Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name

I'm as introverted as Leah Libresco is extroverted so her experiences of building the Benedict option just did not resonate with me. It's not that her ideas weren't good or that people won't find her book helpful; I know the last thing I'm going to do is invite a house full of people over for Friday night dinner. On the other hand, I would enjoy going to her home to pray Evening Prayer as long as I could slip out the back door after the Amen.

I am one of dozens of urban professionals who found myself practicing my faith in a very lonely way when I first moved to the city. It seems daunting to build a community of faithful from scratch in a new city, but that's precisely why the world needs more Leah Librescos, who understand that building community can be as simple as inviting everyone over for stew and a five hour Shakespeare marathon (if that be your poison). This book argues that we are stronger and happier Christians when we practice our faith together, and that this openness and honesty does have a place in the larger "secular" world. Rather than advocating for a retreat from society (as the Benedict Option has largely been portrayed in reviews and thinkpieces), Libresco posits that we should live in plain sight to the rest of the world, inviting curiosity into our practices and traditions as Christians. As a person who attended several of the events mentioned in the book, I can say that they were definitely been a comfort and added benefit to my spiritual life, which feels so much less lonely than it once did. In these turbulent times, when much of the establishment Christian leadership has seemingly abandoned us, Libresco shows the Christian laity how to be beacons of light and hope to each other. That's worth a read.

I'm a suburban mom with kids in Catholic school. When I began reading Leah Libresco's "Building the Benedict Option," I worried that her advice as a young urbanite would have applied to me years ago, but wouldn't work now.I was wrong.This book, even while detailing ideas that work in a specific context and demographic, has gems for everyone.I particularly enjoyed Libresco's suggestion to take things you would typically do alone, and do them as a group. It inspired me to send a text out to my son's class' mom group and plans for acts of mercy are in the works for next week.

I wasn't sure at first if this book would be for me, because I'd stalled out while reading Dreher's original The Benedict Option and never finished it. However, Libresco's book came highly recommended, and having read it I found it a much more personal and congenial read. While Dreher spends a lot of time on the history of Western philosophy and what he perceives the nature of this particular historical moment to be, Building The Benedict Option is a book about addressing a very specific problem that many of us have experienced: creating communities of like-minded people when many of us live and work in cities that we arrived in fairly recently, far from both the place we grew up and the place where we went to college -- the two natural sources of long term friends, at least in my own life.Libresco talks about the importance of having real life friends, especially when trying to maintain a seemingly countercultural faith. To that end, she lays out practical strategies: Not letting oneself get sucked into making work all consuming; hosting get-togethers of a sort to make many different personalities feel welcome; and breaking the overall goal of having a supportive community down into small, easy steps.This kind of thing can seem a little dry and simplistic in some books, but Libresco situates this advice within a sincere personal narrative about her own experiences. While this does make the book in some ways specific to her own personality and experiences, it also gives the book a very personal feeling and helps the reader see how the general ideas can be fit to personal situations.

In this book, Leah takes an idea that lends itself to highly abstract advocacy and criticism - not least because the original advocate courts controversy in other areas - and turns it into a highly practical book that embraces and celebrates small steps to feed the practical and spiritual needs of Christians for community in an atomized culture, applicable to Christians of all theological and political commitments. (Frankly, the non-religious or spiritually open reader can find much in here for community building herself.) For me, the core of the book is an invitation to embrace (by both performing and welcoming) even cramped and imperfect hospitality, and I love the chapters that walk through anticipated problems (so you lack space . . . so you lack time . . . so you lack certain pre-existing connections). I personally ended up hosting three friends for dinner a week into reading this book, bolstered by the confidence it gave, and am planning with my girlfriend on how to create larger space like this.

For what's hopefully the first of many Benedict Option manuals this is a great start. The chapter on prayer in public is the worth the price alone. Given Leah's life phase it may not be as grand as some are expecting. Overall a good and helpful read.

Introvert or extrovert, we're all communal beings...we need one another. My biggest fear in throwing a gathering like what Leah describes is that no one would want to come. Leah, speaking like a real friend, assuages my fear and leaves me both excited and equip to take the first step. Building the Benedict Option offer encouragement and practical strategies for gathering your local (Christian and non-Christian) tribe together to support, challenge, love and ultimately bond one another closer to each other and to Jesus.

What a lovely book. Lots of great ideas. Touching stories sbout familiar problems, how to make people at ease, how to pray openly or in private, which can seem difficult for those of us who are unfamiliar with it, like mysrlf, due to background or an introverted personality. Hope there will soon be more books from Leah's hand.