Rod Dreher – författare

Have you ever felt implicit pressure to ''go along'' with something you believe not to be true?

Since Live Not by Lies was originally published in 2020 with a warning for America, many have seen in Europe and other Western nations an acceleration of ''soft totalitarianism'' in our societies. Whether it is the effects of cancel culture online because of progressive voices marginalising conservative opinions, or the unprecedented restrictions of civil liberties in response to Covid-19, people feel coerced to go along with the approved narrative on whatever topic, even if, secretly, we may believe the truth is somewhat different.

Rod Dreher believe this represents a creeping ''soft'' totalitarianism, where ''safety'' is seen as paramount and technology is increasingly employed in its pursuit. As we sleepwalk through the erosion of our freedoms, we hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state that restricts our ability to make decisions about our own lives.

In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism in the former Soviet bloc and who see similarities today in the West. He draws on the experience of brave dissidents - some, like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, known worldwide, but many others whose quiet heroism is revealed here for the first time - who offer practical advice for how to identify this trend and resist it. Live Not By Lies aims to wake us and equip us for the long resistance.

In 2018, at the end of a speech Rod Dreher gave in Genoa, an artist gave him an engraving by his own hand. In broken English, the artist explained that he was in his studio that afternoon when the Holy Spirit told him that he should come hear Rod Dreher, and give him a particular drawing of an obscure medieval saint. None of this made sense to Dreher until two years later, lost in depression and confusion, the saint - a Tuscan hermit named Galgano - appeared in Dreher''s life again under circumstances that did not at all seem coincidental, sending Dreher on a search for God''s will for his life. A lifetime of experiencing mystical events and collecting stories from others has solidified Dreher''s Christian faith, and convinced him that God reveals himself to us all the time - but we in the modern West have lost our capacity to sense God''s presence. How did this happen to us, but not to other peoples in the world? Can it be reversed? If so, how?

LIVING IN WONDER tells the story of how the West became "disenchanted", and gives practical advice - based on history, cultural anthropology, and neuroscience, as well as the testimonies of monks of the ancient Church - on how to regain one''s sense of wonder and awareness of the divine. Told through real-life stories of people who experienced miracles, visitations by saints and angels, and in some cases wrestled with demons, this book will open your mind to the reality that the material world is not all there is, and that God is not as silent and as elusive as you might think. You just need to learn how to see with clear eyes.

Join Rod Dreher as he explores why ''contemporary'' Christianity seems so empty, and why so many young people are walking away from it. He argues that the enchanted sacramental vision of the church of the first millennium is still true, only hidden, and that the experience of God is something that can happen to anyone - if they are willing to take the risk.

Our churches are beset by challenges. From the outside, they are beset by a rapidly secularizing culture. From the inside, they''re being hollowed out by the departure of young people and a watered-down spirituality. Many believers are blind to it, and their churches are too weak to resist. Those who notice are often frightened, and wonder what went wrong and what they can do about these trends.The Benedict Option is a guide for Christians under siege - a strategy that draws on the authority of scripture and the wisdom of the ancient church. The goal: to embrace exile from mainstream culture and construct a resilient counterculture. In this visionary book, Dreher urges today''s faithful to be new St Benedicts, building up local churches, creating new schools and taking up practices that can help them face today''s world with confidence.Horrified by the moral chaos following Rome''s fall, St Benedict - a sixth-century monk - retreated to the forest and created a new way of life. He built enduring communities based on order, hospitality, stability and prayer. His spiritual centres of hope saved not just Christianity but Western civilization.The Benedict Option is both manifesto and rallying cry for Christians who, if they are not to be conquered anew, must learn how to fight on culture war battlefields like none the West has seen for fifteen hundred years. It''s for all mere Chris­tians - Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox - who can read the signs of the times. Neither false optimism nor fatalistic despair will do. Only faith, hope, and love, embodied in a renewed church, can sustain us. These are the days for building strong arks for the long journey across a sea of night.