My Review of “The Masculine Mandate” by Rick Phillips

The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men by Richard D. Phillips

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[The review on this blog is and updated and revised and is therefore more current and not identical with the older version found on Goodreads. Other reviews on this blog can be found under the category aptly called “Reviews.”]

In his book, The Masculine Mandate, Richard Phillips* challenges society’s understanding of sexuality, marriage, and gender roles (especially manhood, as the title suggests) with the portrait given us by Scripture in the beginning chapters of Genesis. His thesis is that men are called to work and keep God’s creation. They are to be productive nurturers and cause things to grow and come into fruition under God’s divine plan and economy. And they are also called to protect, main, and guard that which they have lovingly nurtured. Interestingly, he completely rejects society’s notion that women should be the primary nurturers in the family! Instead, the Bible, he contends, “calls men to be cultivator, and that includes a significant emphasis on tending the hearts of those given into his charge” (14).