Dear Almost Engaged, My advice to you is to get engaged and don't expect him to have the same enthusiasm for getting engaged and getting married as you do. Men have a knee-jerk resistance to the whole thing, and just because you have to force him to do it, doesn't mean it won't work out or that you should be less happy about the whole thing. He loves you, and you know it. He wants to spend the rest of his life with you. Perhaps he's been so brain-washed by his buddies that he can't bring himself to do anything but play hard to get when it comes to marriage.
Many men are.
They've been told that they'll lose their freedom, or that everything will change when they're married, or they won't get any sex after they're married, or that they'll wish they were single, or that they won't be able to go out with the guys, or who knows what else. There's also a school of thought that says evolution has left men with deep instincts to spread their seed, whereas women's instincts are to nest and nurture, which of course is more compatible with marriage. In any case, his resistance is part of the male psyche, and smart women just ignore it. Don't let his lack of enthusiasm put a damper on yours. Continue to press for engagement and marriage.