2026 Theses Master's

Christian Theology in the Age of the Manosphere: Masculinity, Complicity and Theological Reconstruction

Fisher, Ella

This thesis seeks to provide a theological response to the increasingly violent mainstream rhetoric emerging from incel and manosphere movements. The basic premise of this thesis is that the incel movement is not just a societal or even political concern, but a deeply theological one. I argue that theology is not only a neutral observer of these growing cultural concerns, but is in fact complicit in them through its construction and reification of harmful models of masculinity. The purpose of my thesis was thus firstly to uncover the historical theological foundations that have enabled harmful masculinities to flourish both within and beyond the Christian traditions and secondly to constructively identify and develop frameworks that resist these inherited paradigms and offer instead alternative models of masculinity and humanity that are grounded in relationality, justice, and the affirmation of human dignity.

Keyword: Manosphere