Christian Masculinity

In the mid-nineteenth century, when the idea of religion as a private matter connected to the home and the female sphere won acceptance among the bourgeois elite, Christian religious practices began to be associated with femininity and soft values. Contemporary critics claimed that religion was incompatible with true manhood, and today's scholars talk about a feminisation of religion. But was this really the case? What expression did male religious faith take at a time when Christianity was losing its status as the foundation of society?

This is the starting point for the research presented in Christian Masculinity. Here we meet Catholic and Protestant men struggling with and for their Christian faith as priests, missionaries, and laymen, as well as ideas and reflections on Christian masculinity in media, fiction, and correspondence of various kinds. Some men engaged in social and missionary work, or strove to harness the masculine combative spirit to Christian ends, while others were eager to show the male character of Christian virtues. This book not only illustrates the importance of religion for the understanding of gender construction, but also the need to take into consideration confessional and institutional aspects of religious identity.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

"Christian Masculinity" was edited by Yvonne Maria Werner.

Yvonne Maria Werner is Professor at the Department of History at the Lund University.

Yes, "Christian Masculinity" is part of the "KADOC-Studies on Religion, Culture and Society" series. It's book 8 in the series.

Elena Arigita Maza (Universidad de Granada)
Florian Bock (Ruhr Universität Bochum)
Timothy Brittain‐Catlin (University of Cambridge)
James Chappel (Duke University)
Kim Christiaens (KADOC-KU Leuven)
Kathleen James-Chakraborty (University College Dublin)
​​​​James Kennedy (Utrecht University)
​​​Franziska Metzger (PH Luzern)
Patrick Pasture (MoSa‐KU Leuven) - chairman
Isabelle Saint‐Martin (EPHE Paris)
Thijl Sunier (VU Amsterdam)
Árpád von Klimó (Catholic University of America)
Veerle De Laet (Leuven University Press)
Peter Heyrman (KADOC-KU Leuven) - secretary

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to Peter Heyrman. The series welcomes monographs and edited volumes. Book proposals may relate to, for example, the political impact of religion, the dynamics between religion and welfare, and missionary history. All proposals and manuscripts are subject to double blind peer review involving at least one external reviewer (proposals) or at least two (manuscripts). The editors strive towards completing the review of proposals within two months and of complete manuscripts within five months after submission.

Please make use of the submission form to present your manuscript or proposal to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

Yes, "Christian Masculinity" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.

Studying Christian masculinity. An introduction
Yvonne Maria Werner

Part I

Key Concepts and theoretical Perspectives

The unrecognised piety of men.
Strategies and success of the re-masculinisation campaign around 1900
Olaf Blaschke

Masculinity and secularisation in twentieth-century Britain
Callum G. Brown

Part II

Visions and Ideals of Christian Manhood

Heroic men and Christian ideals
Tine Van Osselaer and Alexander Maurits

Masculinity, memory, and oblivion in the Dutch Dominican Province, 1930-1950
Marit Monteiro

The man in the clergyman. Swedish priest obituaries, 1905-1937
Anna Prestjan

Crises of faith and the making of Christian masculinities at the turn of the twentieth century
David Tjeder

Part III

Missionary Masculinity

Protestant mission in China. A proletarian perspective
Erik Sidenvall

Alternative masculinity? Catholic missionaries in Scandinavia
Yvonne Maria Werner

Part IV

Fostering Christian Men

The making of Christian men.
An evangelical mission to the Swedish army, c. 1900-1920
Elin Malmer

Danish folk high school and the creation of a new Danish man
Nanna Damsholt

Part V

Transgressing Gender Boundaries

Literary transgressions of masculinity and religion
Inger Littberger Caisou-Rousseau

A manly queen with feminine charm.
Intersectional perspectives on gender
Anders Jarlert

The new Catholic feminism.
Tradition and renewal in Catholic gender theology
Gösta Hallonsten

Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Colophon