Manliness
Story Stream
Delaying Manhood, Developing Manliness April 16, 2025
There was a time when boyhood was wild, unstructured and wonderfully messy. When creek beds became racing channels for homemade boats, hay bales transformed into mountain ranges begging to be conquered and backyard disagreements resolved with wrestli...
Men and Boys are Lost. The Church Gives Them a Model of Manliness March 10, 2025
Among my most distinctive memories of growing up Catholic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is accompanying my father to the meetings of our church men’s group, the Holy Name Society. We met in the community space on the bottom floor of the church building, the...
The Functionalist Manifesto: Know Thyself at the Species Level April 15, 2022
How you see the outside world -- and how you govern your relationship with it -- matters most to your earthy success and happiness. I have not figured everything out. But I have a pretty good handle on the functional basics of our species. It turns o...
The Model for Christian Manhood June 24, 2021
When I used to lead women's ministry at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, I helped organize our yearly Women's Retreats. The men, however, never had Men's Retreats. They had Men's Advances. Retreats, as they saw it, were for sissies. Nevermind that the la...
Grasping at Manhood January 23, 2019
A while ago, I was visiting a homeless couple in Los Angeles for an interview when the man—let's call him "Bill"—began to mock another man for being "feminine." I didn't know this other man well, so I couldn't judge his apparent femininity, but I kne...
