I do not have a high degree of hope for any version of movement conservatism, towards which I remain skeptical. I put much more stock in what amounts to monasticism, in the broadest sense, which includes all of the crunchy virtues Rod discusses and more, though in a very natural and inarticulate way. This would include the many lay movements in the Church, local economic coalitions, and various traditional cultures that do much more doing than speaking and theorizing. One does not need to theorize how to view and engage secular modernity if one daily concentrates on self-sacrifice, prayer, and simply doing the work of God and disciplining the body and mind to order themselves according to their place and heritage. One of the great things about the book is in the way Rod shows many such “ordinary” people doing just this.

Is crunchy conservatism necessary? No. In fact, it may be in danger of posing an additional hurdle to real recovery by becoming just another lifestyle option in a culture awash with narcissistic lifestyle choices (a danger I think Rod recognizes in the book). Is an authentically conservative response to the challenges of late modernity necessary? Yes, now more than ever. ~Caleb Stegall

I want to return to Mr. Stegall’s remarks about “monasticism,” but I’m afraid that I must run to get to classical Armenian on time. I’ll add more later.