Losers, Loners, and Rebels: The Spiritual Struggles of Boys

by Robert C. Dykstra, Allan Hugh Cole Jr., Donald Capps

The early years of adolescence are a tumultuous time, full of challenges and opportunities that can shape one's whole life. In recent years several books have analyzed this period of life for girls, but this is the first book that investigates the interior life of boys as they develop their sense of self and begin the spiritual journey that will carry them throughout their lives. The authors contend that adolescent boys often experience themselves at various times as losers, loners, and rebels. As self-defined losers, boys begin to realize self-awareness; as loners they begin to understand their own relatedness to the larger world; as rebels they gain a sense of self-sufficiency. Through these common experiences of life, boys gain self-awareness, self-transcendence, and self-sufficiency, concepts that take root in the spirituality that will last their lifetime.

216 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2007

About the author

Robert C. Dykstra is the Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he earned both the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees. A native of Minnesota, he is a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He served for a number of years as a minister, youth minister, hospital chaplain, and pastoral counselor. His academic interests include pastoral care and counseling, contemporary psychoanalytic theory and developmental psychology, pastoral preaching, and the integration of biblical and theological precepts with contemporary research in the human sciences.

Reviews

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very engaging. Didn't finish it.