Unmanly · Part One
Identifying the Problem
Many Christians assume the church's trouble with men is too little masculinity. The deeper problem is that cultural masculinity functions as a rival sacred-social order, shaping men below the level of conscious decision and recruiting Scripture to confirm what it has already decided. These five questions name the problem before proposing a remedy.
- 01
What is machismo, and why does it matter for Christians?
Machismo refers to a cluster of cultural values and behaviors associated with exaggerated or aggressive masculinity. It often involves physical toughness, emotional stoicism, dominance, bravado, the suppression of vulnerability, and the equation of strength with the willingness to use force.
- 02
Is the Church's Problem Too Little Masculinity, or Too Little Discipleship?
The diagnosis offered by many who are concerned about men and the church is that churches have become feminized. They are too soft, too emotional, and too passive.
- 03
How does cultural masculinity function as part of a rival sacred-social order?
A sacred-social order, as historian Kevin Flatt describes it, is a framework for organizing all of life under a set of suprahuman purposes and authorities. Every culture has one.
- 04
What does it mean to say that masculinity is a cultural construction?
First, we need to distinguish between biological sex and the ideas of masculinity/manhood and femininity/womanhood. God created an orderly world in which "The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind" (Gen 1:12).
- 05
Can Christians use the language of masculinity and femininity at all?
Yes, with considerable care. The terms are so embedded in common usage that abandoning them entirely can create more confusion than clarity.