Another
excerpt from Hearty Masculinity.
When
you read through some of these men’s books, they like to attach themselves to
religion, Christianity in particular, in one of two ways.
On one hand, these folks often make the case that
religions empower civilization, and that Christianity[1]
in particular is the “juice” that keeps western civilization moving. They’re
saying that affirmations of right Christian belief and the hierarchical
structure of the church, fused to masculine virtue, is the only thing keeping
the Western world from utter collapse.
On the other hand, there is a sleight of hand that
some of these guys do,[2]
sometimes even in the same breath that they affirm traditional Christian
Orthodoxy, where they present themselves as a Jungian/Bultmann-esque[3]
shaman-like figure who can crack open what all those silly Christians are
saying and get to the meat of it, which is… whatever program they’re selling.
Christianity is actually about overcoming your dominant father. Christianity is
actually about re-writing your own story through native American or Egyptian
archetypes. Christianity is actually about owning your own property and
marrying a trad wife. In short, if you squint at the Christian story, you’ll
see Christians have gotten it wrong for 2,000 years and -insert guru here-
alone has the magical key to unlock the real meaning of the faith.
Whenever I run into this type of thing, I ponder and
puzzle over their focus being either on orthodoxy, even when they’re affirming
some pretty out-there and heterodox stuff, or the hierarchy and structures of
the Church. To my way of thinking, top down authority structures and a ridged
set of beliefs, aren’t the stuff of life—and Christ comes that we might have
life and have it abundantly. These aspects of religion that the manosophere
fixates on might make you more susceptible to joining a cult, but they’re not
going to lead to a good life. They’re not going to help your life flow with
meaning and purpose and joy.
So, just as I offered you a different perspective—that
of a man with a heart condition—in the first half of the book, I’ll be doing
the same here. Instead of structure or belief as the starting point, what
happens if we begin with practice? Instead of heady orthodoxy, let’s be
grounded orthopraxy; instead of the heights of hierarchy, let’s notice the
connection points between worship and life!
I’ll begin by giving you a basic sense of what is
going on in worship, specifically that there are seven things Christians have
consistently done in worship since we started describing worship. Then I want
to tell you how those things have made me a better man and point out how its
absence has made our world worse—I’ll be making the case that these worship
practices are good both individually and societally. Next, I’ll take a little
time to ground the Seven Central Things in scripture, as people often accuse
liturgical churches of skimping in that area. Finally, I’ll get to the heart of
the matter and name some ways each of these seven movements of the worship
service point you to the good life, wrapping each one up with a question that
might be useful for you.
[1]
Paul Kingsnorth, Against Christian Civilization in First Things,
January 2025 is an excellent reflection on why this line of logic goes against
that man we find preaching in Galilee and crucified on a Roman cross.
[2]
I’m looking at you Jordan Peterson.
[3]
Jung a psychologist who focused on archetypes. Bultmann a theologian known for
“demythologizing” the Greek New Testament.
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