Healing the Masculine Soul: God's Restoration of Men to Real Manhood

When I first started reading this title, I thought it would be little more than a lengthy discourse on meaningless psycho-babble regarding men and their many emotional shortcomings. It began slowly, but as I continued following the author's progression of thought, I understood that many of his concepts and ideas ring true. While he is a little too light on Scripture and a little too heavy on psychological theory, he still makes many good points for Christian men in today's society.

There are helpful insights here -- it will prove to be a good read for many Christian men.

WOW!!!
I received this item before the anticipated delivery date. This makes a good book for a Men's Ministry study group, and also a good book for personal devotion, to help heal the wounds of growing up without a father, divorce, molestation, etc. I'd like to encourage men who have gone through some major suffering in their lives to read this book, and spend time in prayer and meditation. Be blessed!

I tried to like it but couldn't, I just found this book very hard to follow. It is very philosophical in nature and I couldnt relate any of that to my own experiences. I also feel that it was overlooked that men have different temperaments/personality types. Thus heavily promoting a key extroverted quality of "initiative" as being a desirable trait of masculinity is not feasible for everyone. Lastly I didn't like his style of writing that used a lot of old outdated words.

Our men's group at church are using this book and it makes a lot of good points and things to think about.

A friend gave me a copy of Healing the Masculine Soul in the early 90's and as I started reading I immediately realized here was someone who understood my own struggles with manhood. After my earthly father died in 1997 I contacted Pastor Dalbey and a great relationship developed between us and I now consider him my father-in-Christ.

His books can really you grow and I recommend them highly, I've taken several men through Healing the Masculine Soul & Fight Like a Man as well. His books and my relationship with him have really helped me to grow & heal as a man.

Gordon Dalbey does a great job of hitting on key issues of masculinity, without making excuses for some of the fundamental issues of our generation. It's a refreshing look at the beauty of the strength inherent in maleness. A great, nonjudgmental call to revisit our masculinity and embrace it. His writing flows very nicely and makes the book a satisfying read.

The book is right on point with the issues of manhood. It reminds me of another similar book, called False Roads To Manhood. Gordon does an excellant job of pulling back the viel on the hidden problems swempt under the emotional carpet of manhood. Fathers and sons will be enlightened on the importance of their connection to each other. Healing the Masculine soul is for generation after generartion of men.

This book is filled with corney stories the author recalls from all his years of experience. Honesty, it all just sounds fake. I couldn't even finish the book. I didn't find anything in the first 3 chapters that I associated with.

Every page is a good insight into the roots of a man's psyche. Strongly recommended.

Very timely book. Originally written in 1988, this book was updated in 2003, but there didn't seem to be information from too many new sources. Even so, the book's message was still applicable and challenging for this late 20-something.

A few lingering thoughts/questions after the last page was flipped, specifically regarding:
1) The supernatural insights counselees and the counselor (i.e. Dalbey) received during sessions. Many of these insights dealt with past hurts and struggles. Descriptions of epiphanies seemed to suggest that they were brought about by similar stimuli/questions, e.g. the counselor encouraging the counselee to think back on a certain memory and invite Jesus into it. I am by no means denying the work of the Spirit in granting us such supernatural insight. However, I do wonder how appropriate it is to ask for and expect such miraculous revelations; just how integral are they to our healing process?
2) Applicability of this book for men struggling with sexual sin. Much emphasis was placed on excessive and prolonged bonding with the mother, in marked contrast to the widespread failure of fathers to "call out" their sons from behind their mothers to enter the harrowing and responsibility-imbued realm of manhood. The idea is that inadequate development of a healthy masculinity leads to a worrisome array of sexual sins. Perhaps those struggling in such a domain (e.g. with pornography) might benefit from reaching this book and giving adequate thought to their relationship with their father, perception of their own masculinity vis-a-vis cultural constructs of masculinity, etc. I know I would have benefited from such a reading and such considerations.

On a final note, I very much enjoyed the author's inclusion of literary analyses that were relevant to the topic (e.g. of the Grimm Brothers' tale "Iron Hans"). Sources could maybe be updated (e.g. articles and books cited in chapter on homosexuality were from the 80s; I imagine much research on the topic has been produced since then). Discussion of dreams and their psychoanalysis at times made this book seem Freudian.