Explaining the Benedict Option

Another hustle?

The Benedict Option is a lot more than a book - and a lot of people are living it. https://t.co/uKKn4v5zMI

— The American Conservative (@amconmag) September 10, 2020

AmConMag

RD: Tell us the basics of this online course you’re offering.

CT: The online course/seminar, entitled “Benedict’s Rule and Modern Society: A Guide for Living the Benedict Option,” essentially presents a deep dive into the Rule of St. Benedict, looking at how we as Christians in modern society might apply Benedict’s own wisdom to the needs of our time, especially in the light of the present crises we are facing. The course is structured around three central themes:

1. Bringing God’s Divine Order into our relationship with creation (Benedictine Economics)
2. Bringing Divine Order into our relationships with one another (Benedictine Organizational Principles and Governance), and
3. Bringing Divine Order into our relationship with God (Benedictine Spirituality).

Participants will learn about the practical principles that can be derived from Benedict’s Rule (which is, as you mentioned in The Benedict Option, essentially a political constitution for Christian community life) and what we can learn from them to guide our own BenOp communities and initiatives. Emphasis will be given to practical application, and include open discussion time throughout the three-hour course to address specific questions and challenges that participants have encountered or are facing in their own experience of (or aspirations for) BenOp living.

The basic idea is this: If we want to follow the way of St. Benedict as an Option for surviving as Christians, what are some of the key things we need to learn from Benedict himself about how to successfully put this into practice? Thanks be to God, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here – Benedict himself can guide us with the wisdom of his “constitution” that has been around for over 1,400 years, and outlasted countless dark ages, crises, and civilizational collapses.

Does the Rule of St. Benedict really have that much to say about the formation and preservation of political communities?

Cameron Thompson