Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today [Paperback]

Laura Swan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2005

"Ancient texts survive not because they are ancient but because they are forever fresh, forever meaningful to every generation. 'The Rule of Benedict' is one of those. Laura Swan does us all a service by demonstrating the truth of this again." -- Joan Chittister, OSB, author, "Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir"" "Nearly fifteen centuries ago, Benedict of Nursia wrote a rule for Christians who wanted to live, work, and pray together in community. With its core values of contemplation, hospitality, and simplicity, the Rule remains as useful and fresh today as it was when Benedict created it in Italy those many centuries ago. But the Rule is not without its difficulties in contemporary practice. Author Laura Swan, a Benedictine sister, looks at the Rule with a critical eye, seeking to unpack those parts that are problematic and to uncover gems that support the yearnings of today's seekers. She takes the obstacles that women and young people find in the Rule, and offers insights that resonate with their experience and are still faithful to the challenge of the Rule, Readers will discover that Benedict's wisdom can shed much light on their own lives. By wrestling with the Rule, and taking it seriously, Laura Swan offers readers guidance on many difficult and painful questions."

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Christian Classics; 1st Ed. edition (April 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870612328
• ISBN-13: 978-0870612329
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Opening Benedict's Rule, April 25, 2005

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Carol Blank (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today (Paperback)

Swan is a Benedictine sister who sees her task as honoring Benedict's Rule and other monastic texts by wrestling with them, questioning them, and bringing present-day problems to them. Swan is writing not just for those pledged to follow Benedict's Rule, but for all who seek a deeper, more authentic, and vibrant relationship with God. She begins with background on the Benedictine monastic tradition and practices, with special emphasis on prayer. The sections on Benedictine obedience are universally applicable, and Swan's reflection on asceticism is particularly thought provoking.

After years of struggling with a pre-packaged notion of asceticism consisting primarily of fasting and self-denial, Swan realized that "God hands us our asceticism through normal circumstances of everyday life." Opportunities for asceticism include such seemingly ordinary tasks as helping a child with homework, being present to aging parents, and making healthy eating and exercise choices. She has concluded extreme views of asceticism in our own culture, which may include self starvation and other self-defeating attitudes and acts, reinforce low self-esteem and support images of a vengeful, wrath-filled God. "We miss out on the sense of God's gentle loving presence," she writes.

Throughout Engaging Benedict, Swan inserts "living lectio" reflections that include questions flowing from the text. For example, questions related to justice include Do I dwell in the midst of a healthy community? and Am I a clutter addict? And those under humility include How do we express our personal power and powerfulness? and Do we resist the connectedness of community or receive it? The facilitator of a faith-sharing group could open this work to any section for a source of rich discussion and reflection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living the tradition, January 3, 2008

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today (Paperback)

Laura Swan is a Benedictine sister, acquainted with the Rule of Benedict not only through reading and academic approaches, but through the living of the Rule as a life-shaping and -changing practice. One of the fundamental parts of Benedictine spirituality is that one should seek conversion of life - too many people, even the `knowledgeable' in matters theological, tend to think of conversion rather like that of the apostle Paul, a once-and-for-all dramatic event that radically reorients one's life. In fact, most of us, as Benedict understood, have to commit to a process of conversion that takes much longer, and happens much more incrementally. Even for those who do have dramatic initial conversion experiences, the commitment to let this be truly life-changing requires constant re-turning to this. Swan captures the sense of looking for a means in which to live out this kind of spirituality.

`My monastic journey has been a total way of life that is focused on seeking God and therefore cannot be fragmented. We give our full humanity - mind, soul, body, emotions, desires, passions, and dreams - to God and the monastic community at our monastic profession.' This is a very personal statement from Swan. She recognises its limitations. `I do not propose that my thinking is a "definitive answer" for any or for all. I do hope that it models "permission" to realise that there are problematic texts that need to be wrestled with.'

Swan work with her own translations of the Rule - an ancient book, its language is different both in kind (Latin) and in time. For those who have read the Rule in different forms and translations, this offers a new glimpse, as Swan has been intentionally inclusive in language, recognising that monastics can include both monks and nuns, and those who follow the Rule for life and inspiration outside the monastic enclosure can be either female or male.

There is a bit of stream of consciousness to the organisation in the chapters - there are bits from history, bits from the Rule, bits from Swan's life, and connecting pieces from modern life. Swan concentrates on tradition, but stresses that this is a living tradition - including the challenging statement that `The Holy Spirit is thinking outside the box!' Tradition is not something to be feared or revered to the point of being unwilling (or unable) to make any changes - tradition that is frozen is little more than a stage play repeated endlessly, and that is not life. Speaking of those who follow the Rule, she writes, `Benedict's good monastic is deepening in wisdom through the grace of the Holy Spirit, zeal for the monastic way of life and openness to learn from all of life. He seeks help from the senpectae, hungry to learn from their example and grow in recognition of personal limitations. While growing into deepening awareness of who he truly is and is not, the monastic heart is able to admit faults without disparaging self or others.'

Swan traces some classical concepts in the Rule such as obedience, humility, hospitality, and faithfulness, and shows how the good from the past can be combined with the changing times and understandings to come up with a fulfilling and worthwhile mode of living. This is no individualistic manifesto, either, like so many spiritual practices of late in popular parlance seems to be. Benedict was concerned for people living in community, and it is this sense of community that has been lost in the modern West in many ways - even appeals to `family values' tend toward isolating nuclear family units away from each other rather than fostering true community. True community requires hospitality, requires humble action and understanding, but it also requires justice. `Justice is action. It permeates our being an reveals our truest self. A justice-oriented life is filled with passion, exuberance, and joy. A justice-oriented life helps us discover our truest self.' Justice, according to Swan, has more to do with living in covenant relationship (a communal idea) than the idea of enforcement of rights (an individual idea), but ultimately living in justice means living a life that fulfills all the constituent members.

This is an intriguing book, a good book for reading in both a lectio and a studious mode. I was touched by many of the stories Swan includes, some of which I'd known (the story of Oscar Romero and the four American women, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and Dorothy Kazel, who died in Central American political struggles standing up for the poor and oppressed, for example), and some of which were new to me.

For those interested in Benedictine spirituality, or spiritual practices and development in general, this is a very good book to read and to engage.

4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Benedictine spirituality, December 24, 2009

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Marianna K. Neal - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today (Paperback)

I liked this book. It gave a very good idea, for anyone interested in learning more about Benedictine spirituality, of the history of St. Benedict and his founding of the Benedictine monastic order. It discusses his Rule and how it can easily be applied to life today. In a world that lacks so many virtues it holds them up as not merely the ideal but as a way to live more virtuous lives. Although Benedict's Rule was originally written for monks in the 6th century his words are meant for all ages and his thoughts and ideas can easily be applied to our life today. I highly recommend this book.