A Manual for Manhood

What does it mean to be a man today? Something that has never been an easy question to answer is even harder in an age concerned with #metoo, ending patriarchy, and toxic masculinity. Thankfully there have been a lot of good books written on the topic recently. I want to tell you about one that might be off your radar because it isn’t strictly a “Christian” book.

The Warrior Poet Way: A Guide to Living Free and Dying Well stands out from the crowd because of the author. John Lovell is the guy most boys want to be when they grow up. He was an Army Ranger, doing four tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. Now he teaches gunfighting. Not shooting, gunfighting. He has lots of videos on his YouTube channel teaching that as well as hand-to-hand combat skills, escape and evasion tactics, home security, and much more. But he’s not just a warrior. He has been a missionary in Central America. He’s now a businessman, a husband, and a father. He is very open about his Christian faith and has made it his mission to teach men how to be all God made them to be. “To be a good man, you must become a paradox: strong but self-controlled, violent but gentle, ready to go to war one minute and prepared to give piggyback rides the next. This kind of man is fierce in word and deed while remaining compassionate and humble. He is fully soldier, fully lover, whole man” (xvi).

Lovell is the founder of the Warrior Poet Society, what he describes as “a values-based community dedicated to physical protection, the pursuit of truth, and living for higher purpose.” That’s the ethos behind The Warrior Poet Way. He wants men to know that it’s not good to be merely warrior or poet or even a little bit of both. “A whole man is not part Warrior and part Poet. He’s all Warrior and all Poet. To be anything less than both is to be incomplete” (xvi). In this book, he explains why he thinks the world needs men like this, then he goes into the 10 principles that guide his understanding of manhood, including:

• Battle your inner coward
• Embrace your mortality
• Goodness is more important that greatness
• Learn to think deeply and carefully about the important things
• It is essential to safeguard freedom and to enjoy it.

Each chapter ends with a “practicum”, practical steps you can do to start putting that principle into action.

Again, this isn’t strictly a “Christian” book. It’s published by an imprint of Penguin Books, so it probably won't be in the Christian section of the bookstore. Lovell isn’t preachy, and he doesn’t quote scripture in every chapter. But he does quote scripture several times. He says Warrior Poets can be of any faith and philosophy, but he’s also very clear about his faith, even sharing his testimony and being very open about how important following Jesus is to him. In fact, he talks about Jesus a lot in this book. There is probably nothing in this that, on its own, would make someone drop to their knees and become a Christian, but more and more men today see Christianity as a religion for women and weaklings. Those men need to meet John Lovell, a man’s man who loves Jesus.

So who is this book for? Can a woman get anything out of it? Absolutely, especially if she’s still learning what she wants in a man or if she’s raising future men. Can older men get anything out of it? Absolutely. We could all use to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some hard questions about our choices. But mostly this book is for young men who are still trying to figure out what kind of man they want to be. If you know a young man who is looking for a purpose, maybe one who needs a dragon to slay, give him this book. If he’s hesitant, show him a couple of John’s videos and he’ll be hooked. Maybe bribe him. Do what it takes to get him to read this book. Lovell is right: The world needs men like this.


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