God's own gender? : masculinities in world religions

Throughout the history of religions, their holy texts and norms have been sources of images of men in societies around the world and have presented forms of masculinity that have found expression in religious acts and rituals. This volume examines how this reciprocal influence has shifted over time by bringing together research on different religious traditions from noted experts in the field, such as Björn Krondorfer, Yvonne Maria Werner and John Powers. It analyses similarities and differences in the interwoven relationships between specific religions and between concepts and practices of masculinity in different societies and cultures, such as Western forms of Christianity during the 19th and 20th centuries, European Judaism and Arabic Islam during the Middle Ages, and South Asian Buddhism and Hinduism. This book is the first to compare research on a variety of religions and forms of masculinity, and thereby contributes to the steadily growing field of interdisciplinary research on (critical) men's studies in religion. Cover 1 Masculinities in World Religions. Some Introductory Remarks 8 1. State of Research 12 2. Theoretical Reflections 15 3. Contributions to this Volume 23 4. Conclusion 27 1. Masculinities in Modern Western Christianity 38 Concepts, Ideas, and Practices of Masculinity in Catholicism and Protestantism around 1900. Some Reflections on Recent Research 40 1. The Religious Turn in Gender Research 41 2. Feminization and Confessionalization 43 2.1 The Theory of a Feminization of Christianity 43 2.2 The Concept of Confessionalization 45 3. Christian Masculinity in Northern Europe 47 4. Conclusions 54 Good News: Moral Masculinity, Whiteness, and the Media in Contemporary US History 66 1. Theoretical Considerations on Religious Masculinity in Crisis and its Media 69 2. The Emergence of ‘Moral Leaders’ in the United States 71 3. Televisualization 73 4. Preachers Born Again in Politics 76 5. Conclusion: Tuning in the Moral Leader’s Game 82 Feminization or (Re-)Masculinization of Religion in Contemporary Germany: A Critical Review of the ALLBUS 2012 Study 86 1. Empirical Research on the Connection between Religion and Gender: The Religion and Gender Project 86 1.1 Are Men Religiously “Tone-Deaf”? The Question of the Invisibility of Unchurched Men as the Starting Point of the Research Project 87 1.2 Feminization or (Re-)Masculinization of Religiosity? 89 2. The Plurality of Gender-Role Orientation and its Interaction with the Christian Religion 91 2.1 Three Patterns of Gender-Role Orientation 92 2.2 Determinants of Gender-Role Orientations 94 2.3 Gender-Role Orientations as Determinants of Religiosity, Spirituality, and Church Involvement 95 2.4 Gender-Role Orientations as Determinants of Worldviews 97 3. Conclusion 99 2. Masculinities in Premodern und Modern Islam 104 Protectors, Statesmen, Terrorists? Gender and Masculinities in Muslim Texts and Contexts 106 1. Gender and Masculinities in Muslim Theological Literature 107 1.1 Gender-Relevant Terms in the Qur’an 107 1.2 Constructions of Gender and Masculinity in Muslim Legal Discourse 109 1.3 Constructions of Gender and Masculinity in Muslim Exegetical Discourse 112 2. Contemporary Western Academic and Public Discourse on Muslim Masculinities 117 2.1 Scholarship on Muslim Masculinities and its Pitfalls 117 2.2 The Racialized, Securitized and Sexualized Image of ‘the Muslim Man’ in Public European Discourse 121 3. Conclusion 124 The Crisis of Islamic Masculinities: A Far-Reaching Field of Inquiry 136 1. The Qur’anic World of Prophets and Ideals of Masculinity 137 2. Bridging Messy and Dysfunctional Worlds: Earthly and Divine 140 3. The Pluralist Challenge in Muslim Worlds: The Lawful and Prohibited 140 4. Islamophobia and Homophobia – Two Sides of the Same Coin? 143 5. Conclusions 146 3. Masculinities in Talmudic and Medieval Judaism 148 An Overview of Masculinity in Judaism: A Bibliographical Essay 150 1. Men as the Wielders of Authority and Power in Jewish Sources 150 2. Male Control of the Female: An Initial Insight 152 3. Reasons Why the Inferior Position of the Jewish Woman in the Past Did Not Cause Suffering 154 4. The Changing Male Hegemony in Different Times and Places 160 5. On Men’s Knowledge as Imparting Authority and on the Exclusion of Women from Torah Study 161 6. The Response of the Jewish Male Establishment to the Struggle by Women in the Modern Period to Attain Equal Standing 164 7. On the Nature of Jewish Masculinity 167 Images of the Feminine Jewish Man. Concepts and Debates on Masculinities in Rabbinic Literature and Talmudic Culture 186 1. The Traditional Gendered Subdivision of Torah Laws 187 2. Torah Study for Jewish Men Only 189 3. Socio-Economic Consequences 193 4. The Zionist Gender Revolution 197 5. Post-Zionist Neo-Talmudism versus Neo-Orthodox Masculinism 198 David and Bathsheba: Masculine Sexuality in Medieval Judaism and Christianity 202 1. The David Story 204 2. Christian Interpretation: David as a Model of Penitence 204 3. Jewish Interpretations: David’s Perfect Piety 208 4. Conclusion 215 4. Masculinities in South Asian Buddhism and Hinduism 220 South Asian Masculinities: Hegemonic and Fluid 222 1. Sexual Fluidity 223 2. Karma 224 3. Sex Change 226 4. Pollution 227 5. Sexual Activity 229 6. Fathers 230 7. Husbands 233 8. The Instability of Masculinity 237 9. Conclusion 238 The Gendered Buddha: Neither God Nor Man, But Supremely Manly 246 1. The Perfect Body of the Ultimate Man 248 2. Conflicted Hegemonies: The Buddha as Brahman and Warrior 253 3. Hybrid Masculinity: The Buddha as a New Type of Man 257 4. Marketing Strategies: The Creation of the Literary Figure ‘Buddha’ 258 5. Concluding Remarks 261 “Honesty, bravery, self-control”: Constructions of Masculinities in India 266 1. Human Masculinities 270 1.1 Human, Worldly Masculinity 270 1.2 Human, Martial Masculinity 271 1.3 Human, Priestly Masculinity 273 1.4 Human, Ascetic Masculinity, or, more precisely, Human, Ascetic Non-Masculinity 273 2. Divine masculinities 274 2.1 Divine, Peaceful Masculinity 274 2.2 Divine, Martial Masculinity 274 2.3 Divine, Ambivalent Masculinity 275 2.4 Divine, Ascetic Masculinity 275 3. Masculinity in Danger: Wild Goddesses and Dangerous Women 276 4. Masculinity Today 277 5. Further Considerations 282 God’s Hinder Parts and Masculinity’s Troubled Fragmentations: Trajectories of ‘Critical Men’s Studies in Religion’ 284 1. God’s Veiled Sex and Men’s Non-Absence 285 2. A Brief History of ‘Critical Men’s Studies in Religion’ 289 3. On Male Imaginations and Gender Justice 291 4. Testicular Logic and Sexualized Violence 294 5. Outlook 297 Acknowledgements 302 Notes on Contributors 304 Throughout the history of religions, their holy texts and norms have been sources of images of men in societies around the world and have presented forms of masculinity that have found expression in religious acts and rituals. This volume examines how this reciprocal influence has shifted over time by bringing together research on different religious traditions from noted experts in the field. 0It analyses similarities and differences in the interwoven relationships between specific religions and between concepts and practices of masculinity in different societies and cultures, such as Western forms of Christianity during the 19th and 20th centuries, European Judaism and Arabic Islam during the Middle Ages, and South Asian Buddhism and Hinduism. 0