Case studies upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to christianity Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this ‘thesis' has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men. In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity. By presenting case studies that adopt different gendered approaches with regard to Christian, mainly Catholic discourses and practices, the authors capture multiple ‘feminizations' and ‘masculinizations' in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, it becomes clear that the idea that Christianity took on ‘charicteristically feminine' values and practices cannot withstand the conclusion that what is considered ‘manly' or ‘feminine' depends on time, place, and context, and on the reasons why gendered metaphors are used. Ebook available in Open Access. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

CONTENTS Patrick Pasture Beyond the feminization thesis. Gendering the history of Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Bernhard Schneider The Catholic poor relief discourse and the feminization of the Caritas in early nineteenth-century Germany Angela Berlis Celibate or married priests? Polemical gender discourse in nineteenth-century Catholicism Jan Art The Cult of the Virgin Mary, or the feminization of the male element in the Roman Catholic Church? A psycho-historical hypothesis Hugh McLeod The 'Sportsman' and the 'Muscular Christian'. Rival ideals in nineteenth-century England Thomas Buerman Lions and lambs at the same time! Belgian Zouave stories and examples of religious masculinity Tine Van Osselaer 'From that moment on, I was a man!'. Images of the Catholic male in the Sacred Heart devotion Marit Monteiro Repertoires of Catholic manliness in the Netherlands (1850-1940). A case study of the Dutch Dominicans Marieke Smulders The boys of Saint Dominic 's. Catholic boys' culture at a minor seminary in interwar Holland Marjet Derks Female soldiers and the battle for God. Gender ambiguities and a Dutch Catholic conversion movement, 1921-1942 Michael E. O'Sullivan A feminized Church? German Catholic women, piety, and domesticity, 1918-1938 Bibliography Index