Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920 by Cl

Description: Muscular Christianity by Clifford Putney In this fascinating study, Putney details how Protestant leaders promoted competitive sports and physical education to create an ideal of Christian manliness. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Dissatisfied with a Victorian culture focused on domesticity and threatened by physical decline in sedentary office jobs, American men in the late nineteenth century sought masculine company in fraternal lodges and engaged in exercise to invigorate their bodies. One form of this new manly culture, developed out of the Protestant churches, was known as muscular Christianity. In this fascinating study, Clifford Putney details how Protestant leaders promoted competitive sports and physical education to create an ideal of Christian manliness. Notes Provides a much needed overview of muscular Christianity and its appeal during the Progressive Era. Clifford Putneys insightful work goes a long way toward correcting the scholarly blindness toward Christianitys role in creating a culture of American masculinity in the late nineteenth century and toward understanding its apparent replacement by (among other things) a secular gospel of health in the twentieth. He contributes to the literature on masculinity in crucial ways, blending new data with information previously brought to light in other works and helping us see the latter from a fresh perspective. A work that highlights the religious character of American masculinity during the Progressive Era is a welcome addition to the literature, one that scholars from a wide variety of fields will want to read. -- Marie Griffith, Princeton University In Muscular Christianity, Clifford Putney revisits some familiar quarries: the denominational periodicals and writings of Christian leaders during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By looking at these materials through the lens of gender, however, he has discerned a rich, new lode of meaning. That there was something of a masculinist movement in American society has been apparent for some time: one thinks of Teddy Roosevelts unsubtle big stick. But Putney has found that American Protestantism itself--long thought to be a bastion of feminine "sentimentality" was imbued with a macho style and ideology. By illustrating the depth and range of this masculinist sentiment, Putney has forced us to rethink the ways in which men and women alike shared the prevailing gender conventions of the period. -- Mark C. Carnes, Barnard College, Columbia University In this finely crafted study, Clifford Putney combines the most innovative interdisciplinary strategies of the new cultural studies with the sturdiest methods of traditional historical analysis to breathe new life into a host of topics ranging from schools to sermons, from sports to sculpture. Although Putney draws insights from the latest historiography on gender, religion, and American culture, his own contribution will outlast much that is currently fashionable because of his rock-solid archival research and his demonstration of the ways in which influential reformers translated shifting assumptions and aspirations into enduring institutions that continue to shape Americans lives. -- James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University Author Biography Clifford Putney is Assistant Professor of History at Bentley College. Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Birth of a Movement 2. God in the Gym 3. Men and Religion 4. Fishers of Boys 5. Worldwide Redemption 6. Muscular Women 7. Christians in Khaki Conclusion Notes Selected Bibliography Index Review Provides a much needed overview of muscular Christianity and its appeal during the Progressive Era. Clifford Putneys insightful work goes a long way toward correcting the scholarly blindness toward Christianitys role in creating a culture of American masculinity in the late nineteenth century and toward understanding its apparent replacement by (among other things) a secular gospel of health in the twentieth. He contributes to the literature on masculinity in crucial ways, blending new data with information previously brought to light in other works and helping us see the latter from a fresh perspective. A work that highlights the religious character of American masculinity during the Progressive Era is a welcome addition to the literature, one that scholars from a wide variety of fields will want to read. -- Marie Griffith, Princeton UniversityIn Muscular Christianity, Clifford Putney revisits some familiar quarries: the denominational periodicals and writings of Christian leaders during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By looking at these materials through the lens of gender, however, he has discerned a rich, new lode of meaning. That there was something of a masculinist movement in American society has been apparent for some time: one thinks of Teddy Roosevelts unsubtle big stick. But Putney has found that American Protestantism itself--long thought to be a bastion of feminine "sentimentality" was imbued with a macho style and ideology. By illustrating the depth and range of this masculinist sentiment, Putney has forced us to rethink the ways in which men and women alike shared the prevailing gender conventions of the period. -- Mark C. Carnes, Barnard College, Columbia UniversityIn this finely crafted study, Clifford Putney combines the most innovative interdisciplinary strategies of the new cultural studies with the sturdiest methods of traditional historical analysis to breathe new life into a host of topics ranging from schools to sermons, from sports to sculpture. Although Putney draws insights from the latest historiography on gender, religion, and American culture, his own contribution will outlast much that is currently fashionable because of his rock-solid archival research and his demonstration of the ways in which influential reformers translated shifting assumptions and aspirations into enduring institutions that continue to shape Americans lives. -- James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard UniversityLong relegated to occasional academic journal articles and mediocre, hagiographic books, the relationship between Protestantism and sports in America now has the definitive treatise the topic has long deserved...If historians will findPutneys revisions fascinating, the general reader will also be riveted by the story he tells; his prose is as vigorous as his subject matter, and the anecdotes he scatters liberally throughout the book are captivating. In an age when Christian leaders like Bill McCartney are again using athletics to get men into the church, this study couldnt be more timely. * Publishers Weekly *With vigorous prose, Putney shows how in the late 19th century protestant clergy and lay leaders of the muscular Christianity movement abandoned the sentimentality and "feminine" forms of Victorian religion for a new model that stressed action rather than reflection, and aggression rather than gentility...Advocates of muscular Christianity promoted organized sports and outdoor activities like camping to build bodies able to evangelize and effect social reform...[Putneys] arguments on the construction of "muscular Christianity" add much to our understanding of the Progressive era and American cultural imperialism. Highly recommended. -- Randall M. Miller * Library Journal *On his way to becoming a stone face on Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt converted to a now largely forgotten form of liberal Protestantism emphasizing masculine exertion and healthy living. Putney here chronicles the rise and eventual decline of this new creed of muscular Christianity, which, for all its brawn and bravado, actually betrayed its founders fears: that Christian men would degenerate into feminine weakness in a church dominated by women; that Anglo-Saxon Protestants would be overwhelmed by the influx of swarthy Catholics; that infidels would roll back the gains won by previous generations of valiant missionaries. When the horrors of world war induced a national pacifism, liberal Protestants finally sidled away from this cult of masculine piety. But Putney detects the strange reemergence of a recognizably similar masculine orthodoxy in a new setting: conservative Protestants have taken up the cause in initiatives such as Promise Keepers and Athletes in Action. A fascinating study shedding light on a hidden link between the liberal Protestants of the past and the fundamentalists of today. -- Bryce Christensen * Booklist *[This] fascinating study offers a fresh angle on gender issues and our attitudes about sports today. -- C. R. * Dallas Morning News *Far more women than men were going to church by the 1880s and 1890s, and ministers often exhibited a softness and delicacy of their own. Advocates of muscular Christianity, deploring this state of affairs, set themselves the task of bringing men back to church and showing that Jesus, the rugged, hard-bodied carpenter of Nazareth, was no sissy. Clifford Putneys superb Muscular Christianity shows that they tried to do it by linking Christianity to manly sports. -- Patrick Allitt * Times Literary Supplement * Promotional Provides a much needed overview of muscular Christianity and its appeal during the Progressive Era. Clifford Putneys insightful work goes a long way toward correcting the scholarly blindness toward Christianitys role in creating a culture of American masculinity in the late nineteenth century and toward understanding its apparent replacement by (among other things) a secular gospel of health in the twentieth. He contributes to the literature on masculinity in crucial ways, blending new data with information previously brought to light in other works and helping us see the latter from a fresh perspective. A work that highlights the religious character of American masculinity during the Progressive Era is a welcome addition to the literature, one that scholars from a wide variety of fields will want to read. -- Marie Griffith, Princeton University In Muscular Christianity, Clifford Putney revisits some familiar quarries: the denominational periodicals and writings of Christian leaders during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By looking at these materials through the lens of gender, however, he has discerned a rich, new lode of meaning. That there was something of a masculinist movement in American society has been apparent for some time: one thinks of Teddy Roosevelts unsubtle big stick. But Putney has found that American Protestantism itself--long thought to be a bastion of feminine "sentimentality" was imbued with a macho style and ideology. By illustrating the depth and range of this masculinist sentiment, Putney has forced us to rethink the ways in which men and women alike shared the prevailing gender conventions of the period. -- Mark C. Carnes, Barnard College, Columbia University In this finely crafted study, Clifford Putney combines the most innovative interdisciplinary strategies of the new cultural studies with the sturdiest methods of traditional historical analysis to breathe new life into a host of topics ranging from schools to sermons, from sports to sculpture. Although Putney draws insights from the latest historiography on gender, religion, and American culture, his own contribution will outlast much that is currently fashionable because of his rock-solid archival research and his demonstration of the ways in which influential reformers translated shifting assumptions and aspirations into enduring institutions that continue to shape Americans lives. -- James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University Review Quote With vigorous prose, Putney shows how in the late 19th century protestant clergy and lay leaders of the muscular Christianity movement abandoned the sentimentality and "feminine" forms of Victorian religion for a new model that stressed action rather than reflection, and aggression rather than gentility...Advocates of muscular Christianity promoted organized sports and outdoor activities like camping to build bodies able to evangelize and effect social reform...[Putneys] arguments on the construction of "muscular Christianity" add much to our understanding of the Progressive era and American cultural imperialism. Highly recommended. Details ISBN0674011252 Author Clifford Putney Short Title MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY Publisher Harvard University Press Language English ISBN-10 0674011252 ISBN-13 9780674011250 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2003 Publication Date 2003-04-30 Imprint Harvard University Press Subtitle Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920 Place of Publication Cambridge, Mass Country of Publication United States Birth 1963 DOI 10.1604/9780674011250 UK Release Date 2003-04-30 AU Release Date 2003-04-30 NZ Release Date 2003-04-30 US Release Date 2003-04-30 Pages 310 DEWEY 280.40973 Illustrations 16 halftones Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:161739368;

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