The Benedict Option

The light of the Christian faith is flickering out all over the West, and only the willfully blind refuse to see it.

From the outside, American churches are beset by challenges to religious liberty in a rapidly secularizing culture. From the inside, they are being hollowed out by the departure of young people and a watered-down pseudo-spirituality. Political solutions have failed, as the triumph of gay marriage and the self-destruction of the Republican Party indicate, and the future of religious freedom has never been in greater doubt. The center is not holding. The West, cut off from its Christian roots, is falling into a new Dark Age.

In a radical new vision for the future of Christianity, New York Times bestselling author and conservative columnist Rod Dreher issues a manifesto and clarion call for American Christians to prepare for the coming Dark Age by embracing an ancient Christian way of life. In The Benedict Option, Dreher draws on the authority of Scripture and the wisdom and example of St. Benedict of Nursia, a sixth-century monk who, horrified by the moral chaos following Rome's fall, retreated to the forest and created a new way of life for Christians based on principles of order, hospitality, stability, and prayer. For five difficult centuries, these enduring Christian communities kept the faith alive through the Dark Ages, and prepared the way for the rebirth of civilization.

Dreher not only offers a critique of modern culture from a traditional Christian point of view, but more importantly, he tells the stories of conservative Christians who are pioneering creative ways to live out the faith joyfully and counter culturally in these darkening days. The Benedict Option is for all mere Christians—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox—who can read the signs of the timesand are brave enough to face the religious decline, reject trendy solutions, and return to ancient traditions. Neither false optimism nor fatalistic despair will do. As Dreher posits, "If we want to survive, we have to return to the roots of our faith, both in thought and in practice. We are going to have to learn habits of the heart forgotten by believers in the West. We are going to have to change our lives, and our approach to life, in radical ways. In short, we are going to have to be the church, without compromise, no matter what it."