Monk Habits for Everyday People
Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants
by Dennis Okholm
ISBN 978-1-58743-185-2
$12.99

Dennis Okholm, professor of Theology at Azusa Pacific University and Presbyterian minister, offers his contribution to a growing genre of literature written about monasticism for laity.  Part memoir, part reflection, the book recounts the author's own introduction to and developing relationship with Benedictine practice and spirituality and, in so doing, offers an invitation and apologia to his Protestant brethren who have been bred to be wary of such religious communities.  Okholm's under-lying thesis is that Evangelicals are plagued with a spiritual shallowness because they neglect the insights of historical Christian spiritual experience.

"In man respects we live shallow lives, easily entertained by celebrities, trivial pursuits, and consumer products.  A deeply rooted spiritual life is desired by many, but its cultivation seems to escape just as many."  Our lives pulled in every direction by a multiplicity of vain concerns are spread thin, like butter over toast, and do not drive deep, like the roots of a strong oak.  Evangelicals, according to Okholm, have too often mistakenly assumed that a real spirituality is a spontaneous spirituality and such would only be quelled by the formal, habitual rigidity of monastic life.  This lack of rootedness has made the development of spiritual wholeness in a person impossible and the valorization of spontaneity has left Evangelicals to continue on an endless search for new spiritual highs through the media of new praise choruses, inspirational speakers, and best-selling books.

It will come as a surprise, then, to many Evangelicals when Okholm proposes that the end of these spiritual strivings is to be found in the mundane and ordinary life of structured prayer, work and reading one finds prescribed in the Rule of St Benedict followed in monasteries to this day.  But this seeming contradiction is only apparent - as many of the monastic fathers, especially their great patriarch, St Anthony, was wont to point out that stability and regularity are the context in which one grows spiritually: for it is a tree that is left unmoved that puts down roots, not that which is transplanted often.  Comparing spiritual wholeness to physical health, Okholm says:

"It is strange that we take the advice of our dentist and floss regularly to maintain healthy gums or follow doctor's orders to exercise on schedule to enhance our physical well-being, while we often spurn the counsel of spiritual physicians and trainers to develop habits that will maintain and enhance our spiritual life."

Okholm traces the place of the development of Benedictine spirituality in the history of Christian monasticism, from its rise in the Egyptian and Judaean deserts at the end of the third century, to its spread West into Europe contemporaneous with the final decadence and fall of Rome, and its crystallization in the Rule which St Benedict composed for his monastic community at Monte Cassino in Italy.  Contrary to the received wisdom common among Evangelicals which portrays  monastic rules as a recapitulation to the legalism of the Mosaic dispensation, Okholm describes the rule as "a practical guide for living the Christian gospel and for cultivating Christian virtue."  The Rule, dealing with all aspects of life including food, sleep, study, work and prayer, and the community which lives according to it exists to foster an arena in which the Gospel can be lived, not simply believed in intellectually. 

Having made his case for why Evangelicals should even consider giving attention to Benedictine spirituality, both from reasoned argument and personal experience, the author moves forward with his description of the monastic life and its application to that of the common layperson.  Okholm's chapters each highlight various, individual points of importance in the Rule of St Benedict including silence, poverty, obedience, humility, hospitality, stability, and balance, relieving each of their respective mystiques and demonstrating how these aspects of monastic life challenge the non-contemplative life of the masses and can foster Christian spirituality.  In all of this, the author demonstrates how the mundane can be the source of spiritual excellence and growth and a deliverance from the triviality that surrounds us.

To conclude, the author offers an afterword addressing the question of why Protestants have historically been opposed to monasticism, further correcting the misconceptions that exists among Evangelicals.  After this, on the more practical side, Okholm offers suggestions for further reading on Benedictine spirituality, the larger monastic tradition, and works, like his own, which offer a conversation between monastic and ‘normal' life.  This, in turn, is followed by a summary of ways in which Benedictine spirituality can be practiced in the ‘real' world. 

While it may be found lacking in some areas of its description, this book should serve as good introduction to monastic practice for those who have never had the personal experience.  I think the author himself would admit that he is not an expert on the subject, but one who has experienced something in Benedictine Abbey that he wishes to open up to and share with others who might not be likely to go looking for the same experience themselves.  Because of this, the book can be recommended for its intended audience, Evangelicals who have had little to no contact with monasticism, while others might find more depth in books by those writing from inside monastic communities such as M. Basil Pennington's A Place Apart.  For a perspective from outside Western Christianity, one might read similar works by Eastern Orthodox writers like Scott Cairn's A Short Trip to the Edge, John Oliver's Touching Heaven, or Kyriacos Markides's Mountain of Silence.