order in the chaotic years following the fall of the Roman Empire.

Ironically, the lost American Christianity Dreher that laments was one heavily influenced by those who had rejected the fundamentalist approach of withdrawing from society to build their own subculture. This group called themselves evangelicals and proceeded to re engage society with fairly good results. Dreher doesn’t address the issue of how it makes sense to adopt the fundamentalist approach again, given the poor results from that earlier fundamentalist withdrawal. Presumably he would criticize the way they withdrew.

IN CHAPTER THREE Dreher tells the story of his visit to a Benedictine monastery along with an explanation of the basics of the Benedictine Rule. He then explains the Benedictine approach to prayer, including the hours and lectio divina. Next is a discussion of Benedictine values including work, asceticism, stability, community, hospitality and order.

IN CHAPTER FOUR he explains how conservative Christians are now not an important bloc in American politics. He also delves into the problems of a Trump administration. On page 83 he says “The real question facing us is not whether to quit politics entirely, but how to exercise political power prudently, especially in an unstable political culture.” He doesn’t fully explain how this fits with his apparently contradictory statement on p. 12 that we should “stop fighting the flood” and build our own “institutions and networks of resistance,” but he does give some suggestions for political engagement. He also discusses the need to champion religious freedom since it will be needed if we are to build our own subcultures.

Now he gets to the heart of his proposal: building parallel institutions and subcultures that don’t withdraw from society but rather engage it. The model for this is the Czech resistance to communism led by Vaclav Havel in the 1970’s and 80’s. In this sense Dreher’s proposal is not very Benedictine: he is proposing far more engagement with society than Benedict did, and more than the Benedictines practice today.

Dreher’s proposal of creating a parallel society that can engage the culture and hopefully expand itself is a proposal to be taken very seriously. He is not an escapist looking for a way to isolate Christians from everyone else. He is proposing parallel institutions and networks that could attract anyone in society because they would be providing something good they could not find elsewhere. Actually, evangelical Christianity seems like this already, although not to the extent Dreher would hope.

Dreher complains about the weakness of churches but the fact remains that there are thousands of reasonably devout congregations who are engaging society and helping the needy. My own congregation is one of them. Yet Dreher’s point that we have much to do in this area is well taken.

On page 98 he summarizes how to “do” the Benedict Option. “Secede culturally from the mainstream. Turn off the television. Put the smartphones away. Read books. Play games. Make music. Feast with your neighbors. It is not enough to avoid what is bad; you must also embrace what is good.”

IN CHAPTER 5 he argues that the Benedict Option must be lived in the local church. Godly healthy subcultures need to emerge so that the goodness of God is truly reflected. He agrees with Russell Moore that “by losing its cultural respectability, the church is freer to be radically faithful.” He goes on to say that we need to recover our ancient heritage and worship. He spends much time arguing for the need for liturgy. Apparently Dreher is Eastern (Russian) Orthodox, p. 109.

This emphasis on liturgy is unfortunate in my view. Liturgical churches have very high rates of nominalism. Moreover, the New Testament emphasizes mutual openness and edification far more than it does liturgy. The Orthodox liturgy he likes is very repetitive and in my view it crowds out biblical fellowship. In my experience long liturgies draw attention away from fellowship. Also, evangelicals already have liturgy in the form of worship music; we already have enough room for content from lyrics and sermons. Dreher quotes James K. A. Smith approvingly but like Smith he is weak on the biblical vision on koinonia.

Dreher continues in chapter five by discussing the need for proper asceticism, for real church discipline, apologetics that aims at the heart more than the head, and openness to harsh persecution.

IN CHAPTER 6 he argues for increased levels of community among believers. Homes can be turned into little monasteries (he doesn’t propose anything weird). Parents need to be very watchful about who their children befriend. Don’t be legalistic with your children. Live physically close to other members of your congregation. Don’t idolize your community and don’t become isolationist. Don’t set your heart on creating the perfect community.

IN CHAPTER 7 he argues for the need for classical Christian schools. Students should be pulled out of public schools, learn scripture, learn the classics, learn the history of Western civilization, be wary of weak Christian schools, and be homeschooled if there is no good Christian school nearby.

IN CHAPTER 8 he discusses the matter of work and vocation. Christians will be discriminated against in the business world in the future. It is wise to become entrepreneurs now and build Christian employment networks.

IN CHAPTER 9 he addresses issues of sex and does not say anything unusual or unbiblical. He also encourages believers to fight pornography.

IN CHAPTER 10 Dreher explains the dangers of misusing technology. The internet is especially destructive (agreed) and we would be wise to sometimes fast from the digital world. Also consider restricting smartphone use by children.

He concludes the chapter by summing up his book: “If we don’t take on everyday practices that keep that sacred order present to ourselves, our families, and our communities, we are going to lose it. And if we lose it, we are at great risk of losing sight of the One to whom everything in that sacred order, like a divine treasure map, points. That has been the main argument of this book,” p. 235.

IN THE CONCLUSION CHAPTER he emphasizes the need to for Benedict Option communities to focus on love. He also recounts the story of the destruction of the Benedictine community in Norcia, Italy that he visited in chapter three. Earthquakes in Italy in August and October 2016 destroyed the monastery. Yet their community survives today because they had already become true community.

Additional comments. The author engages in unfair and unsubstantiated church bashing several times. Also, I believe he sometimes overstates the philosophical roots of problems in our society. Some of the problems are found in most societies throughout history regardless of philosophy.

Dreher did not address the issue of the lack of success of monasteries in America in spreading Christian culture. America has hundreds of monasteries, including many Benedictine monasteries, but one could not argue that they have spread in the way that Dreher hopes for the Benedict Option. It is true that Dreher’s movement is local church based, but one still wonders why monasticism has not done better here if it has keys to the future of Christianity.

Finally, there are other good models for cultural engagement in history. It is curious that Dreher does not present the early Franciscan movement as an option. In the 13th century Francis and his early followers were unquestionably holy yet engaged urban society in striking and effective ways. This approach seems closer to Dreher’s Benedict Option. Another approach that is not so ascetic as Francis’ is the Brethren of the Common Life. Fourteenth century founder Gerhard Groote did not require monastic vows but the men (or women) lived in committed communities in cities and focused on spiritual growth as well as the education of children. The Brethren pioneered improvements in education that spread throughout Europe. More recently, the Amish have created their own subculture in America and Dreher’s proposal reminds me of the Amish. I did not see any comments on the Amish in his book.

Overall, I am thankful that Mr. Dreher is committing himself to finding ways to promote healthy Christian communities that can be a light to the world.