Full disclosure: the title of this book caught my attention because I thought it would
help me decide between breakfast options at Denny's.
Just kidding. Actually, I heard the author, Rod Dreher, interviewed on a podcast I listen to regularly. I was compelled by Dreher's comments about our culture's hostility to Christianity, and the need for Christians to take drastic measures to protect our families and communities. Without doing a great deal of additional reasearch about the book, I decided to take a read.
I found this book an easy read, and appreciated Dreher's obvious passion and conviction for his topic. I agree with many of Dreher's
observations about the culture and it's growing antipathy toward, and
incongruity with, Christianity. I especially agree that we should prepare
ourselves and our children for the possibility of greater restrictions/attacks
on our religious liberty. I also agree that Christians should form close
knit ties with other believers, and seriously contemplate things like
classical education and homeschooling. I think, too, that many Christians are
not as vigilant as we should be (and are perhaps not even aware) of the corrosive
influence of our culture upon our children and ourselves. I thought chapters
seven, on education, and ten, on technology were especially good.
Since reading the book, I've read a few reviews that others in the Reformed community have written, including this one which was published to the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church) website. Unlike the author of this article, I didn't really get the
sense that Dreher goes out of his way to disparage conservative Protestantism.
Throughout the book he seems to labor to convey a sense of solidarity and
ecumenism among what he refers to as "orthodox" (small "o")
Christians - basically, theologically orthodox/conservative Christians. Several
positive examples Dreher gives actually involve PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) churches, and I felt most
his negative examples of mainstream evangelical Christianity appropriately
illustrate his points about the downgrade of Christianity in America.
I disagreed with Dreher's inclusion of the Protestant Reformation as
one of the "five landmark events that rocked Western Christianity and
stripped it of its ancestral faith." Also, he has conspicuously few bad
things to say about Eastern Orthodox Christianity. I wasn't really surprised,
since Dreher converted to that church in adulthood and was presumably drawn toward
it for a reason.
I'm not sure that Dreher does a good job taking the Holy Spirit
into account, or of acknowledging the role that Providence plays in any
Christian undertaking. Though he is manifestly not of the "seeker
sensitive" persuasion, I thought some passages seemed to suggest we
can/should solve the church's problems under our own power; that by looking to
6th century monastic practices, we can "preserve" Christianity. Which
brings me to my main trouble with the book: I kept wondering why it is
necessary to use St. Benedict, and monasticism in general, as a paradigm by
which to understand our present situation or search for solutions.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Many of Dreher's observations are astute and, despite some disagreements, I found myself on the
same page with him much of the time.
