Alexander Hood

Men need other men to guide them on their journey, and the journey to true and deep manhood is a wild journey. It is untamed, even though today’s American culture would make us think that true manhood is about easy money, easy friends, easy women, and the type of sports you’re involved in. Those are all surface issues that Xan embraced…only to come up empty. And through a search that most men don’t allow themselves to dive into, Xan not only finds out what makes a man, but allows the reader to take a journey of their own and ask the similar questions. And answers to the questions will begin to take shape by reading Untamed.Looking for a man to model himself after, Xan Hood started by looking at the types of men who he thought were successful - those who already had what he wanted, or at least could just reach out and take it if they wanted to. An ineffectual Christian high school only instilled a quick-fix style of Christianity in him, and gave him neither the proper moral groundwork nor the spiritual superstructure upon which to build the man he would soon become.

Untamed is a gift to men, whether young or old. You might see some references to Wild at Heart by John Eldredge in it, but this is actually a good thing. To me, it validates the whole message of Wild at Heart, and the good news Jesus Christ brings, because that message is lived out, wrangled with and full of a healthy dose of hope.

Untamed will help young men decipher the mystery of their life, and it will help the mature men understand the men just starting their adventurous journey to becoming fully masculine.

His subsequent college career was a study in folly and worldly religiosity until, alienated by the culture that he had come to realize was not constructive, he chose to re-examine the Jesus that he had grown ashamed of so soon after arriving in college. He soon discovered much more about this King than he had ever imagined, and attempting to make Christ a real and true influence on others became his mission. But what happens when a man he greatly respects recognizes the lost boy inside Xan that can only be found by Xan’s newly-discovered King, and even then only if Xan really wants to be found?… (mer)