St. Benedict or St. Francis: Who got it right?

Samir Jamil, MD

By Samir Jamil, MD

In March 2017, “The Benedict Option” by Rod Dreher was published and became a New York bestseller. This book centers on how Christians should live in a culture that is no longer Christian. The subtitle reads “A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation,” and in it he calls on American Christians to prepare for the coming “dark age” by embracing an ancient Christian way of life: St. Benedict’s way (hence “The Benedict Option”).

Dreher’s main message is that America is no longer a Christian nation, that we lost the culture war, as made clear by Obergefell v. Hodges (recognizing same-sex marriage), and that we must make serious changes to survive. Like St. Benedict of Nursia, we must recognize that “Rome” is lost and focus on preserving the light so that we can be there to rebuild when the time comes.

Dreher’s message is that it’s not just that Christianity has been marginalized; rather, it’s that there’s a deep sickness within American Christianity. He argues that the prevailing religion of America today is not Christianity, but is instead what some sociologists call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD), which has five basic tenets: a God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth; God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by other world religions; the central goal in life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself; God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life, except when he is needed to resolve a problem; and good people go to Heaven when they die.

We can see that MTD is not Christian by any means. It is a spirituality designed for a materialist culture which elevates the self and focuses on subjective self-fulfillment. Many who self-identify as Christian subscribe to MTD. It is the decay that has been chiseling out Christianity from the inside. Today, an MTD “Christian” is the only one whose views are socially acceptable. If you practice real, traditional Bible-based Christianity, you are seen as an intolerable bigot not fit for a civilized society.

Largely, MTD has gained a foothold in our communities because Christians have failed to pass the faith on to their children for quite some time. Dreher suggests that we start acting like a minority to survive. He has some recommendations.

Rediscover traditional

Christian communities

Christians must form communities with a degree of separation from mainstream culture; the idea of a “Christian Village.” This means structuring the home as a domestic monastery, regular prayer and Scripture reading, hierarchy and obedience, and ordering all things toward God.

Taking care in deciding the education our children receive is one of the most vital responsibilities we have. Children should be immersed in scripture and the history of western civilization to reconnect with our past and rebuild our cultural memory. Obviously, you can’t get this from public schools, or even most “Christian” schools. Dreher recommends classical Christian schools or homeschooling as the only two good options.

Intentionally support Christians

at work

A doctor discussing homosexuality with a patient or refusing to participate in abortions or sex-change surgery can get blacklisted from the profession. A business refusing to make a custom cake for a gay wedding can be shut down. Many companies require employees to sign diversity statements affirming anti-Christian ideas. 

Dreher names several professions that are particularly vulnerable. “Public school teachers, college professors, doctors, and lawyers will all face pressure to surrender to this ideology as a condition of employment,” he states. “So will psychologists, social workers, and all in the helping professions; and of course, florists, photographers, bakers, and all businesses that are subject to public accommodation laws.” 

Christians are going to be excluded from large segments of the economy, and they must make peace with that. Dreher advocates for buying Christian, even when it costs more, and for hiring Christians first. If the culture is going to push the Christians into being poor and marginalized, they can push back by supporting each other in intentional ways.

Protect the home

Dreher advocates protecting the home from negative influences. That means limiting the use of phones and technology, keeping our kids off social media, filtering the internet to block pornography, and focusing on doing things with our hands and spending family time together.

This means not having phones at the dinner table, and even taking on digital fasting as an ascetic practice. In other words, because the option of maintaining a friendly relationship with the culture is no longer available, we Christians can be 100% authentic and uncompromising. We won’t be soft, because we can’t be. Christianity will get smaller, but also brighter.

However, Dreher states that Christians must understand that yes, we must be countercultural, but no, we don’t have to run away from the rest of society. “We have to be a sign of contradiction to the surrounding society,” he writes, “but at the same time we have to be engaged with that society, while still nurturing our own community so we can fully form our children.”

The “Benedict” in this book is St. Benedict of Nursia in Italy, a monk who lived between A.D. 480 and A.D. 547. He is the patron saint of Europe and brother of Ste. Scholastica. In about the year 500, Benedict became so upset by the immorality of society in Rome that he gave up his studies there, at age fourteen, and chose the life of an ascetic monk, looking for personal holiness, living as a hermit in a cave near Subiaco.

In time, he began to attract disciples. He eventually founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in 529, where he wrote his “Rule” near the end of his life. He also founded 12 other monasteries. These monasteries kept faith and learning alive within their walls, evangelized barbarian peoples, and taught them how to pray, to read, to plant crops, and to build things.

In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI discussed the influence St. Benedict had on Western Europe. “With his life and work, St. Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture,” said Pope Benedict XVI. He went on to say that St. Benedict helped Europe to emerge from the “dark night of history” that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Francis Option

And then there is “The Francis Option.” This route means stepping outside of the ideological struggle, renouncing power, wealth, and influence for the sake of the Gospel. It is not a retreat from the world, it is the renunciation of the systems and power structures. It is a call to poverty. Not the form of poverty that results from oppression and injustice; rather poverty that consciously chooses to forgo security for the sake of the world.

Pope Francis, drawing on the vision of Vatican II, calls for something far more radical: the rebirth of a new Christian culture from below, through a communal experience of an encounter with the God of Mercy. Where Dreher withdraws to gain strength from separation, Francis seeks to be rejuvenated by a renewed encounter with Christ in His people. For Pope Francis, the liquidity out there is a reason to build bridges.

St. Benedict’s contribution to Western spirituality has changed the practice of Christianity from the 6th century on. But he was part of the “contemplative” monastic tradition, compared to the Franciscans, who were of an “activist” orientation.

Simply put, the Benedictines structure their lives for contemplation with prayer as the dominant discipline, whereas Franciscans structure life around preaching and radical poverty work.

Franciscans tried to maintain monastic purity and contemplation while remaining integrated with the culture (world) around them. The Benedictines separated themselves from the ways of the culture (world) around them, except for preaching.

I, a humble layperson, agree more with the Francis Option; this is simply because of its optimistic, realistic, and scriptural approach to the non-Christian post modernistic cultural era we are currently living in. Each Christian seeking to find a way to reconcile their beliefs with their surroundings, however, must decide for themselves.

Benedict Option

Announces (prematurely, I think) that Christians lost the culture war

Suggests “strategic” retreat (separation) of the Christians from the world

Suggests that Christians undertake draconian sacrifices to regroup

Asks for some Christians sacrifice to affect the cultural change

Assumes that the onslaught on Christianity is formidable

Francis Option

Does not declare loss of culture war by the Christians

Suggests a rebirth of a new Christian culture dependent on God’s Mercy

Suggests Christians stay the course to keep the LIGHT in the world

Asks for all Christians to continue the PRAYER and WORK

Expects that this anti-Christian culture will crumble from within