JOSEPH GELFER

I’m working on a new article called “That’s Not How We Do Things Here”: American Men’s Ministries in an Australasian Context. In short, most men’s ministries are based in North America. For some years I have been talking about these in Australia and New Zealand, and have met a common complaint from both academics and clergy: “that’s not how we do things here.” Their argument is twofold: First, I present a caricature of evangelicalism that does not bear witness to its diversity; second, I do not acknowledge that evangelicalism (and therefore evangelical men’s ministries) looks different in Australasia compared to North America.

Australasian men’s ministries, these critics claim, are more subtle: less prone to soft patriarchy, less prone to appealing to sport and military images to entice men, and consequently less prone to the problematic masculinities they promote.

My counter-argument is that while it is true that North American evangelicalism in general is not the conservative monolith once identified by progressive critics, within the context of men’s ministry the evangelical caricature holds firm. Furthermore, while Australasian evangelicalism has its own particular flavor, Australasian men’s ministries show a striking resemblance to their North American counterparts.

A great example of this popped into my inbox just this morning from Promise Keepers, who have teamed up with NASCAR to offer the Victory Weekend. As you can see, the graphic used is a classic masculine signifier of sports cars in which participants are asked to “rev up your family and faith”:

Compare this to the most recent men’s ministry conference in Australia:

Again, men are appealed to via sporty cars (the site also refers to a “‘show & shine’ car & bike competition”!), and instead of being asked to “rev up,” the conference is called “Full Throttle”.

‘Nuff said.

My article, Evangelical and Catholic Masculinities in Two Fatherhood Ministries is now published in the latest issue of Feminist Theology. Remember, if you don’t have an institutional subscription to this journal you can read my original non-peer reviewed version of the article as a pre-print right here (a slightly shorter but equally useful version). In the editorial Janet Wootten describes the article like this:

In what I found a deeply disturbing article, Joseph Gelfer considers the ways in which evangelical and Catholic theologies are developing ways of describing masculine roles, particularly within the family.

Gelfer looks at two ‘fatherhood ministries’: ‘Dad the Family Shepherd’, which is evangelical, and ‘Fathers for Good’ which is Catholic. Both have been developed to counter the perceived crisis of masculinity in the Church as evidenced by a decline in male attendance, and the feminization of the Church environment.

Both start from the headship or dominant role of the husband and father in the family, but try to model this in ways that are more socially acceptable today. Thus, ‘Dad the Family Shepherd’ is promoted in its eponymous website and in two books, Dad the Family Coach, and Dad the Family Counselor. The language is drawn from the sports field and care industries, but still embraces traditional masculinity. If ‘Dad’ is a shepherd, Gelfer points out, mum and the children are non-humans, sheep.

‘Fathers for Good’ puts forward a ‘softer’ and less traditional model of masculinity. This is also promoted through a website and series of books, this time looking at a variety of contexts for the exercise of the ‘gifts’ of fatherhood.

However, Gelfer in the end questions how far either of these ministries is actually about fatherhood, or how much we learn about their views on fathers, as opposed to their theologies of masculinity. He comes to the conclusion that they are really both about men, and fatherhood is co-opted into the process.

Needless to say, Feminist Theology publishes some interesting articles. This issue alone includes reflections on “the deployment of ritual magick and kabbalistic ritual” in Kate Bush’s album The Red Shoes (by Deborah Withers) and “a fleshy Christology” of “the fat Jesus” (by Lisa Isherwood).  For all you Men’s Rights Advocates fighting against the feminist conspiracy to exclude men, there’s even another man in this issue, with an article from Jacob Waschenfelder about Sallie McFague.

I’ve just signed a contributor agreement with SAGE Publications for the inclusion of my article “Evangelical and Catholic Masculinities in Two Fatherhood Ministries” in Feminist Theology. The agreement allows me to post as a pre-print the version of the article submitted to the journal, but not the accepted version after peer review and editing. So, if you’re interested in having a read (the final version of the article is very similar) you can find the article right here.

The original journal I submitted to (which I thought would welcome this article with open arms) rejected it without invitation to resubmit for being “anti-conservative and anti-faith”. Since when was it an academic crime to hold a political stance (and to communicate it in an allegedly liberal journal)? So much for the conservative complaint that the academy is a hotbed of liberalism! And anti-faith? Clearly not to Feminist Theology. Never mind, Feminist Theology is the better journal.