In the words of the author, this is a brief text which has its origin from a talk given to professionals about “how to make Christ, and man, as a creature of God, present in social life, politics, the arts, the lifestyles of the post-secular environments where we find ourselves today”. The text starts with a brief description of the social and religious coordinates in Spain, Europe and the West in general. It provides some statistics regarding religious practice that point to secularization and concludes with this statement: “a broad strata of the Western population live in complete religious illiteracy”. Up to this point, the text goes through an already known story.
Perhaps the originality it brings is the synthesis of “the great options” for believers. One option is outlined in the Gospel of Luke 9:54: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”. It is not considered, logically, as an option, but as a temptation: the rejection of the contemporary world that we are living in. The second option is the “Benedictine option: a haven of common sense in the midst of barbarity”, in reference to the famous book of Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, which is about what Saint Benedict did with his monasteries to preserve, for posterity, the synthesis of classical and Christian culture in the times of the barbarian invasion. The Gregorian Option: creative minorities that inspire the west, is the third option; in reference to the reforms of St Gregory the Great and St Gregory VII.The former relied on the minorities formed by Irish monks to evangelize the continent, and the latter, on the monks of Cluny. The fourth option included is called “The Escrivá Option: transforming the world from the inside” in reference to St Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, and his message of sanctification of work and of the family and social realities in the middle of the world.
The author demonstrates that these options are not mutually incompatible and that there are many more possibilities. In his conclusion, he offers some specific objectives which go through improving the Christian formation of the lay faithful and an increased attention to the way of transmitting the Christian message. The books which support the text’s line of thought are also interesting, especially How to Defend the Faith without Raising your Voice by Austen Ivereigh and Kathryn Jean Lopez