Tools for Peace: The Spiritual Craft of St. Benedict and René Girard

by Andrew Marr

A sixth-century abbot who wrote a practical rule for his community and a twentieth-century thinker who has roamed through literature, cultural anthropology, and religious thought-what would these two men have in common to generate a conversation between them? The religious study "Tools for Peace: The Spiritual Craft of St. Benedict and René Girard" combines their insights on how to understand and overcome violence in the world today. In his Rule for monks, St. Benedict explored ways that people can live in peace with one another and with God. René Girard probed human experience to seek the roots of violence that tears human communities apart and separates people from God. A dialogue between this abbot and this modern thinker across fifteen centuries deepens the insights of both into the causes and cures of human violence and gives us the tools to apply their ideas in our troubled world.

For both St. Benedict and Girard, peace is rooted in God. Anyone who yearns for harmony in the midst of the violence that surrounds us today can learn much from Tools for Peace, essentially joining in a conversation between two people who share a desire for the serenity of God for all times.

Genres: Religion, Theology

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Andrew Marr is a monk of St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, a Benedictine monastery in the Episcopal Church where he lives a life of worship. He has written a book "Tools for Peace: the Spiritual Craft of St. Benedict and René Girard on Benedictine spirituality and peace. He also writes fantasy fiction to express the depths and delight of the spiritual journey. These stories are published under the titles: Born in the Darkest Time of Year: Stories for the Season of the Christ Child, Creatures We Dream of Knowing: Stories of our Life Together, and From Beyond to Here: Merendael's Gift and Other Stories.

Reviews

[Anthony Bartlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Marr belongs to the deep underlying level of the Christian tradition which has sought always to make an entire, coherent lifestyle out of New Testament faith. There are many forms of this radical tendency but his is one of the most ancient and enduring. Andrew is a Benedictine monk, at St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan, a monastery in the Episcopal church. He is also a man of his time, an astute reader of contemporary thought and culture, especially as distilled in the work of anthropologist Rene' Girard. Andrew, the monk, has turned to the revolutionary modern unpacking of human nature given us by Girard, in order to describe more persuasively than ever the meaning of the monastic life. The practical wisdom mined from his years in community is honed with the laser insights of mimetic theory, the understanding of humanity which tells us that individuals are always in a fragile relationship of imitated desires. Suddenly the tried and tested insistence by Benedict on prayer, humility, obedience, gentleness and kindness takes on a very fresh contemporary feel. Andrew's subtle humor and engaging style draw the reader anew into the profound purpose of monastic disciplines. Only in these ways, or ones very similar, is the raging tendency to human conflict calmed into something peaceful and at the same time beautifully transcendent. "Tools for Peace" can and should be picked up by anyone seeking a truly human way to live in the midst of modern anxiety and violence.

[5greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great stuff in here. Nice concept that works really well.

[Adam Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marr is a monk in the Episcopal Church, and his book reflects a lifetime to direct experience and learning about community. He intelligently and artfully draws the Rule of St. Benedict, the guiding document for monastic life in the Christian tradition, with the work of Rene Girard on mimetic violence and conflict, and shows a way in which they can together create communities of peace and harmony. A captivating book.