Dear friends and colleagues
A quick note to let you know about my new book, “Numen, Old Men” which,
depending on your whereabouts in the world, is available either now or soon.
Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of
Patriarchy (Equinox Publishing, 2009)
http://www.equinoxpub.com/books/showbook.asp?bkid=330
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.
For further information, see also my short article from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/mar/23/christianity-religion-mens-ministries
Kind regards,
Joseph.
--
Dr Joseph Gelfer
Editor, Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality
.:: www.jmmsweb.org ::.
Adjunct Research Associate
School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University
.:: www.gelfer.net ::.
|