Graham actively constructed a hyper-masculine Jesus to make Christianity compatible with manhood

Evidence

Not leaving anything to chance, Graham took pains to bolster his masculine credentials. He jogged, lifted weights, and otherwise kept up a rigorous exercise regime; in preparation for his crusades, he trained “like a prizefighter.” Before his conversion, Graham had “always thought of religion as being more or less ‘sissy,’” something well suited for “old people and girls, but not for a real ‘he man’ with red blood in his veins.” In his own conversion narrative, then, he drew on both athletic and military metaphors to make perfectly clear that his faith did not conflict with his masculinity. Jesus was no sissy—he was a “star athlete” who could “become your life’s hero.” The Christian life was “total war,” and Jesus was “Our Great Commander.” Graham’s Jesus was “a man, every inch a man,” the most physically powerful man who had ever lived. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 55

Categorization

• XREF: Directly anticipates Du Mez’s central thesis that militant masculinity, not theology, organizes this religious identity; connects to her broader cultural-history method. — connects to: American conservative Christianity exalts a hypermasculine, militarized image of Jesus. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 347
• DEFINE: Establishes the ‘muscular Christianity’ lineage that the rest of the book traces into late-20th-century evangelical consumer culture.