When St. Benedict left Rome and headed for the mountains, laying the foundations of Western monasticism, what was he opting for? Was he retreating or reconstructing? Was he withdrawing or committing? The answer, as in so much of the Catholic tradition, is both/and—but the emphasis we give in those answers, and the direction we start from, is telling.
The debate about what “the Benedict Option” is, and what it is not, was recently taken up by the theologian Gerald Schlabach in the pages of Commonweal. Rod Dreher, a blogger at the American Conservative, quickly responded. I would like to take a second look at their conversation.
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