In this Book
- Making War and Minting Christians: Masculinity, Religion, and Colonialism in Early New England
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of Massachusetts Press
- Series: Native Americans of the Northeast
summary
In this book, R. Todd Romero traces the interaction of notions of gender, the practice of religion, and the conduct of warfare in colonial America. He shows how Native and Anglo-American ideas of manhood developed in counterpoint, in the context of Christian evangelization, colonial expansion, and recurrent armed conflict.
For the English, the cultivation of manliness became an important aspect of missionary efforts. Conversion demanded that the English "make men" of the Indians before they could "make them Christians," a process that involved reshaping Native masculinity according to English patriarchal ideals that the colonists themselves rarely matched. For their part, Native Americans held on to older ways of understanding the divine and defining gender even as they entered English "praying towns" and negotiated the steep demands of the missionaries.
Evolving ideas of masculinity resonated with religious significance and shaped the meaning of warfare for Natives and colonists alike. Just as the English believed that their territorial expansion was divinely sanctioned, Indians attributed a string of victories in King Philip's War to "the Great God" and the perception that their enemies "were like women." Trusting that war and manliness were necessarily linked, both groups engaged in ritual preparations for battle, believed deeply in the efficacy of the supernatural to affect the outcome of combat, and comprehended the meaning of war in distinctly religious ways.
For the English, the cultivation of manliness became an important aspect of missionary efforts. Conversion demanded that the English "make men" of the Indians before they could "make them Christians," a process that involved reshaping Native masculinity according to English patriarchal ideals that the colonists themselves rarely matched. For their part, Native Americans held on to older ways of understanding the divine and defining gender even as they entered English "praying towns" and negotiated the steep demands of the missionaries.
Evolving ideas of masculinity resonated with religious significance and shaped the meaning of warfare for Natives and colonists alike. Just as the English believed that their territorial expansion was divinely sanctioned, Indians attributed a string of victories in King Philip's War to "the Great God" and the perception that their enemies "were like women." Trusting that war and manliness were necessarily linked, both groups engaged in ritual preparations for battle, believed deeply in the efficacy of the supernatural to affect the outcome of combat, and comprehended the meaning of war in distinctly religious ways.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Copyright Page
- p. iv
- Table of Contents
- p. vii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xiii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-14
- Part I: Gender Counterpoint
- pp. 15-20
- Chapter 2. “Manly Christianity”
- pp. 31-45
- Part II: Minting Christians
- pp. 71-76
- Chapter 5. “Man-Like Civilitie”
- pp. 77-89
- Part III: Making War
- pp. 137-140
- Chapter 9. Manitou and Militia Days
- pp. 141-155
- Chapter 11. “The God of Armies”
- pp. 177-191
Additional Information
ISBN
9781613761717
Related ISBN(s)
9781558498877, 9781558498884
MARC Record
OCLC
794700495
Pages
272
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No