[1] However, it was mostly introduced in Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hughes' novels like Alton Locke (1850) and Tom Brown’s School Days (1857).
In their work, Masculinity in the Reformation Era, Scott H. Hendrix, and Susan C. Karant-Nunn "examine the ways in which sixteenth- and seventeenth-century authorities, both secular and religious, labored to turn boys and men into the Christian males they desired.
[2] About this Norman Vance writes "the emotional ties of family and of romantic and married love are natural and pleasing to responsibilities.
"[1] By this, Norman Vance means that men should end up with a proper moral and spiritual understanding of the world God created.
[1] Aside from the theological positions of Protestantism and Catholicism with respect to justification, Christology, the sacraments, and salvation, the Christian man believes himself to be in a struggle with his 'flesh', and with spiritual and heavenly 'principalities and powers'.
American evangelicalism maintains that the Bible is the text that supports notions of Christian manliness, and ultimately, the life and example of Jesus Christ.
Within the evangelical community there is broad agreement regarding morality, theology, the body and servant-leadership, although post-modern issues have sparked controversy in recent years.
Many evangelical leaders are critical of the feminist movement and gender deconstructionism, citing them as attempts to undermine manhood, and therefore threatening to the stability of societal relationship formation, family cohesion, and the nation as a whole.
[1] Kingsley vouched for the “adventurous openness” combining “the courage of the pilgrim or questing knight with the intelligence and alertness of the Baconian scientist”.
This also encouraged tougher education similar to the Rugby School as well as the Boy Scouts program created by Baden Powell.
The development and pursuit of a healthy "body, mind and spirit" were at the heart of the YMCA movement, which has continued influence in present times.