Practical Christian Mysticism

While Vikings don’t have the cleanest of history, they do star in one of my all-time favorite movies: The 13th Warrior. While the movie didn’t get the best reviews, or much enduring attention, it is frequently revisited by my wife and I. I spend some time thinking about why this movie appeals to me so much, then it finally became clear… It is a movie about real masculinity. Modern day media is full of feminized male roles, it is refreshing to see a movie about men at their best.

In The 13th Warrior, the heroes are a group of rough battle-ready warriors. The viewer of the movie is shown a culture where men live, not for comfort, but for a new challenge. A culture where luxury is rejected in favor of struggle and adventure. They value teamwork and camaraderie and rely on each other for their very lives. Even the physical depiction of the characters as large, strong, hairy, lumbering men is a huge contrast to the popular skinny, weak, and gender-ambiguous male leads we know today (More and more I keep finding myself asking “Is that a man or a woman?”). At the end of the movie, I always feel like I just watched a pretty accurate depiction of male utopia. Continue Reading »

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. - Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:38

“Now gird up your loins like a man…” - God speaking to Job, Job 38:3

Men and women experience God differently, likewise God requires different things from men and women. God has both feminine and masculine aspects, so men and women will each relate to parts of God the other does not. I am writing this article for what I see as a seriously lacking element in the modern male’s mystic experience… masculinity. Men today are losing touch with the manly aspects of God given to us when we were made in His image. Much of this is because men don’t even know what it means to be masculine anymore. Continue Reading »