5 Reactions to 'The Benedict Option'

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, March 28, 2017

2. Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig

Rod Dreher, author of 'The Benedict Option' is senior editor of The American Conservative. — Rod Dreher, author of "The Benedict Option" is senior editor of The American Conservative. | (Photo: Courtesy of Penguin Random House)

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig of Democracy Journal argued that while Dreher's book is "not exactly wrong" about American liberalism's hostility to Christianity, "it's not exactly right, either."

Bruenig especially took issue with Dreher's conclusion that Christians must retreat from American society, writing that "I can't seal myself away from society."

"Society is part of our nature; politics is part of our nature. Entering the fray is fraught just like walking into the surf is; you will be pulled and pushed and yet you know, because you love God, you will break above the waves with water in your eyes to see God's glory bright as sunlight," stated Bruenig.

"His name is written on the wind. It's inescapable. It's inscribed into the hustle and jolt of democracy, if you look closely, and believe."