As I argue in the video and course Leaving Boyhood Behind, Jesus being lost in the Temple is the story Luke uses to mark the transition of Jesus away from his boyhood and toward his life as a man – it’s his rite of passage.  As he leaves the Temple with Mary and Joseph, we are told he went obediently and "lived there in subjection to them.” ...

As I argue in Leaving Boyhood Behind, it's not just fathers and sons who need the wisdom of the rite of passage. Mothers need it too. A boy's transition away from his mother into manhood can be very difficult for a mother, due to the unique relationship a mother shares with her child. The growth of a boy into manhood can even be an experience of de...

Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). The following is taken from chapter 2 of Leaving Boyhood Behind. Some transitions in life are so radical that the old form of life simply cannot continue into the new form; the old form must give way and the new form b...

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.  – St. Paul (1 Corinthians 13:11) Dear fathers, mothers, and those that come from them – read this book! Every healthy society throughout history has had cultural and ceremonial rites of passa...