Promise Keepers and the New Masculinity

Book excerpt: This collection of essays explores the varied, sometimes contradictory, and often misapprehended nature of the Promise Keepers. The various media portrayals of this group do not adequately address important questions about their significance for American religious, social, and cultural life. Is this movement anti-feminist, or are the men involved using their faith to become more responsible husbands and fathers? Is this a political movement, or just another example of an American religious revival? Using interviews, surveys, and on-site participations, the scholars writing here find little truth in the popular depictions of Promise Keepers. In fact, they demonstrate how this group represents a variety of templates that contemporary American culture brings to religion as a general social phenomenon. The volume examines the ways religion affects social movements, and also puts the current interest in men and masculinity in a larger historical context of changing gender roles. As a phenomenon that strikes right at the intersection of religion, gender, racial relations, public life, and national identity, Promise Keepers will be provocative reading for students, scholars, and educated readers alike.