Review of Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow

Murrow observes the widespread lack of men in churches and seeks to answer the question of what is driving them away in modern Christianity. Through examining various aspects of the differences between men and women, such as physiological and psychological, he finds that men want things such as adventure, danger, and opportunities to take risks. His conclusion is that men are being driven away because they are not being offered opportunities to be masculine in the context of the local church. His solution is for churches to recover a place for men through masculine-oriented leaders and pastors (whether male or female), teaching, worship, and ministry which caters to the masculine spirit. Although his observations are helpful, his pragmatic solutions and acceptance of women pastors undermine the authority and sufficiency of Scripture to provide what men and churches need to recover biblical masculinity. What the church must recover is a biblical understanding of sin and its effect on men's, as well as women's, God-given roles, and a faithful proclamation of the whole counsel of God which includes not merely a risk-taking and adventurous Christ, but rather a Christ who gave himself up for his bride.