Description
Book SynopsisIn their zeal for reform, early Protestant leaders tended to throw out Saint Benedict with the holy water. That is a mistake, writes Dennis Okholm, in Monk Habits for Everyday People. While on retreat in a Benedictine abbey, the author, a professor who was raised as a Pentecostal and a Baptist, observed how the meditative and ordered life of a monk lifted Jesus' teachings off the printed page and put them into daily practice. Vital aspects of devotion, humility, obedience, hospitality, and evangelism took on new clarity and meaning. Paralleling that experience, Okholm guides the reader on a focused and instructive journey that can revitalize the devotional life of any Christian who wants to slow down and dig deeper.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
1. What's a Good (Protestant Evangelical) Boy Doin' in a Monastery?
2. Why Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants?
3. Learning to Listen
4. Poverty: Sharing the Goods
5. Obedience: Objectifying Providence
6. Humility: Letting Go of the Mask
7. Hospitality: The Guest as Christ
8. Stability: Staying Put to Get Somewhere
9. Balance: God in Everything
10. To Change the World!
Afterword: Why the Protestant Reformers Opposed Monasticism
Suggested Reading
Suggestions for Practicing Benedictine Spirituality
Notes
