Thanks John. I second your endorsement of Alberta's book. And I also appreciate your slight tweak to include "neighborly." I recognize that "faithfully" should include neighborly, but many will hear it as just one side of the coin. "Faithfully and neighborly" better captures the nuance required to live in the tension of these two truths... truths which are often assumed to be opposed as to each other instead of complementary. Thanks as always for being another voice in what I hope is a growing chorus of Christians using their influence to grow faith and not fiefdom.
Tim Alberta gave a fascinating interview on Preet Bharara's "Stay Tuned" podcast. Very personal, delving into his father's history (brothers in the mafia!) and his own...and very explicit with regard to his own faith and the challenges to evangelicals in this politicized time. I commend it to your readers.
Interesting article and a lot of food for thought. Though not an evangelical, it sounds like an interesting book and probably would be interesting to compare and contrast with Aaron Renn's upcoming "Life in the Negative World," which is from a different perspective, but is on a similar subject (evangelical political engagement in the present secular culture).
The one question I have is what, in Alberta's view, does proper Christian political engagement look like in the present/2024? Also, what should Christians do (in contrast to what Alberta says they should not do). Whatever disagreements one might have with Dreher's idea, the "Benedict Option" is still the only answer that anyone has provided to the latter question. I hope Renn's book provides an answer applicable beyond evangelicalism, and I am curious to hear what Alberta would say.
Thanks, Mason. I don't think Dreher's Benedict Option is the only alternative. There have been a host of other books and articles playing off his title (just google "Benedict Option alternative"). And there are serious proposals from within political theology and adjacent fields that advocate for different modes of engagement. I lay out some of my own thinking about a way of engaging in my book with Tim Keller, Uncommon Ground: https://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Ground-Living-Faithfully-Difference/dp/1400219604.
Fair point and I will read your book. I am just worried that there is somewhat of a conflict between contemporary politics (about maximizing "individual fulfillment" above virtue) and Christianity (Ryszard Legutko is very eloquent on this subject in his "Demon in Democracy" book, as was Benedict XVI, for example in the "dictatorship of relativism" homily). As both modern individualism (be it of the left or right) and Christianity hold mutually exclusive claims about truth, some level of friction seems inevitable.
Thanks John. I second your endorsement of Alberta's book. And I also appreciate your slight tweak to include "neighborly." I recognize that "faithfully" should include neighborly, but many will hear it as just one side of the coin. "Faithfully and neighborly" better captures the nuance required to live in the tension of these two truths... truths which are often assumed to be opposed as to each other instead of complementary. Thanks as always for being another voice in what I hope is a growing chorus of Christians using their influence to grow faith and not fiefdom.
Tim Alberta gave a fascinating interview on Preet Bharara's "Stay Tuned" podcast. Very personal, delving into his father's history (brothers in the mafia!) and his own...and very explicit with regard to his own faith and the challenges to evangelicals in this politicized time. I commend it to your readers.
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stay-tuned-with-preet/id1265845136?i=1000640518262
A hearty Amen!!
Great blog. Thanks John.
Excellent!
Interesting article and a lot of food for thought. Though not an evangelical, it sounds like an interesting book and probably would be interesting to compare and contrast with Aaron Renn's upcoming "Life in the Negative World," which is from a different perspective, but is on a similar subject (evangelical political engagement in the present secular culture).
The one question I have is what, in Alberta's view, does proper Christian political engagement look like in the present/2024? Also, what should Christians do (in contrast to what Alberta says they should not do). Whatever disagreements one might have with Dreher's idea, the "Benedict Option" is still the only answer that anyone has provided to the latter question. I hope Renn's book provides an answer applicable beyond evangelicalism, and I am curious to hear what Alberta would say.
Thanks, Mason. I don't think Dreher's Benedict Option is the only alternative. There have been a host of other books and articles playing off his title (just google "Benedict Option alternative"). And there are serious proposals from within political theology and adjacent fields that advocate for different modes of engagement. I lay out some of my own thinking about a way of engaging in my book with Tim Keller, Uncommon Ground: https://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Ground-Living-Faithfully-Difference/dp/1400219604.
Fair point and I will read your book. I am just worried that there is somewhat of a conflict between contemporary politics (about maximizing "individual fulfillment" above virtue) and Christianity (Ryszard Legutko is very eloquent on this subject in his "Demon in Democracy" book, as was Benedict XVI, for example in the "dictatorship of relativism" homily). As both modern individualism (be it of the left or right) and Christianity hold mutually exclusive claims about truth, some level of friction seems inevitable.