Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 31:2 (Spring 2017)
Article: Book Review: "Does God Make the Man? Media, Religion, and the Crisis of Masculinity" By Stewart M. Hoover and Curtis D. Coats (New York University Press, 2015)
Author: Alice Guinther

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PP 31:2 (Spring 2017) p. 29

Book Review:
Does God Make the Man? Media, Religion, and the Crisis of Masculinity By Stewart M. Hoover and Curtis D. Coats (New York University Press, 2015)

Alice Guinther

Alice Guinther holds a BA in philosophy from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she works in the College of Media, Communication, and Information. She is a published artist and photographer.

Does God Make the Man? is a fascinating look at how evangelical and ecumenical men process the messages they hear about masculinity from religion and media. The authors organized focus groups and recorded hundreds of hours of conversations to see if religion is vital to developing masculine identity. They conclude that, although evangelical men may claim to learn gender roles from the Bible, the actual sources of this knowledge are media and culture. As a result, both groups still believe there are male prerogatives of protection, provision and purpose, yet they are looking for a larger purpose for their lives.

Hoover and Coats argue that there are no gender-specific biblical ideals (unlike typical complementarian teachings regarding masculine identity1); how gender is expressed is learned from culture. Scripture instructs both women and men in being Christ followers.

When interviewers asked these men to describe what the church teaches about “how to be a man,” there was difficulty from both the evangelical and ecumenical men in recalling any sort of church teaching. One evangelical responded this way:

I’m trying to think of it exactly, I mean real specific teaching? I don’t know. Maybe I missed it. I mean generally I think they would take a biblical approach toward the sexes. This past week they were talking about nominating people for elders. . . . And they specifically said a man . . . probably five years ago, that wouldn’t have struck me as odd. . . . But I think in this day and age where things are progressing toward equality of the sexes . . . that’s probably a distinction he had to make. (36)

The interviewee notes that the church needed to be explicit that the elder had to be male, which shows an awareness that women now have a greater presence in leadership.

I was encouraged to see the authors report on the impact of feminism on the uncertain ground of the evangelical idea of “headship.” One respondent, who has a commitment to male- only leadership, when asked to describe women’s roles in relation to “headship,” offered a somewhat egalitarian description.

Most people stop at “woman be submissive to your husband . . .” and that’s what they quote. But the next line is, men be submissi...

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