To my many brothers the world over with whom I struggle and learn, rejoice and work. Hopefully we may all wake up together.

It’s no secret that men are in trouble today. From war to ecological collapse, most of the world’s critical problems stem from a distorted masculinity out of control. Yet our culture rewards the very dysfunctions responsible for those problems.

To maverick theologian Matthew Fox, our crucial task is to open our minds to a deeper understanding of the healthy masculine than we receive from our media, culture, and religions.

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Grandfatherly Heart to the Spiritual Warrior. Some of the others are Hunter-Gatherers, Our Cosmic and Animal Bodies, The Blue Man, and Masculine Sexuality, Numinous Sexuality.

Our unique DNA assures us that each of us came through this long, fourteen-billion-year journey with our own tales to tell and work to do. We are wondrous and surprising and full of creativity. And we are evolving still. We are green and blue, warrior and hunter, Icarus and Daedalus, father and son, husband and lover, spiritual and sensual, free and bound. That is the adventure of it all. That is why we need fresh and ancient metaphors to awaken us.

Exploring archetypes of sacred marriage, The Hidden Spirituality of Men shows how partnership becomes the ultimate expression of healthy masculinity. By stirring our natural yearning for healthy spirituality, Fox argues, these timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to reinvent the world.

Anyone who gives life their all—be they engineers, doctors, lawyers, taxi drivers, businesspeople, teachers, nurses, writers, mechanics, or carpenters—are announcing their spirituality, which is giving life one’s all. Biophilia. Love of life. Lovers of life. Lovers. That is spirituality.

As Fox writes, “It is time for men to grow up spiritually. As a species, we can no longer be stuck in our adolescence. We need to explore ancient wisdom and deep teachings about the spiritual life of men, about the Sacred Masculine, and how we touch it and how it touches us.”

“In this historic and revolutionary book, Fox inspires us to divinize male sexuality and exorcise the self-imposed and culturally held demons that bring violence and environmental desecrations to our world.” —Alex Grey, author of The Mission of Art

“A gutsy, courageous book, one that confronts the terrible isolation in which men live with archetypal images that once nurtured, guided, and connected our ancestors and that still course within the depth of each of us.” —James Hollis, author of What Matters Most

Among Matthew Fox’s many other books are Original Blessing and Creativity.