Marginal Christianity

Jordan Peterson wants to help men reclaim their masculinity and lead successful productive lives in a world where chaos and disorder reign making it particularly hard on men to be all they can and must, for the health of society, be. The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre sagely observes that one cannot know how to live if one does not know the story of which he or she is a part. Peterson, therefore, calls men to embrace a different story than the one(s) currently dominating North America. The response he has generated shows he has struck a nerve for many more than a few people. He’s found a live and important concern – we are living by a false story about who we are and what we are to be about in the world. The itch he scratches is palpable, perennial, and profound. -Palpable because it involves how we actually live, our interface with the world, the quality of our relationships, and the character of our influence on others. It matters . -Perennial because it never goes away, is ...

Written by: Anthony Bradley Published on: February 12, 2018 ·            F or about a month now, I’ve been trying to sort out why so many of my male students—Christian guys in their twenties—are such huge fans of Jordan Peterson . By the end of chapter two of his new book, The Twelve Rules for Life , I had my answer. Peterson understands something about the world of men that evangelical pastors seem to have been clueless about for almost thirty years. It is simply this: since the 1980s, young men have been shamed and emasculated in a culture determined to destroy the archetypal masculinity of figures like Jesus Christ. How We Got Here Evangelical pastors and leaders have been exegeting the culture of men from an outdated, mid-1960s cultural playbook—a playbook that often reduced men to lustful sinners who think too highly of themselves and need to be tamed by someone reminding them of their destined depravity. Exc...