Manhood Part 1 [Hawley]

Dave and Bethlie discuss the book Manhood by Senator Josh Hawley. 

1. About the Author:
   1. Represents Missouri in US Senate
   2. First Amendment Lawyer and law professor
   3. Former Attorney General of Missouri
   4. They live in Ozark MO and have three children
2. About the Book:
   1. Senator Hawley addresses an issue that concerns many in our world today - the issue of masculinity under attack.  
   2. He calls this issue a crisis and I agree
3. Why I love the book:
   1. It is good and offers a perspective that is sometimes outside of my realm
   2. He shows how manhood was perceived in the Greek and Roman era
   3. He has great illustrations from his own experiences growing up in a rural area
   4. He build a model of manhood following the Bible, the Word of God
4. What is the point?
   1. Senator Hawley shows the essential virtues a man should cultivate
   2. Shows why a man has to be a warrior, builder, priest, and king
   3. Show the important of courage and commitment as the starting point for manhood
   4. Shows the philosophy behind modern liberalism and offers evidence of why it is so destructive to our nation as a whole.
5. The chapters;
   1. 2 Parts
   2. 10 chapters
      1. In the Beginning
      2. A Man's Mission
      3. A Man's Battle 
      4. A Man's Promise
      5. Husband
      6. Father
      7. Warrior
      8. Builder
      9. Priest
      10. King

Chapter 1 

1. General patterns
   1. Living Habits and Work
      1. More and more young men remain at home
      2. 50 % of Lower skilled young men in their 20s who have a job still live at home (or with a close relative)
      3. If they don't have a job, 70% still live at home.
      4. 2015 - 1/4 of young men 20-20 had no work at all
      5. In 1970, 95 percent of 30 years old made more money then their fathers had
      6. In 2014, only 44 percent did
   2. Underperformance at school
      1. 70% of Ds and Fs are given to boys
      2. By 8th grade, only 20% of boys are proficient in writing
      3. At same age, only 24% can earn proficient scores on reading exams
      4. Boys now make up 2/3 of students in remedial programs, not because their intelligence is lower, but because they aren't trying!
   3. What do young men do with their time?
      1. Screens
      2. Leisure
      3. Porn
      4. Another way of saying it is:  Socializing, relaxing, leisure
         1. Vast amount of leisure time includes video games and porn
   4. These young men are now battling depression and drug abuse at historic levels and the results have been disastrous
   5. Liberalism is the philosophy behind it all
      1. Liberalism believes that western society is unequal unjust and corrupt to its foundations
         1. Masculinity is one of the foundations and it must be "smashed" for man to be free
   6. Senator Hawley's point is that the answer to our masculine crisis is "the oldest and most profound story there is. It is the story of the Bible"

 

Chapter 2 places an emphasis on man's purpose by tracing our story back to the garden of Eden

 

Chapter 3 places an emphasis on man's responsibility and duty

 

Chapter 4 is especially worth considering

1. It details how masculinity became something oppressive, something to be avoided and eradicated
   1. In chapter 3, he introduces the readers to Epicurus and to Rousseau and showed how that their ideology lead to men throwing off all responsibility and choosing only to do what they wanted to do.  Their happiness and their fulfillment was the only reason to live
   2. In this chapter, he show how the followers of Karl Marx paved the way for the attack on modern masculinity
      1. It saw traditional culture as the enemy; especially Christianity
      2. From there, it attacked femininity and masculinity
      3. Senator Hawley gives ample illustrations of how this is being taught in our schools and in our institutions and how it is destroy our nation as we know it