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Left Field Notes

19 Nov, 19 tweets, 5 min read

What's missing here is a mention that the "hot pastor" issue also comes directly on the heels of a broader masculinization of Jesus and Christianity in general.

What do I mean? (A Thread)

religionnews.com/2020/11/19/car…

Three years ago, Nate Pyle posted this very short piece wherein he used the term "Muscular Christianity." An attempt to recast Jesus as the quintessential "man's man" in order to appeal to diminishing male engagement in Church life.

rca.org/platform-muscu…

This hyper-masculine Christ then aligned with Euro-American (as in, White) ideals of men’s strength and virility, and drew them back in to religion by calling on the age-old framing of women as naturally subservient and men as lords of their households.

Totally jacked lords.

To wit, there was also some pretty impressive art involved.

I mean....

....damn, dude.

This just keeps going.

Seriously.

So, yeah...

Anyway. Thing is, Muscular Christianity isn't particularly new. It dates back to England in the mid-19th century where it was characterized by a belief in patriotic duty, discipline, self-sacrifice, manliness, and the moral and physical beauty of (male) athleticism.

Today, it has taken on the insidious veneer of a "traditionalist return to proper gender roles" and is culturally expressed even so far as Ben Shapiro's recent upset about the "end of men" and the backlash over Harry Styles appearance in feminine clothing on the cover of Vogue.

It's part and parcel of the perpetual moral panic regarding the feminization of American men (look no further than the violence that the queer community continues to suffer under the guise that they'll "make kids gay/trans/girly etc.)...

...and the idea that moral virtue can be instilled by "toughening up" boys.

It's literally Toxic Masculinity Jesus.

Definitely not that namby-pamby Jesus who loved people and preached peace and, you know, not harming others, turning the other cheek, and giving of all you have.

Also, certainly not this guy. Brown, Jewish, Middle Eastern, immigrants needs not apply.

So, my take on this would be that, while the modern Evangelical church might certainly be fomenting narcissism, it's more than just a passing fascination with celebrity or fame. It's the logical progression of a gender ideology that has already re-imagined Jesus in our own image.

And if pastors are the heads of their congregations as Christ is the head of the Church; and Christ looks like he spends more time in the gym than Ronnie Coleman, then this was inevitable.

FFS, already.

womansworld.com/gallery/family…

Stop.

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Left Field Notes

@Manigarm

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