It’s Good To Be A Man by Michael Foster and Dominic Bnonn Tennant

The book is It’s Good To Be a Man by Michael Foster and Dominic Bnonn Tennant

It was first published in 2021 by Canon Press. I read the 2022 paperback edition. I read it in April of 2022. 

I read this book because my pastor asked me if I’d read it and I hadn’t. I hate when that happens. He was reading it at the time and asked if I’d read it. This was also after I heard Douglas Wilson recommend it on his podcast The Plodcast. It sounded good so I decided to read it.

The subtitle for this book is A Handbook for Godly Masculinity. This book is responding to an anti-male phenomenon that’s currently underway in western culture. There is much talk about “toxic masculinity” which seems to mean any sense of masculinity. To be masculine is to be toxic, or so our culture says. 

Foster and Tennant’s approach is to point out that there has been and always will be a patriarchy. Successful and powerful civilizations can’t not be led by men. It’s only a matter of what kind of men. There will always be a patriarchy and it will either be a Godly one that stands for Christian principles such as truth, freedom, and fortitude, or it will be an ungodly one that champions tyranny, control, and abuse. This was one of the main points I drew from this book. There is no neutrality. Patriarchy is not in question. The question is what kind of patriarchy will it be?

Another point is the idea of men being on a mission and that a woman cannot be the mission. That’s something our culture has gotten twisted. So many TV shows and movies and books have been about “getting the girl.” That’s where a lot of the stories end. But Foster and Tennant point out that Eve was created to help Adam on his mission of dominion over Earth. 

One thing that could be seen as a negative is that this book is blunt and to the point and doesn’t pussyfoot around language that might sound offensive. I won’t spoil any sections but it will definitely puncture thin skin. 

I’d recommend this to all Christian men, especially young men who want to understand what it means to be a Godly man. It’s a book that needs to be out there. It will engage and enrage the culture and that’s a good thing.