First of all, I just want to say that I really love the podcast. I’ve especially enjoyed the last four episodes (Young UMC Clergy and Positive Deviance). Unfortunately, the Leonard Sweet episodes were too hard to understand, so I gave up on them a few minutes into those episodes.

Anyway, I have a couple of thoughts on positive deviance. I had heard of this concept before when I read Surfing the Edge of Chaos, so I have a tiny little bit of an idea of what it is.

My thoughts have to do with the idea of monastic movements being examples of positive deviance. I’m not totally convinced that that’s what they were–at least not in the sense of this new study of positive deviance.

Positive deviance, as far as I can tell, has to do with discovering beneficial practices done by a few that can then be replicated within the context of those people to help the entire society (or tribe, or church, or whatever). It seems to me that a simple breaking off to form a monastic society might not really be positive deviance because it isn’t the kind of thing that can be replicated in the culture at large.

Or maybe it can, but it simply never has. I’m not an expert on this (so correct me if I’m wrong), but it seems that monastic movements tend step out of the culture rather than finding a way to replicate their positive practices in a way that is helpful to others in the culture.

Anyway, I’m kind of thinking while I’m writing. I hope this makes sense. But I’d love to keep this dialogue going because I think there is definitely something we can learn from this idea of positive deviance.

Markus