Tender Warriors: Muscular Christians, Promise Keepers, and the Crisis of Masculinity in Left Behind
The Left Behind series of "rapture" novels is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing, indeed perplexing, popular cultural phenomena to emerge from America in recent years. This essay seeks to analyze the problem of masculinity in the novels. A close textual examination reveals a masculinit...
| Published in: | Journal of religion and popular culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2009]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The Left Behind series of "rapture" novels is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing, indeed perplexing, popular cultural phenomena to emerge from America in recent years. This essay seeks to analyze the problem of masculinity in the novels. A close textual examination reveals a masculinity that is far from monolithic and, at times, deeply troubled. Rather than offering consistent and convincing performances of hegemonic masculinity, the male protagonists vacillate between spectacular displays of heroic machismo, and affective acts of feminine submission. I will argue that the paradoxical representation of masculinity in Left Behind can be located in the ambivalent notions of gender that are evident in both the prophetic hermeneutic of dispensationalism, and the broader culture of conservative evangelicalism. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.21.3.006 |