I write poetry from time to time. I don’t often share the results in public, but it is good for my soul. When I do write poetry I always find myself picking a form and sticking to it. I’m not up to writing a sonnet, but having the constraints of rhyme and meter actually help. They rule out certain choices, forcing me to think harder and feel more deeply. The rules I submit to turn prose into poetry.
I think that gets to something of what Benedict thought having a “rule” would mean for monastic life: constraints on individual autonomy, freely submitted to, would turn the prose of living to the poetry of discipleship.
Benedict is frankly a little opinionated about community life. He is clearly not in touch with the post-modern sensibility where your views are just as valuable as mine or the next guy’s (or gal’s).
“Bossy” might actually be the word.
But then, his views have brought vital discipleship to countless people for well over a millennium, so I think they are worth pondering. That’s why I’m blogging on Benedict’s Rule, the document that shaped western Monasticism and made it a powerful training ground for mission and leadership.
One of the first strong opinions he shares in his Rule is what makes for the best kind of monks. Key to being the best kind of monk is to be in a community under a rule. He doesn’t mean his own rule. He’s looking back on past generations of monastic life before his Rule existed.
Living as a hermit is okay too, so long as you have first been trained under a rule in a monastery.
But two kinds of monks present big problems in Benedict’s view.
The first are monks whose communities have no Rule. They judge for themselves:
“what they choose to do they call holy, but what they dislike they hold to be unlawful.”
Here is a hint that Benedict would be troubled by the American ideal. We value individual liberty as something good in itself. To Benedict that kind of freedom makes for “the most vile class of monks” because when we choose our own way we tend to choose something other than God intends for us. We end up defining our way of life by our personal preference rather than by God’s Word.
Even if those are the “most vile” another group is “in every way worse.” These are pseudo monks who
“keep going their whole life long from one province to another, staying three or four days at a time in different cells as guests. Always roving and never settled…”
Think of it as the medieval equivalent of “church hopping.” They try one community. They find a problem. They tire of it. They move on to another. From Benedict’s perspective moving on means missing the opportunity for growth.
It is all so counter-cultural. We want freedom from rules. We see rules as the problem. We claim our rights and do things our own way.
- But does this kind of freedom lead to vital life in Christ?
- Does it lead to thriving community?
- Does individual initiative and unbounded liberty lead to participation in God’s work for the world?
One of the Desert Fathers said that if you just stay in your cell your cell will teach you everything you need to know. Benedict seems to think the same thing about the community and its Rule. These things put boundaries on the members’ freedom so they wouldn’t jump to the easy fix of looking for greener pastures. The constraints become like a goldsmith’s forge, refining and purifying their lives as disciples.
These days some are exploring the freedom and fruitfulness that comes from developing a rule of life. Some consider the issue from the individual perspective rather than for community life. Others are developing rules for those in ministry to use to order their lives.
I find it all very challenging; and frightening; and appealing; and impossible.
I’m very curious:
What do you think would be the effect of a modern church or other Christian community having a formal “rule”?
What subtopics do you think a “rule” for a 21st century community would need to include?
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It’s funny Gary, but I recently found a copy of the Rule on my bookshelf. I read it in college as a pillar of Western Civilization, but am afraid I didn’t get the point. The rule, recommends obedience in a way that most can’t stomach now, but there is something very powerful about it anyhow. It is a classic. For the last few weeks, I have been reading daily selections from it. There is a lot of wisdom in Benedict’s rule.
Thanks Alex! Interesting to see how a text that doesn’t connect in high school or college can be pretty amazing a while later. There are a bunch of books out approaching it rather the way you describe, probing it more devotionally. Most, I think, relate it to personal spirituality, but others to other contexts — my wife has been looking into one called “The Family Cloister” that tries to mine it for wisdom in home life.
Oh boy, Gary, this whole “rule” thing is so counter to my strong willed mind! The closest I’ll probably ever get to reading, much less following, a rule of the sort you are exploring, is to read the entire Brother Cadfael series in order.
Sandra, so glad you joined the conversation here.
The rule thing is counter to our whole culture, in my opinion. There is something there though.
If you decide to read the Rule (and there are lots of great reasons to do so — it is fascinating and incredibly influential), look for the little pamphlet “RB1980” or one of the other versions edited by Timothy Fry. I’m putting a link to an older translation on my posts, but this one is the best.
Even if you don’t want to dive into the Rule itself (and it is less than 100 pages) there are a number of good authors with books on bringing its wisdom to current spiritual life. Joan Chittister, Esther de Waal, and Dennis Okholm would be great places to start exploring.
Or if you want to stick to fiction, there are parts of Susan Howatch’s Starbridge series that draw out some very interesting features of monastic discipline!
I’ve been reading Benedict’s Rule / Commentary by Sr.Joan Chittester as preperation for Oblate Formation. Joan Chittesters book follows the daily reading of the Rule but adds the here’s what it means in the 21st Century and in life both inside and outside of the monastery.
I’ve personally found it an interesting read and for the most part look forward to the daily section of reading. Some of the Rule doesn’t necessarily pertain to life outside the monastery, yet Sr. Joan offers some sort of twist that makes you take a step back and think, OK I see where your going.
I think many communities of faith would do well to read Benedict’s Rule as its been around since the 6th Century and hasn’t changed. There is great wisdom that can be brought forth for 21st Century Communities of faith!