Overview

Spirituality has long been regarded as a haven of the female gender?and a componentequally deficient in men?particularly among the white male Protestant population.So, it was with much surprise that the American media greeted the seeminglysudden explosion of the Promise Keepers movement with its emotional stadium ralliesand vivid images of praying men openly recommitting to their faith. The shatteringof a long-held stereotype brought into question the veracity behind long-held perceptions of men and the depth and nature of their piety.In Do Real Men Pray?, author Charles H. Lippy argues that, in fact, American menhave always exhibited a deep and profound spirituality. He challenges the popular beliefthat men somehow cannot match the profundity found in female spirituality. Instead, Lippy lays out a convincing counterargument that the United States has a long and pronounced history of male spirituality.Do Real Men Pray? takes the reader through a chronological history of male spiritualityfrom the colonial period to the present day. Along the way, Lippy introduces readers tosix distinct, powerful images that manifested themselves as the ideal of American Protestant identity at different periods in history: the dutiful patriarch, the gentleman entrepreneur, the courageous adventurer, the efficient businessman, the positive thinker (inspired by the ubiquitous Norman Vincent Peale), and the modern-day faithful leader. From the piety of Cotton Mather to the ?muscular Christianity? of the early twentieth century, this book reveals a clear understanding of the obvious effect spirituality had on men.This book is the first to address thematically the history of male spirituality in theUnited States and is a rich, well-documented addition to the field of religious studies.Do Real Men Pray? will appeal to anyone with an interest in religious history in theUnited States as well as anyone interested in gender studies.

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9781572333581

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Charles H. Lippy is LeRoy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. He is the author or editor of several books, including Modern American Popular Religion (1996), Religion in South Carolina (1993), and the Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (1988).

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