How John Eldredge Wildly Misses the Heart of Biblical Manhood
ARTICLE • In its enthusiasm to call men back to wild strength and adventure, Wild at Heart makes a crucial mistake: it treats desires as de facto truth rather than affections that must be tested, often rejected, and always corrected in light of God’s true Word.
Read time: 7 min
I take serious issue with John Eldredge’s modern classic Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul—though not likely for the same reasons most have objected to his book [1]. Many in the broader culture dislike Eldredge’s work for various reasons, none of which concern me. For example:
Feminists object that the book reinforces outdated gender stereotypes, portraying women primarily as beauties to be rescued by men.
Progressives criticize the book for glorifying a “hyper-masculine” ideal that excludes gentle, artistic, or emotionally sensitive men.
Cultural critics argue the book romanticizes violence and war and advocates a “toxic masculinity” under the guise of manhood.
I don’t share these concerns. On the other hand, many Christians have levied other legitimate accusations (see this review). For instance:
Wild at Heart uses Scripture loosely, often ignoring context and basic textual exegesis.
It promotes a cultural and unbiblical view of masculinity.
It implies that even God takes risks, flirting with the heresy of Open Theism and weakening divine foreknowledge and sovereignty.
The Third Time’s the Charm
I first read Wild at Heart as a 22-year-old. I loved it. It spoke to my restlessness. It spoke to the ache in my soul to live a life that matters. It gave me permission to take risks, live boldly, and lean into the masculinity to which God calls men.
I reread it a second time as a 34-year-old with a men’s group. It left me uneasy. It bothered me that Eldredge used Hollywood hits and classic literary heroes as the true north to which he pointed men. His careless use of Scripture bothered me most. But I couldn’t exactly put my finger on what was so wrong about his vision of manhood. Perhaps his destination was correct, but he’d just taken a different path to get there?
Finally, I read it a third time as I neared my fortieth year. This time, what was so fundamentally aberrant in Eldredge’s masculine vision clicked with me. It so happens that I’d just finished Carl Trueman’s magnum opus, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self [2]. This was the lens that finally brought clarity to Eldredge’s major misstep.
Is There Anything to Commend? Yes.
There’s good reason this book became a bestseller and a defining text for men’s ministry over the past two decades. It strikes a nerve. It gives language to something many men feel but can’t articulate: a sense of restlessness, a deep desire for purpose that the ordinary rhythms of life fail to satisfy. Wild at Heart tells men that their longings aren’t just personal frustrations but clues about their divine design.
Endorsements from prominent evangelical leaders evidence the book’s impact. Respected pastor and author Charles Swindoll praised it as “the best, most insightful book I have read in at least the last five years.” Beyond individual endorsements, Wild at Heart garnered significant recognition within the Christian publishing industry. It received the 2002 Gold Medallion Book Award, and Family Christian Bookstores honored it as the 2002 book of the year, further cementing its status as a pivotal work in Christian literature in the new millennium.
The book’s success led to a broader movement, inspiring retreats, workshops, and study groups aimed at helping men reconnect with what Eldredge describes as their “wild” nature. This widespread appeal indicates a deep-seated yearning among men to explore and embrace a more adventurous and authentic expression of their faith and identity. He wisely warns:
“The world is a carnival of counterfeits—counterfeit battles, counterfeit adventures, counterfeit beauties. Men should think of it as a corruption of their strength. Battle your way to the top, says the world, and you are a man. Why is it then that the men who get there are often the emptiest, most frightened, prideful posers around? They are mercenaries, battling only to build their own kingdoms. There is nothing transcendent about their lives” (136–37).
There’s a measure of truth in Eldredge’s observations. Men are created for strength, to give their lives to a cause greater than themselves, love sacrificially, and do hard things—and men are always at risk of pursing counterfeit masculinities. And it is true that second-wave Feminism has blurred gender lines and weakened masculine resolve. But where can men turn to reclaim what’s been taken from them?
Eldredge’s Cure Offers a Different Disease
Herein lies the problem. Eldredge’s description of the disease, so to speak, is artful and brilliant. His diagnosis of the disease many men are experiencing in our androgyny-celebrating culture is often helpful. But the cure he offers is just as imbalanced and misguided as the disease he seeks to remedy: Eldredge tells men to look within themselves for guidance regarding their identity. This is a crack in the foundation of Wild at Heart that no amount of plaster can fix. He insists, for example:
“There is something else I am after, out here in the wild. I am searching for an even more elusive prey . . . something that can only be found through the help of wilderness. I am looking for my heart” (3).
“What if those deep desires in our hearts are telling us the truth, revealing to us the life we were meant to live?” (16).
“A man’s calling is written on his true heart, and he discovers it when he enters the frontier of his deep desires” (189).
But what if a man’s longings aren’t as trustworthy as Eldredge alleges?
What if, instead of pointing men to their God-given design, a man’s wild desires reveal something far more complicated, broken, and in need of redemption through Christ? Eldredge fails to wrestle seriously with the reality about which Scripture warns:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9).
In his enthusiasm to call men back to wild strength and adventure, he makes a crucial mistake: he treats desires as de facto truth rather than affections that must be tested, often rejected, and always corrected in light of God’s true Word.
Reading Wild at Heart through the lens of Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self shows that Eldredge has unintentionally baptized the modern ideology of expressive individualism—the belief that identity and purpose are found by looking to the desires that churn within us.
Three Errant Assumptions of Wild at Heart
Assumption 1: A Man’s Desires Indicate His “True Self”
Eldredge consistently treats a man’s desires as clues to his divine design rather than aspects of his nature that must be tested and refined. Quoting Howard Thurman, he writes, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive” (184). While this sentiment is stirring, it suggests that what we naturally long for is inherently good and always God-given. This assumption overlooks a fundamental biblical reality: sin profoundly distorts human desires.
To be sure, a person’s desires do reveal one’s wild heart. Scripture teaches that the unredeemed human heart is not a pure wellspring of divine intention but a tangled mix of distortion and evil. Romans 1:21–25 describes how sinful desires lead people away from God, distorting their perception of truth. Eldredge’s confidence in following one’s desires fails to reckon with this reality. He advocates that a man “get his heart back” (5). The implication is that a man’s heart, once uncovered, is an uncorrupted guide to his true self. But biblically, the goal is not merely to “get one’s heart back” but to have one’s heart radically renewed in conformity to Christ’s perfect heart (e.g., Ezek 36:26; Rom 12:1–2).
Assumption 2: God is Glorified When Men Follow Their Hearts
Eldredge’s ministry frequently quotes the early church father, Irenaeus, asserting, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” It’s in the title to Eldredge’s 2003 book, Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive. This phrase functions as a foundational idea in Wild at Heart, shaping his vision of masculinity. Eldredge interprets it to mean that when a man embraces his deepest desires—his longing for adventure, battle, and beauty—he is becoming what God intended, and in doing so, he brings glory to God.
However, there are two significant problems with how Eldredge uses this quote: First, he misquotes Irenaeus and butchers his meaning. The phrase commonly attributed to Irenaeus is actually a poor paraphrase rather than a direct quotation from his writings. In its fuller context, the original statement from Against Heresies (Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 7) says:
“For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.”
The difference is crucial. In Irenaeus’ theology, being “fully alive” is not about fulfilling personal desires or reclaiming a sense of masculine adventure but about knowing and communing with God. The life that makes a man fully alive is defined by beholding God, not by following internal impulses.
Eldredge subtly shifts the meaning and flirts with expressive individualism, where self-fulfillment and self-discovery become central to human flourishing. In contrast, Irenaeus meant that true human life is rooted in knowing and obeying God, not realizing personal dreams of wildness and adventure.
Assumption 3: Pop Culture and Mythology Reveal God’s Design for Manhood
Eldredge leans heavily on Hollywood films and classic adventure stories to construct his vision of masculinity. Braveheart, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings—these and other narratives function as his primary reference points for what it means to be a man.
He quite intentionally treats cinematic epics as authoritative anthropology. Instead of grounding masculinity in creation, the life of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, or the many commands of Scripture, he upholds figures like William Wallace and Aragorn as models for modern manhood. Indeed, Scripture does call men to courage and strength and urges us to “act like men” and “be strong” (Josh 1:8–9; 1 Cor 16:13). And God does call men to fearlessly take primary leadership in the home, church, and world. But this strength is defined not by wildness but by humble submission to God’s will revealed in God’s Word. 1 Peter 5:6 calls men to humility under God’s mighty hand, not the dead-end pursuit of self-expression. The Bible does elevate masculine courage, but it does so alongside repentance, discipline, the denial of selfish ambition, and the pursuit of righteous responsibility and love.
When masculinity is redefined by expressive desire rather than scriptural responsibility, the result is not a recovery of God’s design for men but a distortion of it. Failing to ground manhood in God’s revealed designs in Scripture, Eldredge looks to cultural myths and personal desires as a sure foundation. And in doing so, he inadvertently offers an counter-biblical vision.
A Better Foundation for Biblical Manhood
If Wild at Heart offers men a vision of masculinity drawn from mythic heroes and subjective desires, what’s the alternative? What does the Bible actually say about what it means to be a man? Biblical masculinity is not defined by an innate call to “wildness” but by a faithful and disciplined execution of one’s responsibilities before God.
From the beginning, God created men and commissioned them with a divine mandate. Genesis 1:26–28 describes how God made humans in his image and entrusted them with dominion and stewardship over creation. This was not an invitation to untamed self-expression but a call to godly dominion. In Genesis 2:15, Adam is placed in the garden “to work it and keep it”—words that carry the connotation of both cultivation and protection. Biblical masculinity is fundamentally about taking redemptive responsibility—toward God, family, work, and the world.
This responsibility extends to leadership but not the domineering or self-serving rule that so often mars human authority. Instead, God directs men to reflect Christ’s leadership—a leadership marked by righteousness, service, sacrifice, visionary shepherding, and putting oneself in the path of harm for the good of others and the glory of God. This is especially evident in the home and the church, where men are called to lead not by exerting their desires but by laying down their lives for those entrusted in their care. Biblically speaking, being a man is not to seek adventure for adventure’s sake but to stand firm in faith, shoulder responsibility, and love sacrificially.
Courage, too, has its place in biblical masculinity, but it is not the reckless daring of a Hollywood protagonist. True courage is found in obedience to God’s will, even when costly. It is the courage of Joseph resisting temptation in Egypt, of Daniel praying in defiance of an empire, of Christ setting his face toward the cross. Scripture calls men to be strong in the power of God Spirit (Eph 6:10–18). Masculinity is not about being wild at heart—it is about being redeemed to mirror Christ so that we are faithful in heart.
A Needed Caveat on Pursuing Holy Desires
Desires are not inerrant guiding lights but can serve as godly indicators—but only when a man is being sanctified by the Spirit and governed by God’s Word. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” but this promise is contingent on delighting in God. Likewise, Proverbs 3:5–6 exhorts:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Redeemed desires must be tested and submitted to Scripture, lest they become disguised expressions of the flesh:
"A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart” (Prov 18:2, NKJV).
The contrast with Eldredge’s vision is clear. He invites men—redeemed and unredeemed—to find their purpose and identity by looking inward, following their deepest desires, but Scripture presents a different path. Paul exhorted us:
“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22–24).
Biblical masculinity is not about discovering one’s “true self” but about conforming oneself to Christ (Romans 8:29); it’s not found in planning wilderness adventures but in obedience to the One who entered our wilderness and gave his life so we could live through him (Phil 2:5–10; Gal 2:20).
Conclusion
There is no denying that Wild at Heart has helped many men rediscover a sense of strength and purpose. Where that has happened, I am most grateful. Eldredge speaks vividly to real frustrations, feelings of aimlessness, disconnection, and passivity that plague many men today. But while his book taps into the problem, it ultimately falls short because it is shaped more by cultural assumptions than biblical truth.
Christian men need a vision of masculinity that is not defined by modern self-expression but by the character and calling given by God in creation and redemption. The most authentic adventure a redeemed man can embark on is not one of self-discovery but of God-discovery, which awakens men to courageous leadership, loving service, and living out their identity in Christ in submission to God’s Word. ❖
Quote this Article
Footnote: Timothy J. Harris, “How John Eldredge Wildly Misses the Heart of Biblical Manhood,” Practical Theologian, April 20, 2025, https://www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/article-z9dtw-69b3c-r2xn5.
Bibliography: Harris, Timothy J. “How John Eldredge Wildly Misses the Heart of Biblical Manhood.” Practical Theologian, April 20, 2025. https://www.practicaltheologian.com/blog/article-z9dtw-69b3c-r2xn5.
References
Eldredge, John. Wild at Heart Study Guide, Updated Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul. Nashville: HarperChristian Resources, 2021. Kindle.
Trueman, Carl R. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Wheaton: Crossway, 2020.
