David John Seel, Ph.D., has been called a Christian thought leader. The educator, businessman, writer, “recovering academic,” and college professor studies culture, sociology, politics, theology, works with millennials and AI. John somehow combines the various sources and streams into original, inspirational and prescient ideas he shares through his many publications and speaking engagements.

John’s August credentials include bachelor’s degrees in history, business and philosophy, an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland at College Park. He’s been involved in founding The Williamsburg Charter, The Trinity Forum, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, The Cambridge School of Dallas, and the Council on Educational Standards & Accountability.

He describes his journey as being influenced by place, people and pain. A former MK (missionary kid), John’s worldview was shaped at an early age by his experiences growing up overseas, which made him sensitive to cultural differences. One of his earliest role models was his father, a gifted cancer surgeon who took the family along when he served as a missionary in Korea. John noted his namesake left some very large footprints for him to follow. He also credits Francis Schaffer, C.S. Lewis and Dallas Willard as inspirational. Pain arrived in the form of a divorce after 18 years of marriage. Although John was awarded uncontested sole custody of his two sons, those years were marked by brokenness. He now can be grateful for how the experience changed him. His current wife, to whom he has been devoted for more than 30 years, reminded him to “never trust anybody who doesn’t walk with a limp.”

“There’s something gracious about broken people,” he added.

John recently posited that “the moment we are living in is one of the most interesting times to be alive as a follower of Jesus Christ.” He believes the world is shifting in ways society has not seen in 500 years. “We have to understand how to respond as faithful believers in Jesus in this moment, and it’s a big deal.”

He noted the 2024 uptick in young people, particularly Gen Z men, returning to church. He believes they are fed up with meaninglessness. “Young people are desperate about knowing how to have a marriage and clueless how to have it,” he said. “They have no mentors and no idea from culture what it entails.” He challenges leaders to “present a vision of the possible in a way that is compelling, attractive and winsome.”

Today, people don’t have a good definition of marriage. They may use the word, but the underlying meaning varies. Rather than a sacramental marriage of the past, most people today think of marriage based on consent, which explains why fewer marriages are taking place in church. He believes America might be in a cultural rebound – a potential marriage renaissance. “The need to belong is now seen as a recognized right like air, water, and food. Historically marriage has been the main social expression of human belonging.”

“The human longings suggest that something like marriage is needed. And the social science findings suggest that there is something metaphysical—something grounded in reality—about the contours of a traditional marriage. If the human longing and social science data are taken together, what it points to is a potential renaissance in a reframed understanding of marriage….”

“We cannot return to an older Victorianism but must move forward to a renewed and reframed understanding of marriage to address our longings for belonging,” he said. John proposes a new model of marriage he calls calling-centric – or, in Christian circles, a Kingdom-first marriage.

“Marriage here is not about itself but about something else that is shared together by the couple. … ‘Flourishing marriages are true partnerships in which spouses are devoted to creating a shared life together that is deeper than the emotional payoff of the marriage. This view of marriage gives us more than feelings of happiness; it helps make our lives rich and meaningful,’” he quoted from, “Flourishing Marriages are Made not Found,” published by the Institute of Family Studies in 2024.

A calling-centric marriage is not about itself but about something else that is shared by the couple, a purpose beyond individual desires and grounded in a deeper spiritual reality, John proclaimed. The synergy created by the spouses magnifies their joint impact to be greater than that of each contributing individually. He noted examples of calling-centered marriages among missionaries, members of the military and even the British royal family until recently.

“We are not going to have any meaningful cultural engagement unless it emanates out of calling-centric marriages,” he said. “The problem is cultural and religious. The institution that spans culture and religion is marriage.”

When the triune God is invited into the union, as in the case of a Kingdom-first marriage, “the marriage serves something larger and is fueled by spiritual resources outside of itself,” he suggested.

John explained further about a Christ-powered marriage in his book, Aspirational Masculinity: On Making Men Whole, released in 2025, that also defines men’s societal role and details criteria he believes are necessary to make a man marriageable.

Aspirational Masculinity is premised on the assumption that marriages need strong godly men. “The men’s crisis is directly related to the marriage crisis,” he said. “We are sending out people to fail in something that is very hard. There’s definitional confusion about marriage, masculinity, and marriageability. Marriage is the symbol of Christ’s relationship to us and points toward heaven. When we give our life in service in some way to solve some part of the brokenness of the world our marriage partnership serves a redemptive kingdom purpose and is a symbol of our union with Christ.”

Before a man can consider marriage, he must know who he is as a man. Providing men with a positive definition of masculinity in modern culture was another of John’s goals in writing Aspirational Masculinity.

“Most people don’t appreciate how much trouble men are in,” he said. “My heart breaks for 25-year-old men. It’s almost an impossible world in which they are asked to navigate with almost no help.” Not only is the problem ignored, but the culture doesn’t have a definition of what it is to be a man. The problem is defined in the negative, with terms like toxic masculinity. In that vacuum the “manosphere” has pushed back.

“This is a huge civilizational problem,” John said. “Marriage has historically been considered the foundational institution of society. It has been said, as goes marriage so goes civilization. If this analysis is correct, then this narrative is quite a bleak picture for civilization. …This is marriage in the second watch. However dark the second watch, it comes with the glimmer of dawn,” he wrote in the essay, “Marriage In The Second Watch,” published at samarriage.org.

“Consistent social science research shows, despite the public narrative about marriage, that marriage is a much higher predictor of happiness than work and money.”

He quotes Richard Foster, saying, “The basis for getting married that conforms to the way of Christ is a regard for the wellbeing of others and ourselves and a regard for the advancement of the kingdom of God upon the earth…. Christian marriage is far more than a private undertaking or a way to personal fulfillment. Christians contemplating marriage must consider the larger question of vocation and calling, the good of others, and the wellbeing of the community of faith, and most of all, how their marriage would advance or hinder the work of the kingdom of God.

“This is the coherence we all most desire in our lives,” John wrote. “This is a life that makes sense.”

Will Gen Z be the generation that embraces the idea of a calling-centric marriage? Will this new vision of shared purpose be the reinvigoration the young need to move forward? Will there be a return to marriage being founded on something stronger than romantic dreams or shifting definitions?

It’s been said society’s success is integrally bound in the flourishing of its families, which begin with marriage. The purpose of marriage is the kingdom of God and being a faithful steward of our moment. This is our time to stand for something larger than ourselves in a way that allows Christ’s power to emanate from us, because He and He alone is sufficient.

Our future could quite literally be hanging in the balance.