Mason, Eric. Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole. Nashville, TN.: B&H Publishing Group, 2013. 202 + xxi pp. $14.99
Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole is written to take aim at the modern epidemic of absent men. Often, even in their physical presence, this absence remains, and has become that which is characterizing an entire generation. This absence is felt in homes, society, places of work, and places of worship as another generation grows up without the help and guidance of fathers. He writes:
“Tonight, about 40 percent of American children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. Before they reach the age of eighteen, more than half of our nation’s children are likely to spend at least a significant portion of their childhoods living apart from their fathers. Never before in this country have so many children been voluntarily abandoned by their father” (21).
The solution to such a painful reality, according to Eric Mason (founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is none other than the redemption of manhood. And this redemption is only possible when Jesus is presented as the example of biblical masculinity. “From beginning to end, God has a purpose for men. It’s a purpose that’s been lost but, in and through Jesus Christ, one that might yet be recovered” (4).
Mason writes in a pastoral manner that biblically identifies the problem, biblically presents the solution, and biblically reveals the results of the solution. The problem is the absence of biblical masculinity. The solution is a renewed and redeemed understanding that Jesus is “the prototype” of what manhood was intended to be (45). In his life and actions, Jesus not only reveals what masculinity looks like, but provides the means by which humanity can be restored to the very source of manhood – God the Father. This renewed understanding and restoration to the Father affect five major areas according to Mason: worldview, sexuality, vision, family, and the church.
Mason writes as a man to men, calling them to more than a monthly breakfast meeting or Bible study – calling them to give up their lives for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of their wives, for the sake of their children, for the sake of their communities, and for the sake of the church. This is not the feminized-Christianity that has arisen out of a world void of masculinity, but rather the gospel-soaked, Christ-exalting, biblical masculinity expressed in laying down one’s own life for the sake of Christ.
This is what has been missing in so many churches and cities around the world. Pick up a copy. Read it. Give it away. And jump in with both feet.
Eric Mason, Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole
I received this book free from the publisher through the B&H book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
