Ancient Friendship for Modern Men: How to Build Lasting Friendships & Adventures from Ancient Ideas

Do you find it challenging to build friendships with other men?

Social media, metaverses, and mobile devices have made the world a lonelier place—the exact opposite of our expectations from technology. You’d think these gizmos would bring men together, but it seems men are struggling these days, especially when it comes to building meaningful relationships.

Men need support and advice related to building their relationships, succeeding in marriage, raising children, managing their work environments and careers, and finding purpose and meaning in friends, family, and work. They need adventure in their lives and individuals to share in the stories. Men need mentors to guide them and pupils in whom they may invest their knowledge and time. But who will guide them into meaningful relationships?

In Ancient Friendship for Modern Men, Don Owens shares his journey of friendship with other men—a journey of discovering brotherhood, losing friends, and rediscovering brotherhood again through living with intentionality. Don learned from the Bible, from mentors—and from the ancients. He says, “The noise of the modern age is so loud and the visual and audio inputs so numerous it is hard to hear the teachings of the ancients. If we read and reflect on the lives and wisdom of those in the past, we will find them much like us and with answers to our burning questions.”

Don’s hope is that as you read through these pages, you will choose to join him in the pursuit of others and build your own intentional approach to offering friendship to those you encounter. His other goal is for you to discover the gifts of ancient political leaders, philosophers, religious leaders, and poets and want to pursue their works, which have so much meaning for modern living.

For individuals or men’s study groups.

Don Owens is president of The Port Royal Society, a U.S.-based non-profit organization promoting the reading and application of ancient books. He travels, speaking about his passion for books, people, and business at conferences for different companies, churches, and seminaries. He is also a CEO of an insurance group with offices in Fort Worth, Texas; Campeche and Merida, Mexico; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and Managua, Nicaragua; he has served within this group for twenty-five years. An avid outdoorsman, Don enjoys hiking, kayaking, and mountain and gravel biking. He spends a quarter of the year in Leadville, Colorado. He and David Rutherford cofounded The May Club, a men's fraternity focused on building friendships and sustaining relationships throughout life. The club is in its thirtieth year. Don has been married to Danae Owens for thirty years. They have two children and one grandchild.