This is the first in a series of posts in which I will be blogging through Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option. This post covers the book’s introduction and chapter one.
I first began reading Rod Dreher’s work sometime in 2008 or 2009. I can’t recall exactly when, but it was shortly shortly after the election of Barack Obama. As a conservative working in conservative media, the 2008 presidential campaign felt surreal. The ascension of Obama and the bizarre twists and turns of the McCain-Palin campaign left a lot of conservatives bewildered. It was like standing on the beach, watching the tsunami waves rising, and then feeling the weight of the water crash down up you. Eventually, when you surface, soaking wet and gasping for breath and looking around, you ask yourself, “Why was I standing on that beach in the first place?” (Oddly enough, I had this same feeling for the entire 2016 presidential campaign, but it was in super slow motion.)
