The Benedict Option: Intermission

I am about halfway through the Benedict Option and what has surprised me the most is not the content of Dreher's argument, it is how completely uninteresting the book is. I expected to find a lot to disagree with, I am admittedly reading it as a hostile reviewer, but I thought it would be more compelling and engaging. It isn't. Far from a manifesto for the way forward, the Benedict Option has all the signs of being a flash in the pan that sells well for a month thanks to the endless hype and then fades rapidly into obscurity. Dreher has a medievalist fetish that puts Renaissance fair attendees and jousting LARPers to shame and it just doesn't translate well into our contemporary culture and he seems pretty oblivious to other, more pertinent examples from church history that point more faithfully to the way forward. I am finding it a chore to keep reading but I want to get through it so I can give a complete review and then move on to something more interesting to read.