Last spring, 110 Hillsdale men — 15% of undergraduate men — joined an Ethos group. This semester, that number has grown to almost 25%. Courtesy | Unsplash
What does true masculinity look like? The Collegian Opinions page debates this often. As leaders of the Ethos National chapter on campus, a small group program designed to free men from pornography, we propose an obvious but often overlooked model for masculinity: Jesus.
Not the Truth-preaching, Pharisee-flaming, demon-smiting, death-defeating Jesus, but rather the hometown Jesus — the man at the carpenter’s bench. The “hidden years” of Jesus’ life, as he prepared for his saving mission, testify to the foundations of true masculinity and virtue. We believe in this model’s efficacy in freeing men from pornography.
What was that Jesus like? Picture this: The Son of God spent 30 years working in a backwater, run-down Middle Eastern town, fixing tables and chairs, living with his mom. After hearing claims that Jesus was the Messiah, Nathaniel scoffed at this vision of masculinity: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46).
This disillusioned expectation of masculinity still permeates our culture today. The world sees the carpenter as meek and boring, unfit for greatness. But we gather from him a true picture of masculinity: the humble and silent worker, striving for virtue in reserved humility. Our culture today measures a man’s worth in conquests, achievements, followers — all admirable pursuits, but a model that tends to breed comparison and competition, not sacrificial love.
Hillsdale’s Ethos chapter is one of seven across the country. Ethos’ founder, Josh Haskell, embodies a life devoted to the carpenter model. A valedictorian finalist at the University of Notre Dame, Haskell turned down a job at an elite business firm in New York, bought a rundown Prius, and returned to Notre Dame to resurrect the purity club he started as a junior.
His first attempt to expand the program brought him to a Hillsdale dining hall booth, where all wonderful things are born. By the close of the fall 2024 semester, Ethos emerged at Hillsdale, spurred by a few resident assistants and volunteers who quietly worked together at the carpenter’s bench.
Just two years earlier, Haskell wrote his personal testimony in Notre Dame’s school newspaper, sharing his struggles with pornography with the entire school. He boldly encouraged his peers to join his new club, Ethos. He prayed for 10 men to sign up — 150 joined by the semester’s end. He galvanized men at five other schools, and 150 have become 700. Haskell labored in the dark and amassed a following, just as the humble carpenter executed his mission.
Today, these 700 men toil together at the carpenter’s bench. In groups of five, Ethos members sharpen their habits together in spiritual and physical disciplines, striving for interior freedom, a necessary prerequisite to love.
Ethos’ curriculum, written by Haskell, calls for 70 days of reading, calls with an accountability partner, and weekly 30-minute meetings, where members share their personal testimony, reflecting on victories and struggles with sexual sin. Group captains meet weekly for formation, food, and fellowship under the direction of the Ethos Board. Last spring, 110 Hillsdale men — 15% of undergraduate men — joined an Ethos group. This semester, that number has grown to almost 25%.
Hillsdale men proved the efficacy of the carpenter method — Ethos members see an 83% reduction in pornography use.
Trust our model because God the Father did. Living under a model of contemplative silence and intentional labor, Joseph the carpenter taught his son to refine his focus, prayer, and patience —habits Jesus practiced for 30 years before going on mission. Just as Jesus’ simple life as a carpenter prepared him to conquer sin and death, so the Ethos model prepares men to conquer sexual sin.
Both the carpenter model and Ethos mission aim to prepare men for the sacrifices of marriage. The American Sociological Association found pornography use within marriage to double the likelihood of divorce. This is the spiritual and physical battle of our age. One day we hope a Hillsdale man can look into his wife’s eyes and say: “Before I knew you, I loved you; and I have been preparing for you for a long time.”
Joseph Brecount is a junior studying English. Joseph Duncan is a senior studying English.
