Timothy Verhoeven – författare

Religious masculinity is a ground-breaking study that demonstrates how male piety became a crucial battleground in the culture wars of the French Third Republic. The book explores the attempts of Catholic, Jewish and Protestant reformers to revive the faith of men, who had long been regarded as the sceptical sex. It brings to light a religious ideal of masculinity that acted as a rival to secular alternatives. Moreover, it demonstrates that the culture wars pitting republicans against Catholics revolved around competing visions of masculinity. In the face of republican attacks on their Church as effeminate, Catholics aimed to project an image of virility and strength. Drawing on a rich set of judicial archives, the book also uncovers the impact of clerical sexual abuse scandals in fuelling this contest.

This book shows how, through a series of fierce battles over Sabbath laws, legislative chaplains, Bible-reading in public schools and other flashpoints, nineteenth-century secularists mounted a powerful case for a separation of religion and government.