So far, all of the news coming out of ReformCon has been nothing but cringe. It seems that this conference’s only reason for existing was to counter-signal Joel Webbon’s Christ is King conference. This trend of petty cringe continued with a dialogue between Dr. Joe Boot and Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin, both with the Ezra Institute.
This dialogue is entitled “Biblical Manhood and Its Pretenders,” and right off the bat, there’s a huge problem. Dr. Boot (left) is wearing a very gay pink blazer, and Dr. Sandlin (right) looks to be 350 pounds. These are simply not the right messengers to inspire men to be men. But as bad as the optics are, the argumentation is far worse.
Dr. Sandlin is the primary speaker, and Dr. Boot functions as the interviewer. What really stands out is how specific Sandlin is about what biblical masculinity isn’t, in contrast to how vague he is about what it actually is. And to that end, he wants his audience to know that the brand of masculinity being promoted by the dissident right (i.e., the Christ is King conference attendees) is just as unbiblical as the egalitarianism on the left. Seemingly out of nowhere, Sandlin brings up a book entitled Bronze Age Mindset by Costin Alamariu as an example of counterfeit masculinity. Alamariu espouses a Greco-Roman worldview, and he aims to inspire men to lift weights, get a lot of sun, and then return to a patriarchal society. There may even be homoerotic and white supremacist aspects to this “mindset.” Dr. Sandlin decries this perspective and even likens it to the Hitler Youth, because everything bad should be compared to some part of the Third Reich. He also claims that there is some connection to natural law, but it’s not clear what that is specifically. This is where the other shoe begins to drop. Dr. Sandlin concedes the fact that most of these young reformed men (the dissident right) have not read Bronze Age Mindset, but nonetheless, they promote and espouse many of the same views as Alamariu. Furthermore, Sandlin asserts that Dr. Stephen Wolfe has read this book and has used ideas from it in his own writings. So the idea here is that young reformed guys are receiving this poison indirectly from Wolfe. As evidence, Dr. Sandlin provides Dr. Wolfe’s use of certain words like “Trashworld” and “gynocracy.” This is very flimsy evidence, especially since Andrew Isker has a much bigger association with “Trashworld,” a word that he used (but did not coin) in his book The Boniface Option. Sandlin’s sloppiness here does not bode well for the rest of his assertions. And so, Sandlin’s mic drop is to say that the entire “How to Defeat Trashworld” conference is unknowingly spreading paganism, Nazism, and homoeroticism, simply because of the terminology used and a focus on men being physically strong. This is guilt by association, where there is no clear association! If you’d like to see this slanderous argument for yourself, it has been clipped here on 𝕏. More briefly, Andrew Sandlin spends the second half of the dialogue contrasting egalitarianism on the far left to patriarchalism on the dissident right, with the implication being that complementarianism in the middle is the correct path. He portrays the patriarchal views as extreme, especially with respect to women working outside the home and pursuing higher education. Sandlin emphasizes several traits of biblical masculinity: courage, intellectual maturity, compassion, kindness, meekness, and submission (to God). Never once does Sandlin mention physical strength and fitness, for obvious reasons. It’s not lost on us as viewers that he is the elephant in the room. In conclusion, Dr. Andrew Sandlin presents to us a milquetoast and completely castrated version of masculinity. Young reformed men will not be inspired by this presentation, especially with the baseless accusations that he makes in the process.So @DrJoeBoot interviewed Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin at ReformCon. The topic was biblical manhood and masculinity, despite the fact that Sandlin is a land whale. But as bad as the optics are, his argumentation is worse:
— Defiant Baptist (@DefiantBaptist) May 9, 2025
🐋There are counterfeit masculinities in the world, usually… pic.twitter.com/z8FfTbsErR
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6 Responses
I wouldn’t expect you to know this, but there was a time pink was a masculine color that men war. Baby boys ha d a pink hat, girls had blue when born.
So saying a suit is gay because it is pink, is just your bias unfortunately.
The Puritans were very much into physical fitness and were concerned that young men and women weren’t getting enough exercise to stay in shape when they left the farms for city life. And, William Perkins even stated that pastors should be physically fit. Being overweight and out of shape was a no-no to actual reformers.
I used to like Joe Boot, I am his senior. But ever since his organization was the one promoting Riemenschneider’s book, he has seemed to lose all perspective and attacks the right in his presentations.
The problem is that Joe Boot and company do have a perspective, but it is made up of Kuyperian/Doyeeweerdian archane ideas, which are not communicable and can only be studied and taken up by people with the necessary theosophical bent. Also it does not lead to useful practice.
The boomers pushed aside the older “greatest” generation because they could not and, anyway, would not, understand the times or, as it was expressed then, “where it’s at”. Boot is so enamored with his theoretical productions that he will never accept that they have fundamental flaws.
So Boot and Sandlin are actually no big deal. The young Reformed guys are never going to take it up. The real problem is the people who are offering up a return to the Middle Ages as the alternative to these guys.
@veretax “Paul Simonon, bassist for English punk band The Clash, famously said that “pink is the only true rock and roll colour”.”
“We can certainly see this in the way that punk musicians reappropriate the sweet and girlish connotations of pink to create subversive performances.” https://theconversation.com/
Did the complimentarians submit to the feminists and accept “abuse” as a grounds for divorce? This at a time with the word abuse has become so broadly applied as to be entirely meaningless when applied to male significant others. And at a time when false accusations of abuse, rape, and sexual harassment are routine.