I haven't read a lot of reviews, and I haven't read the book, but from reading about BO from Rod Dreher's blog, the sense I get corresponds pretty well to this review.
If the Benedict Option is just Christianity, it is neither inherently Benedictine nor is it optional. If it is a feeling and an intuition, it needs to be guided by careful thought.
Dreher himself, in an earlier articulation of it, says it is the charge to be distinctly Christian and countercultural in the face of cultural hostility “even if that means some degree of intentional separation from the mainstream” (italics Dreher’s). But that already has a name: Christianity.
Christianity has always called one to be countercultural - the struggle to be in the world but not of the world.
I have no particular plans to read the book, so I probably won't mention it again.
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It was my privilege this past weekend to visit with some young men from Florida State U and Rutgers along with a few of the Brothers from the Brotherhood of Hope at a working retreat of sorts in NC.
In talking to one of the Brothers, I was again struck by how much going on a mission trip to serve the poor changes the lives (and plans) of so many people.
The Brothers work at secular campuses to bring Christ to those who don't know Him.
Oremus pro invicem!
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