Forging a New Masculinity
A while back I wrote a post on The Case for Post-Patriarchal Manhood, a post that I stand by in terms of diagnosing the current crisis around masculinity and proposing a tentative solution for how to address it.
On the back of that, I’m glad to announce that I’ll be speaking at a virtual seminar run by Christians for Biblical Equality along with several distinguished speakers on Forging a New Masculinity, with a specific focus on “Nice Guys”, “Toxic Masculinity”, Biblical Manhood”? Can we get beyond the stereotypes & forge a better way?
Save the date: 22 July, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Melbourne time.
The speakers will canvass several interesting areas such as:
1. How fixed are notions of men and women in the bible? ( Are our cultural ideas of masculinity really sourced from the bible or from Aristotelean/Greek thinking)
2. Does being a man mean being in charge?
3. Should men strive for power? (Or instead embody selflessness and sacrifice)?
4. How can men take some affirmative action to embody a new masculinity?
It is $25 or $10 for students.
Register here!
Listen up, whether you are egalitarian or complementarian, you have to admit that this is a hot topic and an important matter relating to everything from raising boys, to ministry training, types of church leadership culture, to creating equitable and safe workplaces. You don’t want to miss it!
Dr Bird,
Will it be recorded for those not in the land down under?
Notice most mass shootings are young white males followed by middle age white males. Those who survive indicate problems with being accepted, self identity, etc. Apart from the issue of gender ideas from the Bible, many boys (and girls) are experiencing identity crisis. They don't know what they are or what they are supposed to be or how to fit into being masculine.
WWII kids understood an idea of manhood and dealt with bullies and their own sexual misconduct. It wasn't without issues, but boys learned responsibility and their place in the community. A by-product of the social gender issues over the past sixty years is a lot of lost and frustrated men. Their violence is about their own individual psychology. They don't have a particular adversary, so the violence is random - schools, churches, minorities, and business frequented by minorities. Unlike minorities or women, they don't know who the "enemy" is. Therefore, they shoot up symbolic targets to cause as much pain as possible.. Yes, they are angry, but the anger is from the pain of isolation from not seeing a socially acceptable gender role defined by the society. The fact is, society has denied any masculine role is acceptable. Society wants men to be feminine.
Hope this gets expressed in the seminar.