Towards A Masculine Spirituality

Anyone who has ever been to church knows that women 'rule the pews.'

Books such as Why Men Hate Going to Church and The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity have grappled with this matter. For the authors of these books, it comes as no surprise that a religion whose central figure came to reveal God's unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness, should appeal predominantly to women—more specifically —middle-aged to elderly women.

By contrast Islam, the fastest growing religion in the world, appears immune to this problem. Perhaps because Islam calls its followers to live upright lives and thus partake in the cosmic battle against the forces of evil—a message that is not lost upon any man who can recall the primordial appeal of a comic book.

Maybe Christianity should follow suit in order to bring back the men? Many Christians Evangelicals do in fact promulgate such a worldview with a ‘fire and brimstone’ theology…

But I allow me to suggest another way. I am convinced that the most the most fruitful path to reclaiming a masculine spirituality does not involve taking up arms in cosmic warfare, but rather in engaging the inner struggles of the spiritual life.

In The Experience of Nothingness (1970), Michael Novak writes: "Religion is a conversion from the ordinary, given secure world into a world of nothingness, terror, and risk." As important as it is to understand and celebrate God’s merciful nature, we would be deluding ourselves in thinking that approaching God is as harmless as approaching a loving grandmother for a hug.

Approaching God is nothing short of traumatic.

I say this not to undermine God’s loving nature, but because approaching God involves awakening from our delusions, abandoning our false comforts, confronting the lies we tell ourselves—and owning up to the pain all this has caused to others, especially to those we love the most.

Think of a doctor who must break the limb of a patient so that the bones can be correctly re-set. In the spiritual life, this rebreaking is known as humility and repentance: it is the breaking that heals.

This is not to say that we must not speak of God’s love and mercy; it is only to say that we cannot talk about God without talking about the path to God, which involves intensive spiritual bravery--and even great suffering.

Theologian Karl Rahner used to pray: “Lord give me the strength and courage to be worthy of being called a Christian.” May Rahner’s prayer remind us of the masculine spirituality that has the potential bring men back to the pews.