The End of Men? is the latest conversation starter from the Centre for Public Christianity in the Re:Considered series.
Written by CPX’s executive director, Simon Smart, this short and highly accessible book is a realistic but optimistic contribution to one of the fundamental issues in any culture: What does it mean to be a good man?
There has been a growing storm in the West around the answer to this question for the past 40 or 50 years, with an increasing bias towards the negative. Drawing on what the author has elsewhere described as experiences of “really healthy male environments but also quite unhealthy ones”, he seeks to “find a way to talk about [manhood] such that it might lead to outcomes in which we’re contributing to the common good”.
The book is not, however, a collection of anecdotes trapped in the nostalgic reflections of a man in his mid-50s. Neither is there the current, somewhat incessant talk of “building a legacy”. Rather, one of the great strengths of the book is the way the author has synthesised the most pertinent observations by a wide range of writers on the topic – whether it be Susan Faludi, Steve Biddulph or Jordan Peterson. In an environment easily given to polarisation, The End of Men? shows a willingness to listen to wisdom from all sectors for the common good.
The book is an attempt to offer some recommendations for the way men can be better men, and in a way that will help boys want to be those men. Like most things produced by CPX, The End of Men? is for a non-Christian audience. It’s the kind of short, sharp injection of thought that could well boost the dialogue of an ongoing relationship among friends and family.
“There is a lot more,” Smart says, “to being a man than is frequently offered in social or old media”. Resting in “the ancient wisdom” of power in the self-sacrificial service of others, The End of Men? could easily be the first steps on a path of hope for the men and boys you know who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus. SC
The Rev Dr David Höhne is the academic dean of Moore College, and lectures in Christian doctrine and philosophy.
