How to Be a Monastic and Not Leave Your Day Job: An Invitation to Oblate Life by Benet TvedtenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is, perhaps, hardly a surprise to find in my book list, given the many, many Benedictine books that I've read over the last ten years. And the fact that this is about oblates, just reinforces the pattern. Really, what this book is a manual for oblates of Benedictine monasteries- meant to explain what being an oblate is like, what Benedictine value are and how one an become an oblate. Given the success of oblate recruitment in the last two generations, it is a much needed volume.
As a manual, it has all the things one would expect. A good outline of Benedictine values and practices, of course, as well as plenty of good examples of the oblate life. For someone like me, who isn't especially likely to formalize a commitment like this, it is still a helpful book for learning from the Benedictine tradition. The whole point of oblate life is to adapt the Rule of Benedict to one's life and that can still be done even when one lives away from a monastery.
So, I'd still say this is worth reading for anyone interested in the Benedictine tradition as a way to learn how to apply the Rule to one's life.
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