A Rule of Life
How does one grow in Christlikeness in a world that makes it difficult for someone to do so? The Rule of St. Benedict was written by Benedict of Nursia, to help monks live in a monastic community as they sought to grow in Christlikeness together. Benedict became a monk at age 20, after being exposed to and repulsed by Rome’s immorality. For this reason, he wished to withdraw from society, starting a monastery in 529 AD. [1] The Rule of St. Benedict was written around 530 AD.
After witnessing the immorality in Rome, he recognized that a battle-like mindset was required to grow in holiness and believed that the rule would address the challenges monks faced. He writes, “To thee, therefore, my speech is now directed, who, giving up thine own will, takest up the strong and most excellent arms of obedience, to do battle for Christ the Lord, the true King.”[2]
There are seventy-three brief chapters in The Rule. The first section is a rationale for monastic life, and most of the book comprises practical guidelines for monastic operations (these include things like sleeping arrangements, prayers, the sick, excommunication and kitchen servers).
Many readers would likely find The Rule too rigid or even be repulsed by the term “rule”. Perhaps some readers might disregard this writing as irrelevant for a contemporary Christian because it was produced in a different age and for a monastic setting. In this blog, a few of the main themes in The Rule will be examined and the importance of a rule of life for contemporary people will be explored.
The Main Themes:
Authority and Obedience
The rule itself is written for a monastic community, living under the rulership of an Abbot, for growth in holiness.[3] Benedictine monasteries were shaped by a strong, loving and responsible leadership. The Abbot holds the highest place and is viewed as the one who represents Christ within their midst.[4] As such, the Abbot held the highest authority, and the monks were expected to obey his teaching and instruction. This view will certainly be repugnant to our modern understanding of leadership. Rightly so, given the abuses of leadership in our context. However, the Abbot helped maintain order and discipline in the monastery. There are also correctives to an authoritarian leadership approach in The Rule. This includes inviting the community to provide discernment for the larger decisions that were to be made. Benedict encouraged the community to listen to the youngest members.[5] Additionally, the Abbot was not to lord his position of authority but to view this as a calling to help his flock flourish. Benedict writes, “Above all things, that the Abbot may not neglect or undervalue the welfare of the souls entrusted to him, let him not have too great a concern about fleeting, earthly, perishable things; but let him always consider that he hath undertaken the government of souls, of which he must give an account.”[6] The very success of the monastic community and the health of souls depended on the loving care of the Abbot.
Community
Apart from the Abbot, the monks were tasked to live in community as a shaping influence in their lives. Details were given on things such as sleeping arrangements in a large dorm setting, always welcoming new monks, receiving guests, and caring for one another when they were sick or old. Chapter 71 is devoted to living in obedience to one another. St. Benedict commands, “The brethren must render the service of obedience not only to the Abbot, but they must thus also obey one another, knowing that they shall go to God by this path of obedience.”[7] There would be nowhere to hide in these monastic communities. Every day one would have lived in the company of others as community played a role in forming the souls of the monks.
Humility
Soul formation largely involved growing in humility. Chapter 7 is devoted to this theme. Benedict lays out twelve levels of humility through which the monk must descend. The twelve steps create a trajectory for the monk toward having a proper perspective of himself, in particular his sin and unworthiness.[8] I found this chapter challenging and disagreed with a lot of what Benedict had to say about humility. For example, Benedict states, “The tenth degree of humility is, when a monk is not easily moved and quick for laughter…”[9] It seems as if the monastery would have been a very sombre place.
Prayer and Work
Great detail is given to both the prayer life and the work life of the monastery. The Rule spells out both for the monks as monastic life revolved around the rhythms of praying together and working together.
It’s clear that The Rule of St. Benedict was not written for saints who have life all figured out but for ordinary human beings who, while wrestling with their sin, wanted to pursue a life of holiness in a culture that made it incredibly difficult to do so. Benedict created a precise rule that, at its heart, was designed to help the soul to grow in relationship with God and each other. The rule balanced all the components of human life so that no one thing consumed the monk. No one thing dominated the monk’s time or energy. All of life’s elements flowed in proportion.
And this is the invitation at the heart of The Rule for the contemporary person, in particular pastoral leaders.
A Rule Of Life For Today
While we may not choose monasticism, the need for a rule of life in our context is similar to what St. Benedict faced in his day. In our chaotic, busy and secularized world leaders struggle to form rhythms of life that manage to keep the elements of life in proper proportion. Most are inundated with the tremendous flow of work and then struggle to maintain habits that form the soul in holiness. The terrible reality is that church work can lead pastors astray from their spiritual formation.
In Strengthening The Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God In The Crucible of Ministry, Ruth Haley-Barton notes that pastoral leaders need to develop a rule of life that embraces rhythms of engagement and retreat.[10] She suggests that rhythms of retreat should include silence and stillness. [11] These rhythms then shape the outward speech and behaviour of the leader. She writes, “Engaging in rhythms of silence and stillness that eventually give way to well-chosen words is a pattern that teaches us in very concrete ways to wait on God.”[12] Like St. Benedict, she underscores the importance of community as well. She astutely writes, “Human beings in community are like rocks in a riverbed; we are shaped by the flow of life in the communities we are a part of.”[13]
So, while most of us will never live in a monastic community or place ourselves under the leadership of an Abbot, we too would benefit from having a rule of life that helps us to develop a disciplined life around life-giving rhythms that shape the soul into Christlikeness.
The Rule of St. Benedict, while antiquated, provides rich wisdom for today’s leaders. There are many more interesting themes to explore such as ex-communication, restoration, and stability. May the depth of wisdom in The Rule of St. Benedict, and others like it, be mined for their riches.
[1] “Benedict’s Rule,” Christian History Institute, accessed September 1, 2024, https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/benedicts-rule.
[2] St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict (Christ the King Library, 2017).Kindle.1.
[3] St. Benedict.4.
[4] St. Benedict.6
[5] St. Benedict.8
[6] St. Benedict, 6–7.
[7] St. Benedict, 87.
[8] St. Benedict, 16.
[9] St. Benedict, 16.
[10] R. Ruth Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2008), 123.
[11] Barton, 124.
[12] Barton, 125.
[13] Barton, 128.
About the Author
Graham English
I was born in Cape Town, South Africa 30 minutes from Table Mountain, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. My family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada where I spent my teen years, met Wendy, and got married. We now live on the Canadian prairies in northern Alberta. I think God has a sense of humour. I'm a follower of Jesus, work in leadership and church development, love my family and walk a lot.11 responses to “A Rule of Life”
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Graham,
Diane also just wrote a post on this book as well. I appreciate seeing your perspective and relating it to how a rule or rhythm of life can be helpful. When you were walking this summer, did that help set a new rhythm for you in your journey? Or, did it change your rhythm?
Adam, definitely. The pilgrimage to Santiagao definitely changed your rhythm. The daily rhythm of the Camino certainly shapes you. I haven’t thought of it in this way before, but the Camino is somewhat monastic and one develops rhythms of simplicity, prayer, and community within that space that shape them.
The real challenge is to practice what you’ve learned beyond the Camino. That has been a challenge for us as we get immersed back in our normal environment.
We are still reflecting on this.
Hi Graham, Thanks for your blog. You gave a tantalizing hint at the end there – ‘stability’. I have heard of Rule of Stability, or perhaps it is Vow of Stability? If you have thoughts, I would love to see a connection between what you read and pastoral (or organization leadership) today. Julie
Hi Julie, here’s what he had to say about the unstable monk,
“But the fourth class of monks is that called Landlopers, who keep going their whole life long from one province to another, staying three or four days at a time in different cells as guests. Always roving and never settled, they indulge their passions and the cravings of their appetite, and are in every way worse than the Sarabaites. It is better to pass all these over in silence than to speak of their most wretched life.” – p4
Eugene Peterson writes about this in Under the Unpredictable Plant. The desire of Benedict was to curb this and devote his attention to those who wanted to put themselves under the rule of an abbot to learn to listen, obey and develop Christlike character.
When many pastors and people leave churches I wonder if they miss the opportunity for growth. It is easier to leave sometimes than to stay and learn through stability and perseverance.
…the willingness to endure the growing pains…
Hi Graham, It is interesting to see different perspectives of the book. I too think there were some good things to gleen from the book but there were also things that seemed questionable. Perhaps the context of setting has a lot to do with Benedict’s rule. For now, I do recognize the need to remove the things in our life that distract us from our relationship with God and to have balance of quiet and work but the emphasis on what the monks do seemed more important that what Jesus did. Benedict did acknowledge the goodness of God to consider the monks as his sons but what I missed in Benedict was the solid recognition of the saving grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection for salvation. I have sensed that there could be confusion that the actions of the monk rather than the action of Jesus would determine salvation. I am curious if in your reading that possibility came to mind to you.
Diane, good point. However, considering the period in history, here is much grace in the book. For example, in writing about excommunication, the abbot was supposed to go to the person and help them return to the community through repentance. This is certainly a measure of grace woven into the life of the community.
In Spirit of the Disciplines,
Dallas Willard wrote, “The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy.” In my opinion, St. Benedict was attempting to create the kind of life that would produce Christlike action, while erring on the side of works.
Graham, thanks for these insights. Were there any areas in your own life that you wish to change, develop or grow because of reading this book?
A rule is base on rhythms. Kari, my challenge at the moment is the lack of rhythm in my role. I never have the same schedule each week and my days off change regularly. I am trying to develop a “rule” that would help me to engage and retreat on a regular basis.
Hi Graham, Thank you for this thoughtful post on “The Rule of Saint Benedict.” This week, I wrote about an individual who served as governor of Britain under the Roman Empire. I hope his actions were not the inspiration behind Benedict’s work. In your opinion, after reading this text, what themes from Benedict that you presented are the biggest struggle for modern-day Western Christians?
Thanks Elysse. I think there is so much that is a struggle. Let me pick one. Perhaps it would be the idea of listening and obeying. When going into a monastery the monk had to put themselves under the abbot and even the rest of the community. A monk had to listen and obey. While this could obviously be abused it really calls for the person to submit to the voice of God through others. Not sure that would be welcomed in our culture.