GR: Friday, June 11, 2021
Masculinity x4. What is happening to evangelicals? Sinatra, the perfectionist.
Masculinity X4
Good things come in threes, and sometimes in fours. The idea of masculinity is, of course, under assault these days. But I’m one of those Neanderthals who continues to believe it’s a real thing. It’s one of those fundamental realities of life, like beauty: impossible to define but you know it when you see it. Here are four articles that give different glimpses into masculinity and some challenges men face today.
Tradcons Are the Enemy of the American Man. In this review, Aaron Renn makes a compelling case that the very people who seem to be defending men (traditional conservatives) are actually undermining them.
Education and Masculinity—An Interview with Will Knowland. As the Quillette interview says in the introduction:
In the following interview, Knowland reflects on education, free speech, male teachers, and the need for society and educators to accept that “stoicism, competitiveness, aggression, and dominance cannot be dismissed as intrinsically toxic, nor can men be redesigned from scratch.”
Why should you care about what Will Knowland thinks? Also from the introduction:
Masculinity is at the heart of the dispute that led to the English teacher’s dismissal from Eton. When a female colleague complained about Knowland’s Patriarchy Paradox video, the school demanded he remove it from his personal YouTube channel. Knowland’s refusal to do so without being given a reason, eventually resulted in the father of five being removed from his post.
The Real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months. This one could be titled “Boys Will Not be Boys.” The male species is not always boorish, as this fascinating story shows.
No Legal Objection, Per Se. This is not about men as such, but it is about an experience that more men than women face, given the male-dominated demographics of the military. I include it here as an example of the ambiguity and moral guilt many military men have to live with, though on the surface they might look as if everything’s fine.
This is a story about how a lawyer’s professional responsibilities, when tossed into the pressure cooker of combat, can produce unpalatable consequences; a story about the reaches of war and post-traumatic stress and moral injury on its less obvious participants; and how the hidden costs of war may be more expansive than we realize.
In short, masculinity—it’s complicated.
What Is Happening to Evangelicals?
It’s hardly news that the contemporary movement called evangelicalism is disintegrating before our eyes. Where the fractures are exactly, what has caused them, and what all it will lead to—many commentators are analyzing this phenomenon. This article in Mere Orthodoxy—"The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism"—is a worthy contribution to the subject.
I’d be interested in hearing from GR readers as to what you think are the main challenges for contemporary evangelicalism, and if the movement does or does not have a future. Or if you even care!
The Perfectionist Sinatra
Speaking of someone who symbolized masculinity in another time, there’s Frank Sinatra. I’m unclear why I find this video of his recording of “It Was a Very Good Year” so interesting. Perhaps it is his attention to detail, his professionalism in understanding and working his craft. Complicates the stereotype of him as a carefree bad boy.
Grace and peace,
Mark Galli
mark.galli.com