Author, theology professor Owen Strachan says feminism, 'wokeness' behind cultural 'war on men'
“Feminism and wokeness have accomplished nothing less than the destabilization of civilization.”
Owen Strachan isn’t mincing words when it comes to what he says is the dual-headed cultural assault on biblical masculinity.
Rather, for Strachan, a research professor of theology at Grace Bible Theology Seminary and author of The War on Men: Why Society Hates Them and Why We Need Them, the rise of “toxic masculinity” is actually symptomatic of larger threats.
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“Feminism, paganism, and godless wokeness have attacked strong manhood relentlessly for decades now,” he told The Christian Post via email. “These evil ideologies have had a ferocious effect on the home, the church and society. They have weakened men to breaking point.
“If you weaken men, it turns out, you weaken everyone.”
Strachan says this war — a description cited both in the title and throughout the book — was started culturally with figures like the late radical feminist professor Mary Daly, who once said, “If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males.”
He also cited a quote attributed to Robin Morgan, editor of Ms. Magazine: “I feel that ‘man-hating’ is an honorable and viable political act, that the oppressed have a right to class-hatred against the class that is oppressing them.”
But in terms of the American context, feminism has long been attacking strong manhood.
These and other cultural traffic cops, said Strachan, have sought to make it “fashionable to hate men.”
“In recent years, boys and men have been told they are ‘toxic’ over and over again. Being an aggressive or assertive man has meant that you are a practitioner of ‘toxic masculinity,’ a phrase that is everywhere today,” he said.
And while sin has undeniably corrupted both men and women, he added, “our culture has gone well beyond this mark. It reads strong men as the major problem confronting us today.
“As such, it has effectively declared war on men.”
Strachan acknowledges God’s design in which biblical complementarianism calls on men to be strong not for the sake of power, but rather to use that strength in the defense of women and children.
But sin, he explained, has corrupted that design.
“Biblical complementarianism is a beautiful system. It’s God’s system. God calls men to be strong for women and children, never against them. That’s the heart of Biblical complementarity,” he said.
“Sadly, no man lives out Biblical teaching perfectly. Men sin. Men and women are equally sinful, and men are not worse than women, or inferior to women, as our culture teaches both explicitly and implicitly.”
In War on Men, Strachan lays out what he sees as four deficient categories of men found in our culture today:
- the “soft man” who “yields to the strong woman and takes cues from her”;
- the “exaggerated man,” similar to the Instagram-famous Andrew Tate-type figure who embraces a “cartoonish manhood”;
- the “lost man” who leaves their family and opts out of “any meaningful involvement in society”; and
- the “angry man” who, as an “exercise in vengeance,” perverts his God-given strength for evil use, such as in the case of a school shooter.
These archetypes, said Strachan, are not created in a vacuum, but rather are the result of real-world conditions.
“Such men are never justified in what they do, but our culture fails to recognize that our anti-boy and anti-man climate is having horrific effects, as those who are told they are ‘toxic’ are indeed acting out their depravity,” he said.
The remedy for such men, according to Strachan, is the strong man, not strong in himself, but through the Spirit of God.
“He is a redeemed man, born again by the grace and mercy of his Maker. He does not live for himself, nor use his strength for selfish ends,” he said. “Instead, he uses his strength for the good of others, whether physically, morally, intellectually or spiritually. The strong man is a force for good.
“He is a man under discipline and a soldier under orders. He lives not by his own creed, but by the truth of God.”
The perfect model for the strong man, Strachan added, can be found only in Christ Jesus.
“Christ was tough and tender; that’s the kind of man we desperately need today,” he said.” But as long as the culture — and in some the Church — targets strong men, we’re only weakening ourselves, and putting everyone in jeopardy. If you demonize strong men, eventually there are none left.
“That is when evil men have a field day, and everyone suffers.”
A senior fellow with the Family Research Council, Strachan has written over 20 books, including Christianity and Wokeness. His latest book, War on Men, is scheduled for release on Oct. 3.
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post and the author of BACKWARDS DAD: a children's book for grownups. He can be reached at: [email protected].
