SCAS News - 27 January, 2016
New Book by Former SCAS Fellow Stewart M. Hoover
Recently, the new book Does God Make the Man? Media, Religion, and the Crisis of Masculinity,
written by former SCAS Fellow Stewart M Hoover and Curtis D. Coats, was published by NYU
Press (2015).
Stewart M. Hoover was a Fellow in residence at the Collegium in the
autumn term of 1996. He is
Professor of Media Studies, and
Director of the Center for Media, Religion, and
Culture at the
University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a Professor Adjoint of Religious Studies and
American
Studies at the same university.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
'Many believe that religion plays a positive role in men’s identity development, with religion promoting
good behavior, and morality. In contrast, we often assume that the media is a negative influence for
men,
teaching them to be rough and violent, and to ignore their emotions. In Does God Make the Man?,
Stewart M. Hoover and Curtis D. Coats draw on extensive interviews and participant observation with
both Evangelical and non-Evangelical men, including Catholics as well as Protestants, to argue that
neither
of these assumptions is correct.
Dismissing the easy notion that media encourages toxic masculinity and religion is always a positive
influence,
Hoover and Coats argue that not only are the linkages between religion, media, and masculinity
not as strong
and substantive as has been assumed, but the ways in which these relations actually play
out may contradict
received views. Over the course of this fascinating book they examine crises,
contradictions, and contestations:
crises about the meaning of masculinity and about the lack of direction
men experience from their faith
communities; contradictions between men’s religious lives and media
lives,
and contestations among men’s
ideas about what it means to be a man.
The book counters common discussions about a “crisis of masculinity,” showing that actual men do not
see
the world the way the “crisis talk” has portrayed it—and interestingly, even Evangelical men often do
not see
religion as part of the solution.'
Read more about the book
Read more about Stewart M. Hoover
