Offensive Christianity: Restoring the Strength of Men in a Feminized Age

by J. Chase Davis

Men are returning to church, but what kind of church will they find? For decades now, Christian men have been told that their strength is a problem, their ambition a sin, and power is dangerous to wield. Instead, they are offered a feminized faith which prizes inaction and passivity. Niceness has become the highest virtue. Offensive Restoring the Strength of Men in a Feminized Age is a call to action for men who refuse to submit to a world that despises them.

Chase Davis argues that modern Christianity has reduced manhood into a set of secular ideals divorced from reality. Entire generations of Christian men have been discipled into thinking that the chief end of man is to be nice. True manhood, David contends, is not passive and weak but strong and offensive. When Elon Musk quipped that "Christianity has become toothless," he wasn't wrong. But he also didn't offer a vision for what it could become. Offensive Christianity is that vision.

Drawing on Scripture, history, and theology, Davis offers a vision of strength that unites body and soul. This is not a call to offend for its own sake. It is a recovery of the faith modeled by Christ humble before the Lord and mighty in power. The age of neutered Christianity is over. Now is the time for men to build and fight for their families, their God, and their civilization.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian, Cultural

184 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2026

Reviews

[Dr. David Steele]

Men have grown weak and effeminate. They have abdicated their God-given responsibilities to women and surrendered their calling to lead in the church, the home, and the marketplace. J. Chase Davis offers a timely response in his book, Offensive Christianity: Restoring the Strength of Men in a Feminized Age. The author argues, “Without Christianity—an offensive Christianity—the West will continue to wither.”

The first review of Offensive Christianity on Goodreads offered this brutal critique: “The most important thing to know is that this is not a book that looks at what the Bible has to say about men and masculinity.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

The author’s thesis is straightforward: “Christian men, stripped of their God-given power by a culture that reduces manhood to ideas and demands endless empathy, must embrace an offensive Christianity that boldly asserts authority and action over passive rebellion.” Pastor Davis defends this thesis with skill and biblical precision by warning men, challenging them, and offering concrete habits that push them in a Godward direction.

Davis pulls no punches in this work: “The world God governs is dripping with a sweet beauty of order and hierarchy. Men, being the glory of God, are destined for glory. But there can be no glory apart from Christ.” This book will anger egalitarians. It will make passive men uncomfortable. And it will make weak men squirm. Yet Offensive Christianity is precisely what our world needs. Receiving a damning diagnosis is painful, but ignoring the cure will lead to a slow death in the home, the church, and society. I commend this work to men who are prepared to lead with boldness and decisiveness in a world increasingly shaped by feminism.

[Jeremy]

Decision Point interview here. Colorado Prays interview here. Founders Ministries interview here.

[Adrian]

2.5: This book felt like a long vent session filled with over generalizations.

I understand that Davis’s aim with this book was not to educate, but I learned nothing new here. His goal was obviously to bolster a younger generation of men to action, however the tone of the book lacks mercy and love.

Overall, Davis was helpful on providing courage to take action in my spheres of influence, but this is a largely impractical book that focuses way too heavily on the problems of our day.

Foster’s “It’s Good to be a Man” is a far better resource for practical growth in the man’s mission for Christ.

Summary: Men must learn to harness our strength with meekness, or control, to build and defend the beauty of God’s created order. To fight the worlds bankrupt ‘wisdom’ — the twisting of manhood into action-less ideas and reflection. To trust what God has revealed in His Word about our bodies and our soul to be true and sufficient for us to accomplish continual growth, gratitude our default response, and glory to God our goal in all things.

[Grier]

The most important thing to know is that this is not a book that looks at what the Bible has to say about men and masculinity. This is a book about the authors very specific idea of masculinity such that he makes a lot of assertions about his brand of masculinity and then vaguely hand waves at scripture, sometimes, if he remembers to. It’s completely backwards from the way we need to approach the Bible and understand God’s wisdom.

I don’t disagree with his more central elements of his criticism, but where he goes after posing this criticism is largely not to solutions but a fairly obvious collection of preferences of what are “real men” pulled from cherry picked behavior. Some of this is from historical men, not all of which are Christian, and some are just stereotypes broadly applied with very little consideration.

If you’re sort of vaguely angry about the way a lot of Christian men behave (maybe even how you behave) and you aren’t interested in reading the (whole) Bible and meditating on it to see what God has to tell us about masculinity, then I guess this could be a good wake-up call for you.

I will give the author credit that snuck in at the end between his insults of anything he views as remotely non-manly is the reminder that you must put into action what you learn. I didn’t learn anything from his book other than to stay away from this author, but this is a stance I take with the young adults I work with in my church.

[Logan Thune]

I liked parts of this book and I am sympathetic to its main thrust, but much of it felt a bit forced. Consider me not afraid to offend the offensive with only 3 stars.

[Pepe E Lee]

A great work challenging the status quo of the modern church when it comes to the view on men and masculinity. I really appreciated how it covers some similar ground as It’s Good To Be A Man, but takes them further and presses in on the truths from different angles. Between Foster’s IGTBAM, Garris’ Masculine Christianity and Honor Thy Fathers, and now Davis’ Offensive Christianity, our library of resources outlining biblical patriarchy and encouraging men to be a glory for God’s glory is excellent. There’s no excuse anymore to be an effeminate man!

[Seth]

Some good helpful things, but also at times an incredibly narrow approach to defining masculinity, generalizations abound and bogeymen are under every rock. Plenty to consider, but felt like the audience was SBC churches, “Big Eva” and non-denom megachurches. At the end of the day though, while it had good moments, I was frustrated at times that it was far more about “do this so you can be manly and we can take back western civilization from the scary effeminates” than it was (to my admittedly annoyed eyes) a call to the monotonous, boring faithfulness of a husband, father, friend, churchman and community leader whose aim is to please Christ, not merely to conform to the stubble-bearded mustache bro’s picture of a man (which always tends to look stubble-bearded, mustachioed and appropriately veiny in his arms and legs.) To be fair - the monotonous faithfulness WAS encouraged. It’s just not given enough screen time relative to the other arguments/challenges.

Let’s just say, I’m not for measuring the broadness of shoulders as part of our church membership process (and yes, I’m being snarky - he didn’t technically say that).

None of this should be read as a “we are fine, everything is fine!” Men do need to lead, men have abdicated, and grown comfortable doing sedentary jobs and living sedentary lives, physically and spiritually. Men do not lead their family to worship, men prioritize their entertainment and then show up to church late, if at all. Men say “my wife does the household chores” while also ignoring yard work and home projects and neglecting to actually model what they want their children to live like. In short, men have become fertile ground for a book like this where they can be roused from slumber…and at points this book does that, and the author deserves credit for that. My concern is - if this were the template, would the most important stuff (the renewing of the mind, which in turn leads to wholesale changes in lifestyle?) be what gets picked up? Or would it be the low hanging fruit that is externally visible and makes men feel better about themselves and gets them the “respect” and affirmation that is actually what they are slavering for? The affirmation of men who look like men, and the obsequious wife resigned to the fact that fighting for her husbands real growth won’t go anywhere - she should just content herself with “happy hubby, happy life.”

I may circle back next month for a more thorough review and re-rating that takes into account my full notes, but too much in my head right now would get in the way of a fair assessment.

[curtis]

Read this at the behest of a men’s group I was recently invited to join. Quite the mixed bag. This book hearkens back to the sort of cultural hortatory works of Schaeffer and Colson, particularly “How Shall We Then Live?” Whereas those are focused on the church at large, however, Chase Davis zeroes in on what the particular moment of the zeitgeist has to say to the Christian man, and how the Christian man ought to live in response. As with many such books, Offensive Christianity is equally divided between the Diagnosis—what’s going on and how did it get this bad?—and Remedy—how do we fix it? This book’s greatest strengths by far may be found in the diagnostic sections. Davis sees quite well many of the factors that brought us to the current cultural moment, and relates them both accurately and accessibly, and often does so with a clear eye to Scripture. The remedy section leaves a lot to be desired, however, precisely because it becomes untethered from Scripture and mired in Davis’s own personal preferences far too often. Thus, we’re treated with admonitions such as, “Men ought to lead in decorating their homes instead of letting their wives make these decisions”; “men have a responsibility to dress with a more keen eye to colors and fashion”; “men ought to have physically intimidating physiques, especially broad shoulders.” (None of those examples is an exaggeration, by the way.) And while none of these suggestions are necessarily bad in and of themselves, neither are they mandated anywhere in Scripture, nor given anywhere near the importance there that Davis seems to place upon them. That’s easily my biggest quarrel with the book, despite its other virtues. (Indeed, there are some very well-articulated presentations of the gospel that I very much enjoyed.) I don’t recommend this to anyone reading it outside of a group setting that involves a sufficient involvement of mature, attentive Christians who aren’t afraid to push back on some of the more foolish suggestions found here.

[Tristan Serrao]

Wow! a must read for every Christian today.

[Danielle Hardy]

"The character of men cannot simply be a matter of reflecting upon spiritual truths. Those truths must be applied. There must be action."

"Nobility is found in doing what we are duty bound to accomplish, regardless of our personal feelings on the matter."

"Their compassion was rightly ordered and their actions flowed from their love for God and others."

Excellent book. I read it to preview for my boys and finished it in a day and promptly ordered multiple copies for our family book club.

[Brenden Wentworth]

This was an interesting read and a definite mixed bag. I’ve lost count of how many masculinity books I’ve read at this point in my life haha so figured I’d add this to the list.
-Opening caveat: when Davis says “offensive”, he doesn’t mean rude but is speaking about Christianity “going on the offensive” and having agency.

Pros/Where the book truly shines:
- Davis does a great job pointing out that too much of modern evangelicalism’s spiritual formation practices are functionally gnostic, with the church forgetting that we are embodied souls, in that our physical and spiritual disciplines often play into one another and thus we must not neglect a theology of the body. As it relates to men, too many Christian men willingly let themselves become soft couch potatoes when they should be examples of discipline, self control, and strength to those around them.
- Davis also helpfully outlines historically the way that the church has allowed itself to become too influenced by the different waves of feminism. The bride of Christ at the popular evangelical level has allowed herself for far too long to become influenced by the culture around it instead of being a positive influence founded upon unchanging biblical values and Divine design. Too many men statistically don’t consider church because they find it effeminate. Those men need new hearts to be sure, but I think it’s a fair critique that American evangelicalism in its cultural milieu has become too attached to feminism in its doctrine and style.
- Davis is helpfully practical in the way that he frames action steps to be taken. No one can accuse him of being too ethereal or conceptual.

Cons/things that made me go 🥴:
- for someone that apparently has an MDiv & ThM, the eisegesis and biblical interpretations that Davis engages in at points was surprising. It’s a common practice in books on biblical masculinity to strip verses out of context and sound biblical theology, but I expected more from someone with his academic training. But maybe Denver Seminary (where he attended) has fallen by the wayside in terms of solid theological instruction 🤷🏼‍♂️
- another common trope in biblical masculinity books that Davis unfortunately falls into is a lot of “rah rah” motivational talk at the expense of genuinely understanding the need for Christian men to be godly, self-controlled, and gospel-centered in their spirituality. Davis considers violence and aggression as genuine virtues of biblical masculinity in service of this “rah rah”. Granted, he does often give this in the framework of violence towards your own sin, which I fully endorse.
But he also just as often goes further and makes a lot of general sweeping statements about how Christian men should be aggressive and violent towards the world around them. Viewing the world as enemies instead of a mission field, is the tone most expressed it seems. He often uses social engagement and verbal cultural war as a lens by which that is done, but also doesn’t seem opposed to physical coercion. As such, I could easily see someone taking that too far, as an immature young man. Young men need to learn how to be sober-minded and humble, and it seems like many times throughout the book Davis either ignores that or gives lip service to it and instead majors on the need for Christians to all be aggressive culture warriors if they are going to be faithful, which seems to be lacking as a command in the New Testament in my estimation. All this of course needs to be framed in the understanding that Davis supports movements like Christian nationalism and often speaks like a Postmillennialist in his view of the triumphant Christian life.
- Davis makes a huge emphasis on the understanding of glory being what motivates men. At a natural level, I don’t disagree with that. The natural man is geared towards self glory in his nature as the motivating factor behind what he does. The Christian man who receives a new heart is thus to be about the glory of God in all things. In my estimation, this necessitates knowing with biblical discernment what God considers glorifying unto Him. A small sample would be trusting in His promises and obeying His law. However, the sense you get from Davis as you read the book is his understanding of glory can leave aside other more explicit understandings of what God’s will is for the Christian in their day-to-day life. This results in Davis arguing for what appears to be a sort of baptized selfish ambition, in that a man is to have personal goals that masquerades about being for God, as long as he gives lip service to it. In my mind, Davis‘ assertions on glory are not as skeptical of human motivations, even as a regenerate man, as it needs to be (cf. Jer. 17:9)
- I was surprised at much of the misunderstanding that Davis had on the historical nature of pietism. I despise pietism because it’s a confusion of law and gospel. Davis misunderstands pietism by generalizing it simply as a separation of the sacred from the secular. In actuality from a historical standpoint, pietism was a critique of reformational Christianity being too doctrine-focused and it needing to permeate all our life in service of engagement with the world for the sake of renewing and redeeming it. The Pietists are actually often the ones post-reformation who started orphanages, hospitals, and were often alchemists, pharmacists, missionaries, with this in mind etc.
The point is: pietistic thinking is often less concerned with sound doctrine and more on social action.
Pietism actually laid the groundwork for a lot of the things that went on in the enlightenment. Though he’s a theologian that I don’t really agree with, Paul Tillich was a good church historian who once said “the enlightenment’s emphasis on the inner reason was the child of pietism’s emphasis on the inner light”. And history tells us the enlightenment laid the groundwork for the social gospel among other things. In that vein, Davis‘s book is heavily focused on social action as the main crux of Christianity being offensive.
Long story short: At the historical level, Davis may not be pleased to know that his project is ironically more pietistic than he thinks lol

As a Christian man and pastor, the three modern masculinity books I often recommend:
- Redeemed Men by Beeke
- authentic masculinity by Troutt
- the war on men by Strachan.
All three cover the physical, spiritual, social, and vocational dynamics of masculinity that Davis aims for, but still keeps their theological head on straight 😬

[Ross Hearne]

3.8 stars. I think Davis hits the nail on the head when to comes to cultural analysis. On how we got to where we are today, and how we move forward from here. This was well thought through within this book.

Nevertheless, my problem with the book is the lack of depth with it comes to biblical expositional application. This is the biggest knock. I also would argue against the topic of not being best friends with your wife. I understand men need to have male influence in your life. To push you, challenge you, rebuke you, and exhort. I understand it is good that man is not alone. But God didn’t create in the garden another Adam; for Adam. He made Eve. This just is one of many expositional surface level tie ins within this book.

In the early parts of the book it reads much like he is throwing the blame of where our culture is at on women, but at the end he calls out the fact that the culture is where we are at, due to men not leading biblically as they should. He ties in ownership into this which is spot on. And we have to stop making excuses for what evil or sin is going on in our families, churches, societies. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and understand that Satan is prowling, and we as men have let him prowl around the pasture of our Lord too long. Let us confess, armor up, cling to Christ in the strength of his mighty word, hold the ground Christ died for, and push forward for the glory of the Lord in the days ahead.

Good book to stir up lazy hearts, but we cannot leave behind the word of God in order to do so.

[Sarah Evans]

I don’t often read books written to & for men. I read this one for my husband, for my son-in-law, & for the boys in our church who I love & pray they would grow into strong, godly men.
This was an excellent read. Davis articulates the current, secular worldview of men, particularly strong, masculine men, & counters it with God’s command of biblical masculinity.
I would recommend this to every man, young & old. It is inspiring, courage producing & clear: God made men to provide, protect & to be godly men of character & substance. And this is achievable through his word & spirit, in a personal relationship with Jesus.

[Jonathan Roberts]

Wow, wow, wow! This book is epic! What a great book! I loved every moment of it. I wish it were a hundred pages longer with more in the final chapters. I feel like Davis left more out there that we could put into practice to make our Christianity more offensive! Lord help us!

[Jesse Price]

I listened to the audiobook because it popped up on Spotify, interesting book, definitely a chew the meat spit out the bones type of read. There were lots of good observations about what it means to be a Christian man in the world where Christian manhood is definitely downplayed. But there was also a lot of points in this book where it seemed like he was just saying this stuff for the love of the game haha. Good book overall, it did help me realize that the world does not like what it looks like to be a Christian man biblically!

[Nick Benton]

A must read for every Christian man.

[Sammie Hargrave]

Good. Balanced.

[Scott Ferguson]

Author J. Chase Davis and I share much in common. We are both orthodox Christian men, husbands, fathers, and pastors living in liberal states in 2026 America. We also feel many of the same cultural pressures. As men, we hear cries of “misogynist!” for basic courtesies like opening a door. As husbands, we face disdain for acknowledging that women are generally better nurturers. As fathers, we encounter eye-rolling at the mention of meaningful distinctions between boys and girls. As the musician and pastor responsible for my church’s worship, I notice how many contemporary Christian songs sit in keys too high for the average male voice and lean heavily emotional. As Christians, we both see sharp backlash against anything recognizably biblical or evangelical. I relate to these frustrations. Yet despite these shared experiences, I struggled to resonate with many of the problems Davis identifies for modern American Evangelical men—or with his vision of what a Christian man should be.

Offensive Christianity carries an impressive 23 endorsements spanning 11 pages, including names prominent in the Christian masculinity/patriarchy movement such as Thomas Ascol, Steve Deace, Douglas Wilson, Eric Conn, and others. For a book of only 150 numbered pages, that is substantial hype. Unfortunately, the content does not live up to the promise of a work that will meaningfully shift the tides for men in the church.

Davis states his central thesis on page 5 in the Introduction:

“My central thesis is this: Christian men, stripped of their God-given power by a culture that reduces manhood to ideas and demands endless empathy, must embrace an offensive Christianity that boldly asserts authority and action over passive reflection. Men, particularly Christian men, have become emasculated by considering their responsibilities solely in immaterial terms.”

(To be clear, “offensive” here means taking the offensive—moving from defense to action—not being offensive or belligerent.)

Readers expecting a robust biblical defense of this thesis, along with careful analysis of causes and practical solutions, will be disappointed. Much of the book instead offers an extended catalog of symptoms and cultural complaints—some perennial to the Church—without sufficient grounding in Scripture, history, or evidence. (In a notable irony, Davis begins Chapter 2 (“Men Without Chests”) by outlining “six streams of thought” that have undermined manhood (p. 35). He purposefully chose six due to “...six being biblically a number of incompletion and wickedness.…” (p. 35). The book itself has exactly six numbered chapters.)

Davis had 150 pages to make a compelling case: diagnose the “feminization” of culture and the church, trace its ramifications, and provide a clear biblical response tailored to 21st-century Evangelical men. Instead, he puts forth sweeping, often unsubstantiated claims about male nature, asserts a near-utopian vision of Christian manhood, and leaves many ordinary faithful men (including this reviewer) feeling unseen. Here’s a sample of his broader assertions:

“Men, particularly Christian men, have become emasculated by considering their responsibility solely in immaterial terms.” (p. 5)

“In reducing manhood to a set of ideas detached from our bodies, we have cut our proverbial knees out from under us and are incapable of conceiving of a manhood that wields power and asserts itself.” (p. 5)

“A common hunger drives all men–in short, glory.” (p. 9)

“The purposes of God in humanity are carried forward by men.” (p. 10)

“...we are absolutely inundated with preaching that is not just androgynous but anti-material.” (p. 11)

“There is a beating heart in every man that longs to not just fulfill his duties, but to aspire for glory in whatever domain God has placed us in. Men hunger for eternal glory (Eccl. 3:11).” (p. 12) (Note: in my opinion he misapplies the verse here)

“Hardwired into man is an aspiration for greatness.” (p. 14)

“Man was created with a unique capacity for strength, provision, protection, leadership, and, when necessary, godly violence.” (p. 15)

“...true religion is not opposed to maleness. It is not intended to tame men but to channel their biology and hunger for glory and excellence into productive ends.” (p. 16)

“Men are designed with a hunger for glory, and that hunger will work itself out in their material existence. They want and crave more. But just what is glory?” (p. 26)

“The dispositions God gave to men, such as initiative, assertion, and even righteous aggression…” (p. 54)

“We need examples of men pursuing glory. …we need real body-and-soul examples that show us the greatness of men in their quest for glory. Thankfully, God has provided plenty in His Word. The men show us what greatness looks like and provide a type of mythic lore for male excellence.” (p. 57) (Note: in the next 5 pages Davis provides 1-million-mile flyovers of the lives of Adam, David, Jesus and Paul as “examples of the mythic lore for male excellence.”)

“We rejoice because the Christian life is not built on physical vitality…” (p. 70) then just 4 pages later he says, “Our strong men join the military or sports teams. Our men of intellectual reflection join an academy where they become gelded.” (p. 74). (I have to ask: does Davis exempt himself from or include himself in the "gelded"? He has 3 degrees.)

“Reduced to domestic exterminators of rodents and bugs, men yearn for more. They fantasize about joining the military to defend their homeland. Their aspiration is to be the last man standing against evil while facing extraordinary odds.” (p. 76)

Davis repeatedly emphasizes glory, power, assertion, and material action as central to maleness. While Scripture certainly calls men to courage, responsibility, and leadership, these sections often feel more like broad generalizations than carefully exegeted truth applied to our moment.

I’m certainly not the man he’s talking to; and I don’t know any men like this.

On the plus side he did get me laughing out loud at some of his over-the-top statements. Here’s one gem:

"All the trappings of feminized evangelical Christianity, with its emphasis on losing and being weak, suddenly dissipates in the face of competition. Are these men somehow not Christian when they use their physical bodies and agency to defeat others? When a pitcher throws a fastball in order [sic] strike out his opponent, has this somehow violated the law of love? When he throws a curveball to trick the batter, has he violated God’s law against lying? These questions seem ludicrous, to be sure, but they reveal the problem with the spiritual teachings propagated by many evangelical churches today." (p. 79)

I’ve heard some pretty wacky sermons, but what pastor on earth has ever taught throwing a curveball is lying? Please give me the URL to that YouTube sermon because I need to hear that for myself!

In the end, Offensive Christianity promises a bold call to strength but often reads as a frustrated catalog of grievances against a hostile culture—rather than a clear, biblically grounded instruction manual for standing firm. Its closing note strikes a particularly bleak tone: “Without Christianity, the West will fall. And without offensive Christian men … there is no Christianity” (p. 150). This underestimates the sovereign God who has preserved His church through far worse.

I wanted to love this book. I wanted it to strengthen and equip men. It could have succeeded with tighter logic, better substantiation (studies, historical examples, careful exegesis), and more concrete application. Sadly, it falls short. While I share many of Davis’s concerns and would gladly consider him a brother in arms, I cannot recommend this book.

For a far more encouraging vision of mature Christian manhood under pressure, I strongly suggest John Piper’s message “Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering,” a meditation on the life of Charles Simeon: (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/...)

[Ethan Bogan]

“We need to recover an offensive Christianity in which the natural characteristics of men are not diminished but directed toward their proper end. We need men capable of aggression, assertiveness, and self-defense who are submitted to Christ. If we are unable to conceive of an offensive Christianity, which gives no ground to the enemy, doesn't cater to communists, and exercises agency after God's glory, we will be ceding the battlefield to those who lack the requisite virtue to govern God's world according to His Word" (33).

Offensive Christianity is indeed "the culmination of a lifetime of older and wiser men who have knowingly and unknowingly invested" (xxi), for truly the same Spirit—who humbled the hardest hearts of men, who molded the greatest of minds, who raised up the mightiest of voices, and who strengthened and equipped courageous warriors—is now seen in yet another link in a generational chain of men who by faith gained approval (Heb. 11:2).

While J. Chase Davis masterfully addresses the root causes which have led to the emasculation of Christian men, he simultaneously refuses to remain pessimistically fixated on past mistakes, urging men instead to move forward through a rejection of apathy and a confident embrace of agency, both individual and collective. Our Lord Jesus did not commend the "careful" servant, nor did He commend the "successful" servant. He commended the faithful servant (Matt. 25:23), and there remains both incredible grace and tremendous responsibility in such a characteristic that is recognized by our Savior. For faithfulness is by definition action, not mere intellectual assent. Christian men cannot consider "their responsibility in solely immaterial terms" (5) and are therefore called to meekness: utilizing God-given strength under the control of Jesus Christ in every sphere of influence they are placed in.

It is here—the pursuit and encouragement of meekness—that the modern evangelical church has largely failed, for, as

Jamie Bambrick points out, "Today's evangelical pastors are typically women of both sexes." Rather than leading the church under the authority of the Chief Shepherd with the confidence that "the gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matt. 16:18), such "shepherds" have sought to please men, rather than accepting their role as bond-servants of Christ (Gal. 1:10). Lacking testicular fortitude and attempting to make the gospel "palatable", they have allowed evil ideas to prevail, and through their silence they participate in them.

However, in pursuit of this worldly ambition, such men have failed to understand that "should the church fail to address these issues biblically and cogently, with courage, then those who are interested in stopping the wickedness in our world will invariably find voices outside the church to justify any manner of action to resist it. Strength will return, but it will be anything but Christian" (33).

May this book serve as a clarion call for all men to direct their God-given masculinity toward its proper end as they seek to protect, provide, and preserve for posterity to the glory of God.

*This review was written voluntarily and reflects my own personal opinions. It does not necessarily represent the views of the author or any other individual.

[Tyler C]

If you were to ask an average evangelical, “What does it mean to be a man? Masculine?” you’d probably get an answer along the lines of, “Being a real man means being like Jesus.” Jesus prayed. He walked with God. He served. You’d probably get comments about being “gentle” and lowly.” The problem is, if this is what it means to be masculine, then, well, my grandmother was the most masculine and manly woman I know.

The above example is a small picture of the problem we face in modern discourse surrounding manhood. We live in the least masculine society in human history, and yet, everyone seems unhappy and confused. The church hasn’t helped. When sermons feel more like a therapy session that, often unintentionally, suppresses masculine attributes, and sway hips to songs about “intimacy” with Jesus, is it any wonder why men haven’t shown up?

My friend Chase Davis does an excellent job addressing the contemporary problem. For decades, evangelicalism has tried to solve male disengagement by asking men to become more emotionally available, more vulnerable, more introspective, more therapeutic, and more "safe." The assumption seems to be that if men would just talk about their feelings more, heal their wounds, and sit through another small-group curriculum on authenticity, revival would follow. Instead, men left. The churches that most aggressively softened Christianity did not produce stronger Christian men. They produced fewer of them.

Chase takes the sacred cows head on. He takes aim at the therapeutic language of John Eldredge, the sentimentalism of Dane Ortlund's Gentle and Lowly, the obsession with "identity" language popularized by writers like Rebecca McLaughlin, and the tendency of pastors influenced by Tim Keller to speak about authority almost exclusively in terms of surrendering it.

His words on men needing a mission are something Michael Foster emphasizes in his book as well. And I hope whoever writes the next book on manhood emphasizes the same point. Men need a mission. They need responsibility. They need honor. They need something worth building, defending, and sacrificing for. Scripture's great men are not passive observers processing their trauma in a circle of folding chairs. Abraham leaves his homeland. Moses confronts Pharaoh. David kills giants and writes poetry. Paul plants churches across an empire. Even Christ, the truly meek man, sets His face toward Jerusalem and marches to war against sin, death, and the devil. Davis repeatedly reminds us that biblical meekness is controlled strength, not domesticated weakness.

After years of books telling men to rest, heal, share, be gentle, process, and recover, it’s just great to read a book that tells me to act. Build something. Do something. God did not create men merely to feel better. He created them to take dominion, bear responsibility, pursue excellence, and spend themselves for the glory of Christ and the good of their people.

By 50 copies. Then by 50 more

[Benjamin]

I am/was impressed by the book!

I enjoyed that the book was succinct overall. There are many things that the author addressed that I have wondered about, or heard other men lean away from that this author explained why those responses were inadequate for the Christian faith. I appreciated that he didn't just go heavy into offense, but explained that there is a balance between being offensive and being gentle.
I also appreciated how he addressed (IMO) the elephant in the room of if God takes issue with us not always being gentle and leaning towards being weak or passive, then when did he create men to be strong? What is the point of God creating men that way if He doesn't intend for them to use it and embrace it.
I also liked how he addressed popular Christian masculinity books that dive into the father wound to discover what went wrong, and said that those things aren't bad to look into briefly, but we shouldn't linger on that stuff because it can bring about bitterness.
I also liked how he gave solutions to issues we have today with men and the church, and that they weren't wordy solutions. He would address the problem, get a little bit into the history of where the problem came, where ideas took a wrong turn, and then succinctly addressed the solution to the problem. He also gave short responses to how to address the problems today in the church, and they were brief solutions. Meaning, he didn't seem to need to give a lengthy explanation for how to solve the problem, but it was more to the point, and seemed to be pretty decently actionable without being overbearing with detailed explanation of what to do.

So, I was pleasantly surprised with how this book was shorter than usual, but still addressed the issues and solutions pretty well. It also tackled stuff I've heard from friends in church that I thought leaned too much into being soft and gentle with our approach to stuff, but I didn't really know how to appropriately address the issue. This is definitely a book I'm interested in handing them to read to get their thoughts on it, and see if it challenges them on their view of Christianity.

I think the only negative thing I came across was in the beginning of the book, and that was just the way he worded something, I thought it could have been worded more appropriately. He had said something about how Christianity has gotten screwed up for quite a while. I didn't think it was appropriate to say Christianity got screwed up, but how people inappropriately interpreted the Christian thing has become a serious issue.

It's definitely a book I'm interested in having other men I know read, and see what their response is.

[Isaac Swan]

As someone who aligned with Davis' positions I was excited and hopeful to read this book. I'm sad to say this book is a mile wide and an inch deep. This book is not a well reasoned critique of the Feminization in the Church today to challenge opponents of his position or equip those aligned with his position. Nor is it a book with deeply insightful application which will furnish the readers with guidance that will help them pursue a Strong Masculine Christianity. Rather it is a book which generally puts forward assertions with little or no defense, and gives generic platitudes that the reader has likely heard a million times before.
The worst part of this book is that when it comes to the practical applications of this book none of the advice would likely be actually opposed by the supposed critics of the book. If I was to break down the primary applications of this book they would be as follows:
1. Pursue Glory in your vocation and raising a Godly family.
2. Engage in warfare against sin in your life
3.Cultivate the Physical and the contemplative life, this can be done by, for example, restoring spaces for Christian Male Companionship, such as a martial arts group, team sports, or a debate group
4.Be willing to take risk broadly, whether vocationally or speaking in a way that may offend people, an example from the book is a Seminary program to have seminary students go to an LGBTQ Rally to confront it

Apart from thoroughly liberal denominations I don't think any of Davis' Critics would oppose any of these applications except possibly 4. 1 and 2 certainly not. 3 maybe some churches would though I am doubtful. In my anecdotal experience I can't think of any church I have attended, many being quite moderate, who would oppose this. Possibly they might oppose 4 though I don't think they would oppose it in principle. I imagine Davis would also agree that there would be conduct which a Christian could engage in when confronting a pride march which would be too far so I think the only likely disagreement would be of degree of how far would be too far. Defining the boundaries of how far in confrontation is too far as opposed to what squishy and feminized evangelicals would say is to far would be a valuable subject but alas that is not something which is outlined in this text.

[Jason Carter]

Davis makes a helpful contribution to a much-needed conversation. He correctly diagnoses that what passes for Christianity in America today is a feminized version of the faith shaped by evangelicalism's embrace of a pietistic religiosity that would be largely unrecognizable by the heroes of the faith outlined in Hebrews 11.

He further provides a smorgasbord of helpful tactics on how men might shed the accepted norms of an effeminate culture and take up a much more masculine Christianity ("offensive Christianity") in its place.

Where this book falls short is in offering a compelling, positive vision for what authentic masculinity looks like in its stead, save for a laundry list of attributes that, taken individually, are definitely preferable to the counterfeits being offered by evangelicalism. And when he does venture into the territory of boiling it all down to its essence, he claims, "The aim for men is glory."

While this is better than the current alternatives being proffered by prominent evangelicals (Promise-Keeper-like "authenticity," "servant leadership," etc), it is not biblical.

Davis says man should have a mission. And man does have a mission; it's right there in Genesis 1: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

While Davis talks about taking dominion, he does so in the midst of a laundry list of other virtues they should pursue, such as displaying meekness, protecting, building, etc, not as the core of their mission. Man's mission is to subdue the earth, transforming the wilderness outside Eden into a garden-city similar to the pattern shown Adam by his Creator.

This is a bit of a nit because most of Davis' book is helpful, right, and much needed. But missing the mark at this key point prevents a good book from being really good.

Recommended.

[Auguste Meyrat]

This book was fine. If you fall in the target audience (protestant white dude in a feminized church), I think many of Davis's points will resonate. If you're anyone else, much of it will be familiar manosphere arguments: men need to take back the culture, embrace their nature, and let go of the guilt. All of this is welcome, and it's nice that he frames within the Christian faith which is particularly susceptible to feminist narratives.

It's also mercifully short and pretty readable. For anyone who hasn't really read anything about this issue, it's a nice primer. However, for those who have read about this, it can feel a little basic in parts.

I'd also would've liked more responses to common objections. It's not always clear how anything he's saying is controversial. Is it really "offensive" to take care of yourself and help lead? I guess, but Davis tends to assume most of what he's saying is a given.

Overall, it's worth reading. Easy to get through.

[Aaron D Hodson]

I really enjoyed this book, not just for the content but for the way it was approached. Pastor Chase did an amazing job of clearly calling out the rotten fruit of feminism in the church and the culture, and how this has affected multiple generations of men especially, but also women and families and institutions. Yet, even in his frank criticism of the broader evangelical church's faults and the failures of popular institutions and leaders, his tone remained pastoral and optimistic. I appreciated and was challenged by his call to men to take personal responsibility, and to stop thinking and acting in effeminate and defeatist ways. I believe every pastor and leader who seeks to form men who exhibit the virtues of biblical masculinity in all of its strength, godly ambition (and piety) need to read this book!

[Austin Hoffman]

This book was great! There are a lot of topics and a lot to talk about within the book. I think the author achieved his goal and over all message of the book. We live in an effeminate age. It’s horrible and hard to overcome. But God has made redeemed man to be precisely the answer to the world’s problems. Actually obeying Christ will move the dial. Being faithful and unapologetic as a rutty Christian man breaks the paradigm. I particularly like the reminders the author gives the reader that reading,all though fun and informative, means nothing if you actually do not use that knowledge. Act upon your enlightenment and go forth.

Great book, I would recommend to Christian men of all ages.

[Daniel Fahringer]

“Men are designed to cultivate and create. They have an instincive desire to go out and stake a claim and make something where there is nothing.” Pg. 89

J. Chase Davis nailed this book as he not only Biblically discusses the responsibility of men but their nature, and how it should be cultivated and built in light of God’s design. He covers many topics including virtue, beauty, and friendship with Biblical precision and clarity.

This book is a must read and I pray that its is read far and wide for its message by God’s grace has the power to shape marriages, families, generations, churches and countries to the glory of God!

[Kenneth Hansen]

Title: Offensive Christianity
Author: J. Chase Davis
Grade A-

Synopsis: Davis has put together an excellent book to go alongside of a reading list about true and biblical masculinity. He rightly diagnoses the failings of the feminized church. There are times I wished he was more specific and showed more in depth research, but overall it was excellent.

Perhaps Davis' book could be summarized by the following quote, "The version of Christianity that is offered to men today is weak. It is a version of Christianity that appeals to the feminized disposition."

On the whole, I agree with this diagnosis.

[Andy Schreiber]

Honestly, I felt like this book was mostly a waste of my time. (And I was actually pretty hopeful that it was going to be good.) Maybe my expectations were not what they should have been for it. This book easily could have been much shorter and to the point.

If this book was supposed to help 'restore the strength of men in a feminized age,' I think it fell well short of that mark. The idea of the book sounds great - not being offensive, but going on the offensive (being assertive, bold, not being afraid of confrontation); maybe someone will get around to writing such a book.

[Adam Kareus]

Whether you agree with Davis’ total argument or not, this book does challenge the common picture of Christianity or Christian men- in a good way. It encourages dialogue at the least and a getting back to active faith in all of life.
Men should be challenged to employ their masculinity for the sake of Christ’s glory… and we can debate how that is best done. But there is really no argument that men seem to be adrift and need that pursuit.
So read and engage.