Book Review: The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

This book interested me as a practicing Christian hoping for some guidance on how to balance my faith and getting along in society. While The Benedict Option is a helpful book, it is not exactly what I had hoped it would be. The book explores how devout Christians can preserve and practice their faith in an increasingly hostile culture. You will be disappointed if you are expecting the book to give a cohesive, strongly argued set of instructions. I suspect the author didn’t trust himself to be enough of an authority to write in such a declarative style. Instead he just throws a bunch of tidbits and content at you and expects you to infer everything on your own. A safer approach, but less useful. I dog-eared a few pages. Not much is revolutionary but there are some good reminders. I liked the section on Christian schooling in particular. There is some great advice there. If all you need is a book of references and light apologetics, this will suffice. Still there is a feeling of “pulled punches” in its critique of modernity. A good read for people amenable to the ideas but certainly not a must-read.

Grade: B-