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133 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must for Every Dad With A Son, June 15, 2001
This review is from: Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood (Paperback)
Robert Lewis has written a top-notch, easy to understand, easy to implement book to help Christian dads rear godly, masculine sons. He defines a man as "....someone who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects the greater reward." His definition of ideal manhood is excellent, especially his emphasis upon "rejecting passivity." Although he does not always lay out an exact plan for readers to follow without variation, he shares his own experiences and ideas as a suggested approach. The book is divided into five parts: The need for a modern-day knighthood, The Knight and his ideals, The Knight and his ceremonies, the Knight and his round table (community of men), and the Knight and his legacy. Part two, "The Knight and His Ideals" is alone worth the purchase price of the book. His suggestions for cermonies that celebrate a boy's advancement into manhood are creative. This book helped me come up with some related ideas. As a result of reading this book, I implemented a "Knights of Light" training seminar for our junior high boys (I am a pastor); I compiled info on courtesy, respecting women, etc., and we had a knighting ceremony for the guys that completed this training. Lewis has written a book that addresses a real gap in our culture; he understands masculinity, particularly Christian masculinity. Go for it, dad!
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Raising Boys Into Men of Honor, April 27, 2006
This review is from: Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood (Paperback)
By far, my greatest joy in life is being "Daddy" to my toddler son. I take that responsibility very seriously, and am constantly looking for ways and times to refine my performance in that critical role. Robert Lewis' excellent book has given me some different and exciting perspectives on my dad role and responsibilities that can and should be contemplated by dads everywhere.
I was first drawn to the book by the cover's image of a modern-day dad passing an ornate, manly sword to his son. I did not initially comprehend the connections between medieval knights and my relationship with my son, but since my son likes to play with knights, dragons, and castle toys, I felt compelled to explore the story behind the cover. What I discovered is that Lewis effectively balanced historical research and his deep biblical/religious/spiritual knowledge to explain and reinforce how the supportive environment for medieval knights' prescribed progression from page to squire to knighthood can be applied to the raising of sons in today's chaotic and challenging world.
On the very first page, Lewis asked some seemingly simple, yet profoundly challenging questions that I knew were mine, as a dad, to answer: "How does a boy grow into a man? A real man? A godly man? One with character, conviction, and vision? Where does he go to find a manly sense of himself? Who confers upon him the title and responsibilities of manhood?" In the pages that followed, Lewis shared his detailed insights, efforts, and experiences in answering those questions both as a father and as a pastor of a church. The book's twelve chapters were organized into five parts, based on the history and modern-day perceptions of medieval knights: I-The Need For a Modern-Day Knighthood, II-The Knight and His Ideals, III-The Knight and His Ceremonies, IV-The Knight and His Round Table, and V-The Knight and His Legacy.
Lewis' easy-to-read writing style made reading this `Christian fatherhood primer' both enlightening and entertaining. Although my son is not yet old enough to be a page, I now have a much deeper appreciation for my role and responsibilities in guiding and nurturing him to become a modern-day knight. I believe dads, sons, families, and communities as a whole would reap many rewards in striving to live up to the values and principles presented in this book.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book every father should have!, February 8, 2007
I picked up Raising a Modern Day Knight while attending a recent Family Life marriage conference. I'm sure there isn't a dad out there that doesn't want to raise his kids properly, and especially his son. I have a five year old and know that right now, I am his hero, his best friend, the best guy in the world. I don't want to squander his admiration and unconditional love. I want to know how I can raise my son so he will be a strong man. This book attempts to answer that question. This is a Focus on the Family book and broaches the subject of parenting from a Christian point of view. It's also a very short book and can probably be read in a couple of hours. In its brevity, you aren't going to get a lot of content, but what you do get is good stuff.
Author Robert Lewis equates raising a son to the process of raising a young man to be a knight back in the dark ages. At times, the analogy is cumbersome, but the book still offers a lot of good points. Also, the book is filled with tons of scriptural references, which at times caused my eyes to glaze over. I feel the scripture references needed to be backed by more examples or antecdotes. This book is primarly about teaching your older kid how to be a man, and how to do it through ceremonies. The book doesn't include much discussion on how kids think and act, so don't expect that in here. This book is probably for men with kids approaching puberty and older, because it focuses a lot on guiding your young boys into manhood through memorable ceromonies.
Lewis men need to teach their boys how to be men by providing a strong example in Jesus, living right in their own lives, guiding them through memorable ceremonies and surrounding them with a community of men. The ceremonies are a big focus of the book, and although the author says he provides a lot of examples of different types of ceremonies, they really are all the same. You may not want to give your son a family crest at his college graduation, but the book does stress the importance of ceremonies for your children Some of the most power ful segments of the book are when fathers mention they failed their sons, or when sons said their dads weren't there for them.
Every father should read this book and every father should understand that the role of a father is the most important job they will ever have.
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