Christian Masculinity: Men and Religion in Northern Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries - KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society

Brief Description: Collected essays resulting from an interdisciplinary research project. Marc Notes: Collected essays resulting from an interdisciplinary research project.; Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-316) and index.; 8; 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.. Table of Contents: Studying Christian masculinity: An Introductionby Yvonne Maria WernerPart I: Key Concepts and Theoretical Perspectives1. The Unrecognized Piety of Men: Strategies and Success of the Re-Masculinization Campaign around 1900by Olaf Blaschke2. Masculinity and Secularization in Twentieth-Century Britainby Callum G. BrownPart II: Visions and Ideals of Christian Manhood3. Heroic Men and Christian Idealsby Tine Van Osselaer and Alexander Maurits4. Masculinity, Memory, and Oblivion in the Dutch Dominican Province, 1930 1950by Marit Monteiro5. The Man in the Clergyman: Swedish Priest Obituaries, 1905 1937by Anna Prestjan6. Crises of Faith and the Making of Christian Masculinities at the Turn of the Twentieth Centuryby David TjederPart III: Missionary Masculinity7. Protestant Mission in China. A Proletarian Perspectiveby Erik Sidenvall8. Alternative Masculinity? Catholic Missionaries in Scandinaviaby Yvonne Maria WernerPart IV: Fostering Christian Men9. The Making of Christian Men: An Evangelical Mission to the Swedish Army, c. 1900 1920by Elin Malmer10. Danish Folk High School and the Creation of a New Danish Manby Nanna DamsholtPart V: Transgressing Gender Boundaries11. Literary Transgressions of Masculinity and Religionby Inger Littberger Caisou-Rousseau12. A Manly Queen with Feminine Charm: Intersectional Perspectives on Genderby Anders Jarlert13. The New Catholic Feminism: Tradition and Renewal in Catholic Gender Theologyby Gosta HallonstenBibliographyContributorsIndex"Publisher Marketing: 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 feminization 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.