Monk Habits for Everyday People
Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants
Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants
In their zeal for reform, early Protestant leaders tended to throw out Saint Benedict with the holy water. That is a mistake, writes Dennis Okholm, in Monk Habits for Everyday People. While on retreat in a Benedictine abbey, the author, a professor who was raised as a Pentecostal and a Baptist, observed how the meditative and ordered life of a monk lifted Jesus' teachings off the printed page and put them into daily practice. Vital aspects of devotion, humility, obedience, hospitality, and evangelism took on new clarity and meaning. Paralleling that experience, Okholm guides the reader on a focused and instructive journey that can revitalize the devotional life of any Christian who wants to slow down and dig deeper.
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Short review: Okholm, an oblate (someone that attempts to live the life of a Benedictine outside the monastery), an Evangelical and a theology professor attempts to bridge the gap between the monastery and the evangelical world. This is a good book on spiritual growth and exactly why spiritual growth is not a quick fix (follow these five steps) type of process. Okholm focuses on 7 virtues that he sees in Benedictine spirituality that he thinks are at the root of their order. A helpful, fairly quick read. But again confirms in my mind that Evangelicals need to pay more attention to Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican writers to really understand what it means to live as a Christian after conversion.
Click through for my full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/monk-habits-for-everyday-people-benedictine-spirituality-for-protestants/
