Where are the Men of the House? Discipling that Makes a Difference

by Eric A. Johnson, Claude R. Royston (Editor), A. Russell Awkard (Foreword)

Dr. Eric Johnson’s new book reveals a clear and well-researched message about the problems and possibilities with men in today’s church. Drawing on the observations from ministerial leaders, past and present, he lays down the foundation stones for building strong Christian men. His academic research is backed up by the writer’s practical experience in his pastorate.

Where are the men in the house? This piercing question tempts many pastors to be less than truthful. Like boasting about the size of church membership, and we have a tendency to blow-up the numbers of men who are active in the congregation. Dr. Johnson’s book exposes a flaw in contemporary church life, regardless of public perceptions about size and success.
Church leaders must become tuned in to the unique needs of men. Men don’t have the same views about church that women seem to take for granted. The church must become more balanced in order to reach more men.

Dr. Johnson’s publication builds a sound argument for reshaping the way we “do” church. The ideas that he shares from his own pastoral achievements and from a rich variety of other sources are doable. We may not be able to change everything all at once, but it’s time to make the church more welcoming, appealing and fulfilling to men.

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2013

About the author

Eric Johnson joined the CMU faculty in 1976 after studying at Brown and Stockholm Universities and receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the years he has taught a wide array of courses, primarily focused on modern Europe, Germany, the Holocaust, and social science methods and approaches to historical study. He has held several visiting professorships of various lengths. As part of the CMU exchange with Strathclyde University he spent the 1988-1989 academic year teaching in Glasgow, Scotland. Between 1989 and 1995 he was a visiting professor at the Center for Historical Social Research at the University of Cologne, mostly leading a small research team working on terror in Nazi Germany. From 1995-1996 he was in residence writing and researching primarily at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, and he held a similar appointment at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in 1998-1999.

Professor Johnson's research interests dovetail considerably with his teaching. In the first years of his career he concentrated primarily on the history of crime and urbanization and justice. In the last couple of decades he has written primarily on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Presently he is working on American and Allied prisoners, especially pilots, in WWII and completing a personal account of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany.