This book has been a long time in coming and is the fruit of over a decade of conversation among friends all over the country. I wish to thank them all, in particular Patrick Deneen, Caleb Stegall, Jake Meador, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Michael Hanby, Ryan Booth, Philip Bess, Leroy Huizenga, Kale Zelden, Ross Douthat, Michael Brendan Dougherty, Denny Burk, Andrew T. Walker, Andy Crouch, Chris Roberts, Marco Sermarini, Russell Arben Fox, Becky Elder, James Card, Ralph C. Wood, Lance Kinzer, Conor Dugan, Jeff Polet, Mark T. Mitchell, Robert Duncan, Caleb Bernacchio, Matthew Lee Anderson, Alan Jacobs, Gabe Lyons, Jason McCrory, Joe Hartman, Mark Meador, Matt Bonzo, James Matthew Wilson, Christopher Roberts, and the late Roger Pfau.
Special thanks go to Ken Myers, the happy genius behind the Mars Hill Audio Journal, which has been the most formative influence on my thinking as a Christian trying to make sense of our post-Christian culture. This book is nothing but a series of footnotes on the work Ken has done over the years. If the only thing it achieves is introducing more thoughtful Christians to the riches of the Journal, then I will be satisfied.
Thanks to Clint Barron, Ryan T. Anderson, and others who read early versions of this manuscript, and thanks to the communities around Wichita’s Eighth Day Books and the Clear Creek Abbey in rural Oklahoma for their warm hospitality and witness. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I also want to express my gratitude for the life and work of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, who I consider the second Benedict of the Benedict Option.
My literary agent, Gary Morris, is all that a writer could hope for, and the work he has done to make this and every other book I’ve written come into being is something I cannot ever repay. Bria Sandford, this book’s editor, has been a delight to work with and was especially helpful in teaching me how to explain all this monkish stuff to Evangelicals like her. Many of the ideas in this book have been honed in conversation with readers of my blog at the website of The American Conservative. I thank my readers there for their encouragement and constructive criticism. I also thank my bosses at TAC, especially Jeremy Beer and Daniel McCarthy, for their unfailing support, and with the profoundest gratitude, I thank Howard and Roberta Ahmanson for their continued generosity. I thank my wife Julie and kids Matthew, Lucas, and Nora, for their infinite patience. It is not easy to have a writer in the family, but I hope my children understand one day that this book is for the sake of their future.
Finally, I lack the words to express my gratitude to the monks of Norcia for opening their hearts and their monastery to me. None of us could have reckoned that by the time this book was finished, their basilica and monastery would be in ruins. These men of God are living the way of the Cross now, but I am confident that God will use them in a special way to bear His light unto the world. Amid all the world’s sorrow, confusion, and pain, the Norcia monks and their jolly hobbitlike friends, the Tipi Loschi, remind me of the command of the elder in Revelation 5: “Do not weep, for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David has triumphed.” Because they believe it, and because they live it, so can I live it and believe it. So can we all.