Since the early 1990s there have been various movements designed to encourage'masculine spirituality'. All these movements share a concern that spirituality has become too feminine and that men's experiences of the spiritual are being marginalized. The task of masculine spirituality is to promote'authentic'masculine characteristics within a spiritual context. Numen, Old Men examines these characteristics to argue that masculine spirituality is thinly veiled patriarchy. The mythopoetic, evangelical, and Catholic men's movements are shown to promote a hetero-patriarchal spirituality by appealing to either combative and oppressive neo-Jungian archetypes or biblical models of man as the leader of the family. Numen, Old Men examines spiritualities that aim to honour and transcend both the masculine and feminine, and offers gay spirituality as an example of masculine spirituality that resists patriarchy.

Gelfer, Joseph

London ; Oakville, CT: Equinox

Equinox Publishing Ltd

Taylor and Francis

Gender, theology, and spirituality, London, Oakville, CT, England, 2009

Gender, Theology and Spirituality, Florence, 2016

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

1, PS, 2009

2014

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Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

Since the early 1990s, there have been various waves of interest in what is often described as "masculine spirituality". While diverse, a commonality among these interests has been a concern that spirituality has become too feminine, and that men's experiences of the spiritual are being marginalized. Masculine spirituality is therefore about promoting what it perceives to be authentic masculine characteristics within a spiritual context. By examining the nature of these characteristics, Numen, Old Men argues that masculine spirituality is little more than a thinly veiled patriarchal spirituality. The mythopoetic, evangelical, and to a lesser extent Catholic men's movements all promote a heteropatriarchal spirituality by appealing to neo-Jungian archetypes of a combative and oppressive nature, or understanding men's role as biblically ordained leader of the family. Numen, Old Men then examines Ken Wilber's integral spirituality, which aims to honour and transcend both the masculine and feminine, but which privileges the former to the extent where it becomes another masculine spirituality, with all its inherent patriarchal problems. Gay spirituality is then offered as a form of masculine spirituality, which to a large degree resists patriarchal tendencies, suggesting a queering of spirituality could be useful for all men, both gay and straight.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- Chapter One Introduction -- Framing Masculine Spirituality -- Discussion of Terms -- Men's Studies in Religion -- Chapter Outline -- Chapter Two The Mythopoetic Movement: Getting it Wrong from the Start -- Archetypes -- Wild(er)ness -- Fatherlessness -- Initiation -- Sam Keen: The Exception to the Rule? -- Conclusion -- Chapter Three The Evangelical Men's Movement: Networking, Violence and Sport -- Promise Keepers: Neither the First nor the Last -- Evangelical Mythopoeticism

Argues that masculine spirituality is more than a thinly veiled patriarchal spirituality. This work examines Ken Wilber's integral spirituality which aims to honour and transcend both the masculine and feminine, but which privileges the former to the extent where it becomes another masculine spirituality, with its inherent patriarchal problems.

x, 223 p. ; 25 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-216) and index

Joseph Gelfer. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [197]-216) And Index.

2024-07-01