1 - The volcano and the cathedral: muscular Christianity and the origins of primal manliness

Summary

The movement labeled by its derogators as “muscular Christianity” arose, paradoxically perhaps, among notably liberal men, the Christian Socialists, who had fought for the Chartists, for improvements in living conditions, and even for limited rights for women. These men alternately rejected (Kingsley, Letters ii 83) and embraced the term “muscular Christian” (Letters ii 54; Hughes, Oxford 98–100), as did Victorian society. In Charles Kingsley's Cambridge sermons on King David in 1866, every mention of “muscular Christianity” produced loud cheers of approval, although the iterations were intended to deride the term. While some may have seen in the movement a gentle, liberal but realistic, and hard-working social activism (see Vance passim), for many in Victorian England muscular Christianity meant macho: Tom Brown boxing bullies at Rugby and bloodying townies at Oxford, Amyas Leigh heroically hacking wily Spaniards, and Guy Heavystone dismembering menacing Irish peasants:

Suddenly the window opened. With the rapidity of lightning, Guy Heavystone cast the net over the head of the ringleader, ejaculated “Habet!” and with a back stroke of the cavalry sabre severed the member from its trunk, and drawing the net back again, cast the gory head upon the floor, saying quietly: “One.”

… “Do you remember what Pliny says of the gladiator?” said Guy, calmly wiping his sabre. “How graphic is the passage commencing: ‘Inter nos,’ etc.” The sport continued until the heads of twenty desperadoes had been gathered. The rest seemed inclined to disperse. Guy cautiously showed himself at the door; a ringing shot was heard, and he staggered back pierced through the heart. […]