Making Christianity Manly Again: Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, and American Evangelicalism

Mark Driscoll, the founding pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill Church, has had a significant impact on American evangelicalism, with his gender theology putting men at the forefront and leading to the embrace of hypermasculine Christianity. This has fueled a growing Christian nationalist movement, with implications for religion and politics in America.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Mark Driscoll, the founding pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill Church, has had a profound impact on American evangelicalism. With his brash, authoritarian, and profanity-laden leadership, Driscoll has grown Mars Hill Church into one of the fastest-growing, most innovative, and most influential churches in the country, despite the secular nature of Seattle. One of Driscoll's most significant contributions to Christianity was his gender theology, which placed men at the forefront of American Christianity. He rebranded Jesus from a gay hippie in a dress to a sword-carrying, robe-dipped-in-blood warrior, a rhetoric that paved the way for evangelicals' embrace of hypermasculine Christianity. This theology played a crucial role in their unprecedented support of Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections.

In his book "Making Christianity Manly Again," sociologist Jennifer McKinney explores the social and historical contexts of Driscoll's gender theology and analyzes how it helped create a megachurch empire. McKinney addresses the rhetoric of Driscoll's movement through his sermons and narratives from former Mars Hill Church members, providing a better understanding of the dynamics of the evangelical impulse to reclaim and glorify men's power. She argues that these dynamics have fueled a growing Christian nationalist movement, with enormous implications for religion and politics in America.

Driscoll's gender theology has had a lasting impact on American Christianity, shaping the way evangelicals view gender roles and sexuality. It has also contributed to the polarization of American society, as some have embraced Driscoll's rhetoric while others have criticized it as harmful and misogynistic. Despite these criticisms, Driscoll remains a controversial figure in the Christian community, with some admiring his boldness and others condemning his actions.

In conclusion, Mark Driscoll's gender theology has had a significant impact on American evangelicalism, shaping the way evangelicals view gender roles and sexuality and contributing to the growing Christian nationalist movement. While his rhetoric has been criticized as harmful and misogynistic, his influence on Christianity cannot be denied. It is important to consider the social and historical contexts of Driscoll's theology and to analyze its implications for religion and politics in America.

Weight: 518g
Dimension: 165 x 245 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197655795