Christianity with Biceps

Recently, Matthew Block, writing on the First Things blog, addressed a growing problem in Protestant, predominately Calvinist, Christianity. Block describes this problem as “Christian masculinity complex” and refers to the pastor of Ignite Church in Joplin, Missouri, Heath Mooneyham, as being part of the problem.

Sadly, Mooneyham is not alone in promoting this idea of what constitutes Christian masculinity; one can see this phenomenon in the ministries of such pastors as Mark Driscoll and Angus Buchan.

What exactly is this masculinity complex?

Block, via Mooneyham, describes it this way:

This is “a church for dudes by dudes,” we read, “with a core mission to win over men, ages 18 to 35.” And what’s the best way to do that? Heavy drinking, sexual innuendo, and crude language, apparently. Oh, and raffling off assault rifles at church.

When Driscoll was asked in an interview with Relevant Christian magazine, “What do you see as the greatest challenge for Christians in the next 10 years?,” he responded in this manner:

There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.

I give the full Driscoll quote so as not to misrepresent or create a straw man out of his theological leanings. He really believes this. Block, in response, goes back to man’s original identity in the Garden: he was a farmer, not a warrior. Farming doesn’t necessarily require warrior-like masculinity; it’s often labor-intensive and can be monotonous work.  However, “This gives us a glimpse, I think, into what an authentically Christian masculinity is intended to be—one characterized by hard work, patience, and reliance on God.”  

This type of masculinity is not sexy, attractive, cool, or glamourous. However, we spend too much time attempting to figure out what masculinity and femininity mean. Instead let’s focus on the virtues that Christ himself ordains in the Sermon on the Mount: meekness, mercy, righteousness, purity, and peacemaking. This leads to maturity.  “And this, by the grace of God, leads in the end to a harvest that matters.”