Praise for Malestrom

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into The Currents Of A Changing World
By Carolyn Custis James

"Women aren't the only ones bombarded with conflicting and harmful messages about their identities. More than ever men face an onslaught of expectations, both from the culture and the church, about what it means to be a 'real man.' Through this treacherous landscape, Carolyn Custis James proves a trustworthy guide. With her characteristic warmth and wisdom, she examines manhood through the lens of Jesus Christ and offers a better way forward for men, a way characterized by partnership, joy, and humility. There are few writers who bring as much clarity and conviction to their work as Carolyn Custis James. This book is biblically faithful, immensely timely, and delightfully readable. Every last page is charged with healing power." —Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood and Searching for Sunday

"Malestrom is not of this world, just like God's kingdom to which it bears witness. Carolyn Custis James is a modern-day Deborah, whose work serves as a prophetic challenge to all men to image Jesus. Against the backdrop of patriarchal and radical feminist perspectives that degrade and discount men, James invites Adam's progeny to display profound courage and dignity as they gain a biblical sense of their true identity. This is not a book for the faint of heart: liberated male readers will join forces with women to conquer despair and celebrate the transformative power of God's cruciform and unifying love." —Paul Louis Metzger, Professor of Christian Theology & Theology of Culture, Multnomah Biblical Seminary/Multnomah University

"Malestrom takes a close and provocative look at the dangers of patriarchy by taking a close look at what Scripture says about it. This book will lead you to ponder the type of person God asks all of us—male and female—to be. It is a good question to meditate on." —Darrell Bock, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

"Unchristian patterns of culturally conditioned models of masculinity are the norm for many Christian men, with disastrous and, far too often, tragic consequences. By surveying the diverse biblical landscape with wisdom, insight, and conviction, Carolyn Custis James calls for a Christ-centered understanding of 'male,' where men and women are equal image bearers of God, truly one flesh, and thus co-workers in the mission of God on earth. James's Malestrom is a prophetic and healing voice." —Peter Enns, Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies, Eastern University (St. Davids, PA); author of The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It

"This is the book I've been waiting for—as a wife, as a mother of a son, as a woman committed to the blessed alliance God intended between men and women. This book will be healing and restorative for so many. It's a beautiful invitation to manhood in the Kingdom of God." —Sarah Bessey, author of Jesus Feminist and Out of Sorts "In Malestrom , Carolyn Custis James takes us by the hand and leads us through the story of how God dismantles patriarchy in the Bible. By the time we're done reading, a new space has been cleared. Men can now be men. Women can now be women. And together we can live God's gendered salvation. It is a remarkable accomplishment." —David Fitch, B.R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology, Northern Seminary

"God's intention for the appropriate flourishing of human life has been severely thwarted by culturally captive expressions of masculinity that have oppressed both women and men. Malestrom offers us a reminder from Scripture that God's intention for men was not for a dysfunctional masculinity that devastates the image of God within us. Thank you Carolyn Custis james for your historical and theological insights that will re-shape how I live out my faith in the world. Thank you for a book that benefits both my son and my daughter." —Soong-Chan Rah, Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism Author of Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times

"Finding a crack in the door of patriarchy, which still patterns the life of both the Church and the world, Carolyn Custis James swings it wide-open, redirecting the gender conversation towards its rightful focus: the malestrom. Through careful biblical exegesis and an intersectional awareness of the actual social currents that daily sweep over men and boys, this book rightfully articulates a vision for men rooted in the imago Dei particularly revealed in the life of Jesus Christ. The Church is indebted for this resource for opening up a new set of questions at an accessible level, and for remembering that ultimately what makes something Christian is its ability to conform image of the Son." —Drew Hart, writer for Taking Jesus Seriously, a Christian Century hosted blog and PhD candidate at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia