Abstracts from our speakers ahead our second colloquium on hypermasculinity

by | 31 Jan 2023 | Uncategorised | 0 comments

We are excited to begin to share our speakers’ abstracts ahead of our colloquium on hypermasculinity. This second public event for the Abusing God Network funded by the AHRC will be taking place at the University of Manchester on Saturday 22nd of April. 

We have an amazing list of speakers booked and you can come to the event either in-person (places are limited) or attend via Zoom.

For more information, please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/abusing-god-reading-the-bible-in-the-metoo-age-hypermasculinity-tickets-513040216097

 

We will be adding abstracts from our speakers over the coming weeks, so please do keep checking this page!

 

Bekah Legg, CEO of Restored

Reclaiming our families: raising children in a toxic world 

In June 2020, writer and activist, Soma Sara began sharing her experiences of rape culture on Instagram. The response was overwhelming and led her to found the movement Everyone’s Invited, a space where survivors can share their experiences anonymously.  

The following year, Ofsted conducted a review of schools, safeguarding policies and practices related to domestic abuse. In June 2021, it released its findings recognising that there is rape culture in our schools. This means that sexual abuse online and harassment is ‘normalised’ in schools.  Nine out of ten girls had received unsolicited images and been subject to sexist name-calling (Ofsted June 2021). 

Police figures in England and Wales suggest that one child is raped in school every school day, and in primary schools alone three sexual assaults are reported to the police every school day. 

In light of this Restored was approached by a family support organisation to help parents know how to respond. How to protect their children from this rape culture.  

This paper will document that response, detailing the connection Restored perceives between hypermasculinity and rape culture, and how it recognises that hypermasculinity is learned and developed in childhood, often inadvertently. It will consider parents’ concerns and fears and lack of confidence to address the issue.  

This paper will show how Restored has developed a response to empower parents to not only keep their children safe from a rape culture but to be safe and not contribute to rape culture. It will seek to demonstrate that through parental support and education, we can replace a rape culture with a culture of consent.  

 

Charlotte Thomas, University of Exeter and Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, Bristol 

Onward Christian Soldier?: ‘Neo-Muscular’ Metaphor and ‘Biblical’ Discourses of Hypermasculinity in the Promise Keepers’ Tender Warrior

The discourses of hypermasculinity promoted by contemporary ‘neo-muscular’ Christian men’s groups are problematic in several ways: primarily their link to gender-based violences, the blending of Christian masculinity with nationalism, and the perpetuation of systemic gender-based power imbalances within Christian communities. Existing scholarship goes some way towards addressing these discourses of hypermasculinity. However, theological research investigating the discourse-promoting rhetoric common to multiple groups in different contexts is severely lacking. For instance, the use of masculinised metaphor in such rhetoric is largely overlooked, yet critically important to the social reproduction and legitimacy of hypermasculinity in these ‘neo-muscular’ communities.

In my PhD thesis, I examine and analyse four distinct metaphor choices (military, agrarian, sporting, and familial) in the textual resources relating to manhood recommended by two prominent contemporary groups: the Promise Keepers, and the Mighty Men Conference. I do this through a novel and interdisciplinary methodological approach combining biblical hermeneutics, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). Using CDA, I examine how contemporary groups employ the biblical texts in their resources to establish themselves as authoritative on the issue. This is followed by a CMA analysing in what ways the authors’ use of specific metaphors reproduces and distributes hypermasculine discourses of ‘biblical’ masculinity, and co-opts readers to do so, too.

In this colloquium paper, I provide a brief case study of metaphorical language use in Stu Weber’s Tender Warrior: God’s Design for Men, a manual on Christian manhood promoted by the Promise Keepers USA, wherein, I argue, Weber uses metaphor to promote hypermasculinity under the guise of a moderated, ‘biblical’ expression of Christian manhood.

 

Andrew Boakye, University of Manchester

“Preaching from Mars Hill”: Mark Driscoll, Paul and the Inflected Rhetoric of Ideal Masculinity.

It is darkly ironic that Paul’s most well-known display of the rhetoric of cultural engagement happened atop Mars Hill – the name co-opted by disgraced “Pastor” Mark Driscoll for the ‘megachurch’ he planted in Seattle, Washington in 1996. Luke recounts a lecture Paul gave on the Areopagus (Greek for Mars Hill); the speech employed well-known techniques from the rhetorical handbooks to persuade some representatives of populist philosophical schools that in raising Jesus the Nazarene from the dead, Israel’s God had comprehensively answered age-old questions about the nature of life, existence and motion (“in [God] we live, move and have being”– Acts 17:28). Driscoll routinely polarises even conservative audiences who, while often subscribing to the substance of his theology, are resolutely critical of the alkaline machismo of his delivery, style and content. His sermons, many of which are aimed at promoting a brand of masculinity he deems necessary for Christian leadership, are laced with crude humour, patronising personal attacks and condemnations of what he sees as the feminization of Christianity. This paper aims to problematise the critiques of preachers like Driscoll, by re-evaluating Driscoll’s promotion of what amounts to a Christian hypermasculinity. The Mars Hill lecture in Acts 17:16-34 attests not only to a rhetoric of the handbooks, but a rhetoric of character – a cruciform masculinity, outlined by Luke but also evident in Paul’s own letters, which ought to act as a template for authentic Christian manhood, especially as it pertains to leadership. The paper argues that the Lucan presentation of Paul’s masculinity on Mars Hill, subverts the usual competition for the honours of manhood in public contest in a way that magnifies Paul’s depiction of the God of resurrection.

 

Ollie Lamping, Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Service with Bracknell Forest Child Social Care and Bright Hope Church, Reading

A personal reflection on life experience as a Christian man having lived in and around church (in four different countries) for four decades and working as a domestic abuse perpetrator service coordinator as well as a pastor of a church.  In this paper I will share some of the key factors that have been part of the formation of my identity; my upbringing and lived experience from home (with the purpose of sharing some common experiences and their impact on how we form views and attitudes of roles and treatment of others), my views and opinions of men and what I witnessed growing up in the church as well as what led me into ministry, marriage, family, study and now this new (passion) vocation.  

This domestic abuse (DA) work, which I stumbled into, is something that I love and hate at the same time.  I love the work but hate the abuse.  As I have grown into becoming something of an “expert” on explaining this family focused type of abuse; someone who will challenge perpetrators and professionals alike,  I have realised that within the church there is not a lot of awareness, preaching and teaching or support around DA.  

It has led to an extremely worrying recognition; that DA is as present among families that profess Christ as those who do not.  In fact there is an added factor that pressures and coerces Christian victims of DA to remain in abusive relationships for longer than those who do not consider themselves as believers.  Being a Christian can result in people being abused more and even harmed over and above the abuse by people within their church.   So I shall conclude this paper with reflections on how the work has impacted me as a Christian, a church leader and voice for equality in a place that is unfortunately so generally silent (or saying the wrong thing) on such life changing and sometimes life ending issues.

 

Claire Alison Hams, University of Chester 

The effects of patriarchal belief systems upon males born into high control religious organisations  

The focus of this dialogue is to consider the potential diversity of experiences, identity reformation and societal integration required of males who have been born into religious communities that follow a patriarchal authority system, and who have then chosen to leave that belief system as an adult.  

Etymologically ‘patriarchy’ is derived from the Greek word for ‘father who rules over a family’ but in a broader concept, this can apply to wider structures, such as religious organisations and within feminist scholarship, this has been pointed out to be at times (unjustly) oppressive within constructed hierarchies.    

For this purpose I will examine the hierarchical framework of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who describe themselves as ‘Christian’ however whose Biblical beliefs and practices are distinct from mainstream Christianity.  The specific aim of this dialogue is to identify the positionality and role expected of males within this belief system, drawing on the works of scholars who have produced flourishing and seminal studies specifically focusing on Jehovah’s Witnesses, acknowledging the right of religious communities to choose their organizational systems, but with a view to examining the potential effects of a patriarchal upbringing followed by moving into an autonomous life within wider society where patriarchy sits alongside feminist theory and gender equality perspectives.   

Complexities of transition from such a belief system may include loss of perceptions of power, status and role-identity. I postulate that this will also be affected by previous levels of adherence and affiliation.  There may also be personal realisations of elements of potentially harmful patriarchal practices that were once engaged in, and alongside this, these may carry themes of shame and regret. In addition, choice of sexuality and practices, along with perceptions of masculinity may need to be explored in an autonomous approach previously not permitted within a high demand religion.  

 

Will Moore, Westcott House, Cambridge; Anglia Ruskin University and Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, Bristol 

Wanting a Macho Jesus’: A Crisis of Masculinity and the Cross 

If we understand masculinity as in crisis, how might that affect our meanings of the cross? This paper seeks to re-examine how modes of interpretation of the cross and the redemption of sin through Christ’s crucifixion have created a hypermasculine Jesus. Through theologies of spiritual warfare, triumphalism, and conquest, Jesus has been seen as a strong, perhaps athletic, macho Jesus who defeats sin. In Stephen D. Moore’s (1996) words, such a reading of the cross resembles a ‘no pain, no gain’ narrative, much like that of bodybuilding.  

If we are to problematise this, how might we find a queerer approach to the relationship between masculinities, sin, and the cross? I will argue that drawing out the Abused God, who is a ‘male-body-in-pain’ (Brintnall, 2011), at the heart of the Christian story reveals Jesus as a victim of the pervasive sin of patriarchal violence (Fisk, 2014), through male-on-male practices of state terror and torture (Tombs, 2022). Whilst Jesus enacts a masculinity himself, he also experiences the nadir of human sin, one ultimately tied with toxic understandings of masculinity. If masculinities can be perpetrators and victims of violence, how might we hold this in tension or even deconstruct it?    

Then how might the resurrection play a part in this queerer narrative? Using ‘Touching Thomas’ (Moore, 2022) and his re-penetration of Jesus’ ‘resurrecting wounds’ (Rambo, 2017) as an interpretive lens, I will argue that a new negotiation of masculinity emerges. Here, we find a space in which resurrection still holds the wounds from sin and its trauma, and yet those wounds open up a place where sin has no more hold on masculinities and can be freely moulded for better. Through this reading of the cross, we find a (male?) body which persists through sin and trauma, rather than triumphantly overcoming it or defeating it, expiring any imagination of a hypermasculine Jesus.  

 

Anna Budhi-Thornton, University of Manchester 

‘It’s Raining Manliness’: The Complex Interaction of Hyper-Masculine Ideals in the Gospel of John’ 

Recognising the complexities of gender construction in the New Testament is by no means a new phenomenon, especially when considering masculinity as has been discovered by scholars such as Conway, Wilson and Emmett. In this paper, I seek to establish and display the complex nature of New Testament masculine gender construction, both within a single model and in the interaction between two models of first century masculine ideals. To do this, I will analyse two events in the life of Jesus as described in the Gospel of John. Firstly, the violent way in which Jesus drives the people out of the temple (John 2:13-22) as an example of internalised complexity within the perception of Hebrew masculinity. Secondly, the torturous flogging Jesus receives from Roman soldiers before his execution (John 19:1-6) as an example of how Roman and Hebrew perceptions of masculinity can contrast and interact.

 

Lisa Oakley, University of Chester (speaking on coercive control)

‘The bible is filled with landmines!’ – Exploring the use of biblical discourses in experiences of coercion and control

This paper will draw on studies conducted over the past twenty years exploring experiences of spiritual abuse in the Christian faith. The focus will be on survivor’s accounts of how scripture and biblical discourses of obedience, unity, submission, sacrifice and forgiveness have been employed to control and coerce behaviour. The complexity of feeling disempowered to challenge such messages will be detailed. The paper will also draw on a study into domestic violence and abuse conducted in 2021 in partnership with Restored and Broken Rites, in which survivors identified passages they found to be helpful and harmful in relation to their experiences. It will progress to explore some of the responses in training sessions to sharing these findings. The paper will suggest that in the #MeToo age there is a counter narrative sometimes presented which undermines and minimises experiences of coercive control in Christian faith contexts. This coupled with a lack of awareness of the impact of such experiences delegitimises accounts and can leave survivors further disempowered and harmed. Conversely, survivors accounts also include discussion of how exploring scripture has enabled the identification of abuse and the harm that has been experienced and this calls for an acknowledgement of the duality of the role scripture can play. The paper will end with suggestions from survivors about the role of preaching and teaching in addressing coercive control and abuse and in creating safer healthier cultures for the future.

 

Colin Perkins, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, Diocese of Chichester (speaking on coercive control)

Criminal abuse, particularly although not exclusively the sexual abuse of children, is now known to have been widespread across the worldwide church. Survivors of such abuse consistently have reported poor responses by both church authorities and regular believers. In particular, survivors say they have not been believed when they reported their experiences.

Research on this topic has focused primarily on patterns of perpetration and victimisation, drawing from the disciplines of criminology, forensic psychology, and victimology. A smaller number of papers have investigated the dynamics of how believers and those in church authority come to believe, or disbelieve, reports of abuse in a church context. Preliminary indications from this research indicates that believers are less likely than non-believers to believe reports of abuse, particularly when allegations are made against church leaders.

Taking this starting point, this paper develops a theological approach to improving the responses of churches to reports of abuse. Recognising that the challenges to ‘responding well’ are likely to be psychological, deriving from the identification that believers enjoy with the institution of the church, this paper develops a theology of radical identification with victims.

Drawing from the theology of Rene Girard, this paper views the Passion narrative as ‘revealing a Victim who reveals’. By subjecting himself to the victimisation of the crowd Christ reveals the nature of the crowd’s unity: the violent expulsion of the innocent victim. Thus revealed, this basis for unity – which must remain covert to survive – is fatally undermined. The community of those formed by the Passion – the Church – is therefore a community whose unity rests on the acceptance and vindication, not the expulsion, of the righteous victim.

This paper then explores the potential practical applications of this theological approach for the Church’s responses to victims of abuse.

 

0 Comments