We need a new play

There’s plenty of talk about whether the Benedict Option or Boniface option is appropriate in our age. Maybe you’ve not heard of these, but every Christian should, so I’ll explain them briefly. Moreover, I’ll explain why I choose neither and what alternative I suggest. If you read nothing else, read the last section. It charts the whole course for us going forward.

The Benedict Option

St. Benedict of Nursia was a Catholic monk in the 5th and 6th centuries. He is best known for writing Rule of Saint Benedict, an instructional book for monks. It’s still in use by thousands of monks today, who are called Benedictines.

St. Benedict went to Rome early in his life, but was disillusioned by the great city. He left it, became a monk, and lived the rest of his life alternating between solitude and small communities of monks.

This is the essence of the Benedict Option: Retreating to Christian community in a degenerate age, avoiding the toxicity of society altogether.

The Boniface Option

St. Boniface was a Benedictine monk (some irony, there) in England, during his early life. He led a mission to Germany in his middle age, worked for one year before returning to England, and started again by going to Rome. There, he was made the bishop over Germania (a region without a diocese, at the time) by Pope Gregory II. He never returned to England.

He is best known for chopping down Donar’s Oak (or Jupiter’s Oak), which was a sacred tree to the Germanic pagans. Naturally, the pagans who saw this expected him to be struck down by the gods, but when he was not, they converted to Christianity. A church was built out of the tree.

This is the essence of the Boniface Option: Chop down their idols, utterly destroying them. When they’ve nothing left to worship, turn them to Christ.

Our situation

Unfortunately for us, both these options will fail to restore the West to Christ. The Benedict Option is fundamentally disinterested with society, and therefore with social change. The Boniface Option is just the opposite, but it presupposes that there are idols to destroy.

Our enemies have none. What are we to do?

The Constantine Option

Constantine the Great became emperor of Rome in 306 AD. He converted to Christianity in 312, setting a course for the remaining 25 years of his reign.

First with the Chi Rho, perhaps the most prolific Christogram, which was given to him in a vision:

Historical accounts describe Christ appearing to Constantine, instructing him to mark his army’s shields with this symbol. Constantine did so, and won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, crushing rebellion and becoming the sole emperor of Rome.

He delivered the Edict of Milan, which ended persecution of Christians in the empire.

He founded Constantinople, which became the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

He built great churches, including the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

He convened the first ecumenical council: The Council of Nicaea, which produced the Nicene creed still used today.

He restricted the practice of pagan religions, put Christian iconography on the coinage, exempted Christian clergy from certain taxes, and established the Sabbath as a day of rest on Sunday.

This is a playbook we can work with. You want a Christian nation, I want a Christian nation, we all want a Christian nation, and this is how we get (or restore) one. Christianity must be able to assert itself in every social institution, especially the state, if it’s to guide the direction of a society… and it should.

This is the essence of the Constantine Option: Establish Christians in the government among other social institutions, and do not hinder them from applying God’s Law to every sector of public life. It is not persecution, it is not a theocracy, it is simply honoring Christ with our social institutions as with our personal lives.

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God bless you,

The Constantine Option