If you read this blog regularly, you know that I attended a lecture entitled "Monk Habits for Everyday People" by Dennis Okholm. He has written a book by the same name, which I purchased at the end of the session. I was excited to read the book, to see what further insights would be contained within the covers.
I wanted to like this book. I really did. But I found it unfulfilling. It isn't nearly as good as the lecture I attended, and reads more like a commentary on the rule of St. Benedict, which I read prior to reading this book in preparation. Perhaps that was my mistake. This book is geared more towards convincing the reader that monasticism is still relevant and worthwhile, and I don't need convincing on that point. The commentary on the rule wasn't revolutionary either, but served to provide an introduction to the monastic life to protestants who have never read the rule or studied the monastic life at all. I have done quite a bit of study on Christian Mystics, so perhaps I'm just not the target for this book.
If you are looking for a protestant introduction to what the monastic life is all about, this is not a bad book. But I can't recommend it wholeheartedly like I expected to.
Joel
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