Trent Atkinson (MA, Religious Studies) – Muscular Christianity

Rooted in Victorian England as a response to a number of social and religious factors, Muscular Christianity is a set of beliefs that revolves around contact sports, the physicality of the male body, and a return to a “traditional” masculinity (a term always fraught), much writing has been done on Muscular Christianity in it’s heyday during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What my research aims to do then is to examine the role that it plays in the 21st century through the lens of American sports culture and American colleges, and how Muscular Christianity is shaping a new generation of men. For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.