Be A Man #3: Why We Still Need Masculinity: Lessons from Richard Rohr’s Adam’s Return

Talking about masculinity can feel like navigating a minefield. Say too little and you’re accused of ignoring the obvious disorientation of modern men. Say too much and someone will accuse you of trying to revive the patriarchy. We’re left in a cultural moment where masculinity is questioned, critiqued, mourned, defended, and—on the best days—reimagined.

But the question lingers: do we still need masculinity? And if so, what kind?

Richard Rohr, the Franciscan priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, offers a profound and deeply spiritual answer in his book Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation. Drawing from spiritual direction, cross-cultural anthropology, and the Christian contemplative tradition, Rohr argues that the crisis of masculinity isn’t because we’ve talked about it too much—but because we’ve failed to initiate men into it properly.

In Rohr’s telling, what we’re missing isn’t masculinity itself, but the rites of passage that teach men what masculinity is really for.

“The loss of male initiation is the most important social problem of our time,” Rohr writes. “Without it, men remain uninitiated, trapped in adolescent ego, and dangerously unsure of their place in the world.”