Christian Living in a Secular World: A Response to Dreyer’s The Benedict Option

 

In high school, I was one of two students who belonged to my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Somehow that made a difference in how I interacted with others at my school. At church, I went to dances and parties every weekend, I had the lead in the church play, and I taught little children in Sunday School. At school, I was withdrawn, anxious, and often solitary. I felt very different from those who didn’t share my beliefs. I felt a need to separate myself, to somehow protect myself from them. In doing this, I missed out on friendships with many good people.

 

I’ve been thinking of my high school dual personality because I recently read the 2017 controversial best seller by Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.  In the book, Dreher maintains that as belief in Christian values becomes less and less common, the world will become an increasingly more difficult place for believing Christians. Dreher suggests a response based in part on the Benedictine monastic movement of the Middle Ages; he says Christians must retreat (figuratively and at times literally) from the world to strengthen and maintain Christian practices. 

 

As you can see from my high school experience, I can understand this desire to separate from a world that doesn’t understand my faith. In the 19^th century, members of our church were violently driven from place to place until, finally, Brigham Young led them a thousand miles to the desolate Great Salt Lake valley. This was a place no one else wanted. This was a place where they could live in peace, practice their religion, and grow in faith. They called it Zion. This was indeed a “Benedictine Option.”

 

We could not stay isolated forever though, nor did we want to. We spread back out into the world where we faced the challenges all believers face: How do you maintain your faith while living among those who often speak strongly against faith? 

 

Christians are sometimes tempted to water down their beliefs to fit in with the surrounding
culture. Instead, Dreyer suggests a return to what he calls “radical Christianity,” a faith that is not just a veneer but a way of life, something that controls your actions and thoughts every day. A faith that leads to sacrifice, to keeping all the Christian commandments, even the ones that are not seen as desirable in today’s world. This faithful life would be supported by daily practices of worship, study, and prayer both personally and as a family, and by nurturing a community of like-minded believers.

 

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we find this daily worship and Christian practice an essential part of our faith. We pray frequently throughout the day, both individually and in our families. We study scripture daily, and we nurture our communities of faith. We follow the Christian teachings of love and sacrifice. We also follow the “Word of Wisdom,” a health code that includes abstaining from coffee, alcohol, and tobacco. We follow a strict law of chastity, meaning no sex outside of marriage. We give ten percent of our income to the church. We dedicate many hours a week to service. As Dreher points out, the sacrifices we make for our faith are blessings. They help us to live our priorities. They help us to sacrifice for Christ as He did for us. 

 

These sacrifices, though, are often misunderstood by others. In a world where doing what makes you feel good is seen as most important, making sacrifices to live the commandments of faith seems foolish, prudish, or even phobic. In the face of such attacks, many members of our church, and other Christian faiths, are simply walking away. 

But those of us who stay need to also be wary, and this is the danger of the “Benedict Option.” We must be careful not to let the “radical Christianity” we strive for become simply “radical rule-keeping.” And as we cherish our Christian community, we must be careful not to fall into the sin of the pharisees—believing that we are better than others because we follow “the law” and they don’t. 

 

David Brooks, the New York Times columnist points out this danger in his 2017 review of the book, saying Dreyer“answers secular purism with religious purism. By retreating to neat homogeneous monocultures, most separatists will end up doing what all self-segregationists do, fostering narrowness, prejudice and moral arrogance.” (David Brooks, “The Benedict Option,” New York Times, March 14, 2017 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/opinion/the-benedict-option.html)

 

How do we avoid this “moral arrogance”? Only by developing a true faith, a deep relationship with God and Jesus Christ. The relationship can only develop through personal prayer, study, and reflection. It can be strengthened in families and communities that support our faith, but we cannot truly live our faith unless we have a personal, deep connection with Christ ourselves.

 

That is what really defines a Christian. It is not an option. It is a way of life, a way of interacting with the world. Christ went out among all kinds of people—the sinners, the publicans, the Romans, and the Samaritans. He did not hide away from the influences of the world. He took his Light to all, teaching and modeling the way. 

 

My husband as a teenager also attended a high school with very few members of our faith. However, he chose a different path than I did, a more Christlike path. Rather than retreat in fear, he reached out in caring and acceptance. As a senior he was elected student body president (and as “Boy of the Year”), because everyone saw him as a friend. 

 

This is a much more Christian response to the problem of difference. 

 

As we try to follow Christ, we must also be willing to follow His path, to go into all the world, to serve, to teach, and to love. As we do this, we must be influenced not by the world around us, but by Christ and his loving commands. We must keep those commandments not in pride but in love. This is what members of my church, and all Christians, try to do. Often, we won’t succeed, but through Christ’s grace, we can become stronger and better. Sometimes we may be mocked for our faith, but so was Christ. Even in the face of increasing opposition, we can learn to keep Christ’s commandments faithfully, including the greatest one: “As I have loved you, love one another."