The idea of creating a “rule of life” has had a resurgence in modern Christianity. Books like Comer’s Practicing the Way urges readers to examine their lives and consider what life with God should look like in day-to-day, month-to month, year-to-year routine.

Stephen A. Macchia’s Crafting a Rule of Life is a workbook suitable for individual or small group use. In it, the reader is led through a process of self-examination (Part One) before considering what elements would suit their rule of life (Part Two). The final section of the book explores what our lives could look like in community.

It is this third part—the chapters on community—that are some of the most significant, even as they highlight the tension in adapting a “rule of life” in a busy Western individualistic context. The “rule of life” concept came from the monastery, a setting where monks lived, prayed, and practiced life together. When transplanted into an individualistic culture, the exercise has the potential to devolve into navel-gazing and aspirational goal-setting.

Crafting a Rule of Life is a helpful book for walking people through a deep examination of their lives. I am not yet convinced that the creation of a personal (i.e., “individual”) rule is a beneficial exercise.

Macchia, Stephen A. Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to a Well-Ordered Way. Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2012.