The Masculine Journey

Resources for My Course on Masculinity

If you’re interested in developing a masculinity course or program for students, young adults, or fathers. We can help! Contact us!

The research and presentation interns: Ben Oldham, Isaiah Fuenzalida, Jackson Holliday, and Eli Hixon

The Course

  • One of the goals of the course is to have the men understand the personal, historical, and social contexts in which they entered the masculine journey and to reframe their futures as men, husbands, and fathers.

  • 14 Weeks, 3 hours per meeting, approximately 1800 pages of reading.

  • In my experience of teaching this course at several schools, the course is more transformative if it’s male-only which allows for greater authenticity and vulnerability. Because of the personal nature of the course, and issues of shame, a co-ed course will leave the male students emotionally on the defensive and they will would most engage in false masculinity postering which would undermine the goal of the experience. A co-ed course would likely need to be a lecture course.

  • The overall goal of the course is life-transformation.

Books

Reading these books in this particular order is extremely important. The basic sequence is this: (1) how is masculinity understood today, (2) how we got there, (3) how does all of this reading apply to your life as a man now and in the future.

This only works if they are required to write something about the readings before each class and reflect on them for the discussion.

(1) Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood, by Jeffery Max

(2) The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It, by Warren Farrell & John Gray

(3) The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities, by Nicholas L. Syrett 

(4) Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920, by Clifford Putney

(5) Wildmen, Warriors, and Kings: Masculine Spirituality and the Bible, by Patrick M. Arnold (this book is only available used)

(6) Fathered by God: Learning What Your Dad Could Never Teach You, by John Eldredge

(7) Fathered by God: A Personal and Small Group Map for Your Masculine Journey, John Eldredge and Craig McConnell (photocopy)

Films

Extensive film analysis essays were written about each film.

  • Last Chance U

  • GOAT

Assignments

  • Weekly 3-4 page analysis of the readings, with two, well-framed interactive questions.

  • Two film Analyses

  • Workbook questions from the Fathered by God map.

Format

  • Seminar style and socratic. I led the first few weeks and then I turned the class over to the men and let them lead their peers in order to raise deep issues relevant to their experience and generation. I gave them instructions on how to lead a class. This would not work well as a lecture courses if the goal is life transformation. The course is specifically designed to fit with men’s learning styles.

Outings/Events

  • Attend a college basketball tournament, as a class, at Madison Square Garden.

  • Shared meal together, in class, and the beginning of each new book.

What I Would Include Next Time

Highly Recommended Books from Earlier Versions of the Course

*(11)Why Men Hate Going To Church, by David Murrow

*(12)The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, by Leon J. Podles

(13) Crisis In Masculinity, by Leanne Payne

(14) Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of A Man’s Soul, John Eldredge

(15) Wild at Heart Field Manual: A Personal Guide to Discover the Secret of Your Masculine Soul, John Eldredge

(16) Fire in the Belly, Sam Keen

(17) The Silence of Adam, Larry Crab