| |
Hi folks,
I thought you might be interested in my new book, Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy (London: Equinox Publishers, 2009): http://tinyurl.com/desl9s
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.
|
Help
Sign In
RSS Feed
Permalink
Print
Email
