Building the Benedict Option

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In his book The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher issued a timely warning to the church. In an attempt to engage the broader culture with the gospel it had failed to create a distinct Christian culture and instead had been coopted by American consumer culture. The result was an anemic church ill-prepared to face a quickly darkening cultural landscape and civilizational decline. In response, Dreher argued, it was time for the church to develop new ways of "doing" church. It was time to create new institutions and strategies to help it better form disciples, minister to the broader culture, and survive the years ahead. It was time for a "Benedict Option." This book provides a template for how the leaders in a local church might go about creating their own Benedict Option Community (Ben Op community). It looks specifically at the early Irish monastic movement for principles church leaders today can use to develop their own Ben Op community, or "modern monastic settlement." In the process, Davis provides the reader a brief introduction to architecture, urban planning, and place-making and explains why an understanding of these disciplines is necessary to create a healthy, effective Ben Op community.