My Brother’s Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do (and Don’t) Tell Us About Masculinity

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him?” Indeed, what is a man? As our society sorts through what it means to be masculine or feminine and roles drift and shift, men as well as women feel the strain. Very recently, a small but growing field of theory called men’s studies has appeared in reaction to the decades-long feminist movement in women’s studies. Can the social sciences informing contemporary men’s studies (psychology, cultural anthropology and others) provide helpful insight as to what helps or hinders men in becoming the sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers they ought to be? Following her landmark gender-reconciliation text, Gender and Grace, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen turns her focus to men’s studies in this new book. She incorporates the most recent and significant research in the social sciences with a biblically founded Christian worldview that sets the course for men and women being in right relationship. Surveying a vast amount of literature with balance and insight, Van Leeuwen probes the value and plumbs the limits of what the social sciences offer Christians. For men and women, for students, teachers and general readers, Van Leeuwen offers an alternative to mindless conformity to–or dismissal of–cultural “norms.” Rather she encourages pursuit of a faithful masculinity that honors the God who made men and women to be a blessing to each other.