A new study by Dr Tobias Müller explores the manifestations of masculinity within Pentecostal Christianity.
Taking a north London church as his case study, Müller identifies three specific elements that combine to form what he terms “entrepreneurial heroic masculinity”. The study was released online in July and is available to read free via the journal American Behavioral Scientist.
In summary
Here is the abstract, summarising the core of Müller’s argument:
“Many Pentecostal churches founded in the Global South are now rapidly growing in European cities. Although research is catching up with this development, we know little about how these processes affect gendered and racialized practices regarding sexualities, bodies, and masculinities in former colonial metropolises shaped by neoliberal capitalism.
“This article addresses this gap by interrogating the transnational movement of Pentecostal masculinities and their economic, sexual, and political dimensions in a church in North London. The contribution argues that the church promotes what I call entrepreneurial heroic masculinity, which consists of three main elements: a gendered conversion narrative, a pastoral masculinity of dominating behavior, and the cultivation of anti-affective, rational love. In this way, traditionalist masculinist tropes are mapped onto a world allegedly full of opportunities for material blessings where becoming a man of God means becoming a faithful self-entrepreneur, which requires strict autonomy from emotions, family, and the government.
“The article contributes to the critical debate on masculinity and transnational religious movements by demonstrating how the demands and promises of neoliberal capitalism are deeply entangled with the reconstitution of heroic patriarchal subjectivity.”
Further reading
To read Müller’s article in full, head across to journals.sagepub.com. Volume details for the print copy are still pending.
The online citation is: T. Müller, 2023 “Patriarchal ‘Love School’: Entrepreneurial heroic masculinity and neoliberalism in a Pentecostal church in London”. American Behavioral Scientist. (doi.org/10.1177/0002764224125978)
Readers may also be interested in the recent publication from Esra Özyürek and Jacob Lypp: Taming Muslim Masculinities (summarised on this website).