I was confused throughout the post. From a Catholic viewpoint, the last thing I would expect would be emphasis on manliness in Christianity. Sexuality is, perhaps, the strongest aspect in manliness. And Catholicism has been almost anti-manly from its beginnings. Perhaps it had to do with Jesus himself being single and, apparently, sexless. That, in itself, arouses doubt, if not distrust in many, maybe most, men.
And the early adoption of priestly celibacy introduces sexual problems, beyond the normal human desire, into the Church. It still affects recruitment into the priesthood and magnifies abnormal sexuality within the Church. There is not much in Roman Catholicism that is attractive to me, and the twin evils of celibacy and hierarchy repel me.
Even within Protestantism, hierarchy and deviant sexuality are rampant. Hierarchy is aberrant from Jesus' teachings. Deviant sexuality always accompanies attempts to stamp out sex by fiat. Just say no, when said, is heard as, I don't want to say no. And God, even in the incarnate Jesus, never says no to rightly viewed sex. In fact, in the beginning, said for mankind to go forth and multiply. The adversary consistently perverts everything.
In short, religion learned from politics (or vise versa) to insert themselves into every aspect of peoples' lives, even (sometimes especially) the most intimate relationships. That is why women outnumber men in most religions. And is why the least Christian religions, the ones that feature temple prostitutes and polygamous ones attract more men. The fate of Christianity, for it to survive, depends on returning to teaching Biblical sex.
“Justification” is about what Jesus has done for us because of how he loves us, and the grace he’s given us that he can’t earn. The only thing wrong we can do is resist his love, and the only thing we need to do is let our self-reliance and accept his love, and he will make us Holy. “Sanctification” is growing to become more Christlike, which you do by partnering with God to overcome your weaknesses enough to become who he’s called you to be, and to save the world from the darkness of The Devil. Churches trying to appeal to women tend to stress justification while ones appealing to men stress sanctification. The former accuse the latter of “works based righteousness” and the latter accuse the former of “cheap grace”.
Really interesting review, thanks. Since your review of First Man I've been mulling over your use of the term "mental health through empowerment" as being the model that works best for men, and it sounds as if that same model recurs here, applied to the spiritual life rather than mental health as such.
The Catholic priesthood ought to be a rich source of stories like this, but I suspect rather too many seminary directors etc. have tended to emphasise the feminine approach to spirituality in recent decades for that to be the case.
I was confused throughout the post. From a Catholic viewpoint, the last thing I would expect would be emphasis on manliness in Christianity. Sexuality is, perhaps, the strongest aspect in manliness. And Catholicism has been almost anti-manly from its beginnings. Perhaps it had to do with Jesus himself being single and, apparently, sexless. That, in itself, arouses doubt, if not distrust in many, maybe most, men.
And the early adoption of priestly celibacy introduces sexual problems, beyond the normal human desire, into the Church. It still affects recruitment into the priesthood and magnifies abnormal sexuality within the Church. There is not much in Roman Catholicism that is attractive to me, and the twin evils of celibacy and hierarchy repel me.
Even within Protestantism, hierarchy and deviant sexuality are rampant. Hierarchy is aberrant from Jesus' teachings. Deviant sexuality always accompanies attempts to stamp out sex by fiat. Just say no, when said, is heard as, I don't want to say no. And God, even in the incarnate Jesus, never says no to rightly viewed sex. In fact, in the beginning, said for mankind to go forth and multiply. The adversary consistently perverts everything.
In short, religion learned from politics (or vise versa) to insert themselves into every aspect of peoples' lives, even (sometimes especially) the most intimate relationships. That is why women outnumber men in most religions. And is why the least Christian religions, the ones that feature temple prostitutes and polygamous ones attract more men. The fate of Christianity, for it to survive, depends on returning to teaching Biblical sex.
This is a theologically incompetent paragraph.
“Justification” is about what Jesus has done for us because of how he loves us, and the grace he’s given us that he can’t earn. The only thing wrong we can do is resist his love, and the only thing we need to do is let our self-reliance and accept his love, and he will make us Holy. “Sanctification” is growing to become more Christlike, which you do by partnering with God to overcome your weaknesses enough to become who he’s called you to be, and to save the world from the darkness of The Devil. Churches trying to appeal to women tend to stress justification while ones appealing to men stress sanctification. The former accuse the latter of “works based righteousness” and the latter accuse the former of “cheap grace”.
Really interesting review, thanks. Since your review of First Man I've been mulling over your use of the term "mental health through empowerment" as being the model that works best for men, and it sounds as if that same model recurs here, applied to the spiritual life rather than mental health as such.
The Catholic priesthood ought to be a rich source of stories like this, but I suspect rather too many seminary directors etc. have tended to emphasise the feminine approach to spirituality in recent decades for that to be the case.