Raising a Knight

I just finished reading Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis. It was really a quick read, especially since he had covered parts of it in the Quest for Authentic Manhood class I've been helping out with. All this being said, I would argue that every man should read this book at least once in his life. Mr. Lewis sets out an amazing analogy between the path to knighthood and the path to manhood.
He starts the book discussing the need for a renewed vision of manhood. Due to the current definition of manhood prevalent in society, boys growing up don't have a clear vision for what it means to be a man. We look to our dads, at least those of us lucky to have them close by, and kind of try and figure things out for ourselves, but clear instruction on manhood is rare.
As I discussed in a previous post, our culture is littered with those that have no clear definition of manhood. The book provides compelling arguments for the definition being: A real man is one who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously and expects a greater reward, God's reward. I find this to be a great, Biblically based definition seen exemplified in Christ.
With this definition in mind, Mr. Lewis exhorts men reading his book to first ensure they are striving towards authentic masculinity, then to help along their sons to achieve the same. He uses a story of General Robert E. Lee walking in the snow with his son as an example. His son began to lag behind. "After a few minutes Lee looked back and found that his boy was behind him, imitating his every move and walking in the tracks the father had made in the snow. 'When I saw this,' Lee told one of his friends long afterwards, 'I said to myself, it behooves me to walk very straight when this fellow is already following in my tracks." (R.E.Lee vol.1 by Douglas Freeman). My son isn't old enough to be following me yet, but I am convicted to have a character worth following.
Mr. Lewis also brought up the power of ceremony in calling a son to manhood. He tells of many different fathers and what they chose to do to make their sons journey to manhood have milestones. Ceremonies are important in that they help us greatly to remember not only the day, but the "Why?" of what was going on. Ceremonies, he writes, also envision new life. Baptism is symbolic of dying to self and being made alive in Christ. A wedding shows that there are no longer two, but one. Manhood ceremonies, then, are to show the boy he is no longer a boy but now a man. He will be expected to live a man's life. He will be treated now as a man. These are important for authentic manhood to be reached.
He discusses a whole lot more in the book, but if I summarized it all, y'all might not feel like you needed to read it. And you really should.