Book jacket

John Eldredge believes what really is in the heart of men has been badly missed. "When all is said and done, I think most men believe God put them on the earth to be a good boy," writes Eldredge in Wild at Heart. "The problem with men, we are told, is that they don't know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children. But if they will try really hard, they can reach the lofty summit of becoming... a nice guy. That's what we hold up as models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys."

Now in all your boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream of becoming a nice guy? Ladies, was the Prince of your dreams dashing... or merely nice? Eldredge believes that this dedication to niceness is the reason there are so many tired and lonely women, so many fatherless children, and so few men around. He writes, "We've taken away the dreams of a man's heart and told him to play the man. As C.S. Lewis said, "We castrate the gelding and bid him be fruitful.'"

Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. That is how he bears the image of God; that is what God made him to be.
--overleaf from Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge